Updated January 20, 2004 (first published November 1, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

One of the reasons evangelistic outreaches are often barren is the lack of earnest prayer and spiritual burden that accompanies the effort. Christians, left to themselves, easily lose their eternal and spiritual focus. This is often evident in the nature of the prayer requests that are mentioned during prayer meetings. The requests focus on various physical things and neglect the more important eternal matters. As the leader of the congregation, it is the pastor’s job to focus the church’s prayer life on the salvation of the unsaved. Prayer meetings should be consciously oriented in this direction. It is not that the Lord does not care about our physical needs and it is not that we should not pray for these things, but our priority in prayer should be the spiritual and the eternal. Church members need to be challenged continually to be soul conscious and to bring the names of unsaved friends to the prayer meetings.

Charles Spurgeon believed that one of the reasons so many were saved under his preaching was prayer. He had prayer meetings before the preaching services and every Monday night and on other occasions. Sometimes when the auditorium of the Metropolitan Tabernacle was full, a group would remain in the downstairs prayer hall and pray during the preaching (as per e-mail from Mrs. Hannah Wyncoll, Administrative Assistant, Metropolitan Tabernacle, June 2, 2000). Prayer was a very central focus of Spurgeon’s ministry, and the fruit of it continues to abide a century later.

Following is the testimony of two specific occasions my wife and I saw God work mightily through fasting and prayer in the country of Nepal:

“Since spiritual wars are won ‘not by might nor by power,’ it can just as truly be said souls are won ‘not by programs not by methods’ but ultimately by the Spirit of God. True, we are to put some muscle into the battle. ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in...’ ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel ... baptizing ... teaching...’ There is work to be done on our part, but apart from Him, without dependence on His Spirit, all the methods of planting and watering the seeds we sow will not produce the fruit that remains. God gives the increase. Therefore, in order to be truly effective in winning the lost, we need complete dependence upon God. Only the Spirit of God can break the power of Satan in the lives of unsaved people. So any idea, any program, any method is emptiness without our complete reliance on the power of God to bring forth fruit.

“Just over two years into our service on the mission field we were having weekly meetings in our home. Wealthy, educated neighbors were attending these meetings very faithfully. Week after week they came, sang hymns, listened, and returned to their homes. During the week we would visit them, further befriend them, and share the gospel. Every Sunday evening a good group of adults would be crowded together in our home to hear the gospel. But nobody responded. Nobody was moved by it. None showed any evidence of conviction, let alone of repentance or faith. The bands of wickedness were tightly fastened. Week after week there was no fruit for our labors. Finally, my husband suggested we fast and pray one day each week. This seemed to be the key, as immediately after we began fasting people began responding to the gospel. The bands of wickedness were loosed in hearts (Isaiah 58:6) and people ‘turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.’ A church was begun! [Note: Today that church has a membership of about 300 and has started nine other churches.]

“A couple of years later, when our little church numbered in the twenties, we held a ladies retreat at a primitive ‘hotel’ on top of a nearby mountain. During the retreat, I encouraged our ladies to counsel together and agree on a certain number of women that they would ask the Lord to add to our number during the next year. After talking it over and praying about it, they agreed they should ask the Lord for 10 ladies to be added. That would double the size of the ladies’ group. During the following year, we often prayed together towards this goal. We had times of fasting as we continued to witness, pray, and hope. Nearly one year later the church held a baptismal service during which one man and exactly ten ladies were baptized!

“A friend of mine says, ‘Fasting makes me weak that His spiritual strength might work’” (Linda Cloud).

There is a practical study on biblical fasting in the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity. This article is also located at the Way of Life Literature web site under the Christian Living section of the End Times Apostasy Database — http://www.wayoflife.org.

The book Effective Evangelistic Churches is the product of a survey of 576 fruitful soul-winning churches. Author Thom Rainer observes that intercessory prayer is a crucial component. Following are some of the statements on this topic:

So often churches get stuck in a rut in their prayer. A Florida pastor shared that their Wednesday evening prayer services “had become ‘Who’s who in the hospital.’ Our young people avoided the service like the plague.” Many churches, perhaps most churches in America, focus their corporate prayers on physical needs: sickness, bereavement, and hospitalizations. While these prayer needs are valid and need fervent intercession, the eternal needs of those without a relationship to Jesus Christ are even more critical (Rainer, pp. 74, 78).

Most churches that are effectively reaching the lost have broken out of the “rut” of prayer-as-usual and have experienced wonderful results brought about by effective emphasis on praying for the lost. While this is not often seen today in independent Baptist Churches, it was not unheard of in churches in times past for designated intercessors to be in another room praying earnestly throughout the preaching service. In this survey of 576 churches of notable evangelistic fervor, nearly half indicated that this was done regularly during their worship services, with “the time of preaching as the time of most intense intercession” (Rainer, p. 74). Focusing the church’s attention on intercession for the lost has brought the Lord’s blessings time after time. One pastor shared the thought that, “Praying for the lost did more to refocus our church than any single factor. We became a church with an outward focus after being an inwardly focused church for years” (p. 78). It is said of one of the largest and fastest-growing SBC churches in the nation that the explosive growth of the church is associated with the beginning of a churchwide prayer ministry. . .” (p. 75). Another said, “Our growth through conversions? It’s the result of our prayer ministry” (p. 69).

Fasting has often been a key factor not only in focusing the people but also in bringing about spiritual power. One pastor wrote, “I pray and fast one day a week. Though I do not advertise it, the church has become aware of it and many have followed my example” (Rainer, p. 75). Of those responding to the survey were “many testimonies from church leaders about the miraculous work of God after a new corporate prayer emphasis was begun, or after the leadership of the church called the people to an extended lime of prayer and fasting. Not only did numerical and evangelistic growth result, but new ministries often began as well” (Rainer, p. 152).

A pastor in Alabama described the organization of his church’s prayer room. Six Rolodex files are placed on one long table. The files include cards in one of six categories.

1. Lost persons -- by name or relationship to someone
2. Physical needs, sickness, etc.
3. Other intercessory needs: financial, job, relational, grief, etc.
4. Church, staff, missionaries
5. All church members’ names and their families
6. The praise file -- answered prayers!

“Each person is instructed to spend ten minutes at each Rolodex ‘station.’ A colored clip marks the point where the previous intercessor ended. The person in the room moves the clip to his ending point as well. The pastor commented that many of the people had never before prayed for one hour without interruption. They testified of their own spiritual growth as an intercessor” (Rainer, p. 73).

Many churches in the survey indicated that the pastor and staff meet regularly to pray for the lost. In one church the members volunteer one hour per week to specifically pray for lost people. This church has consequently experienced much conversion growth.

Rainer observes: “I recently reviewed my consultation notes of dozens of churches I visited over the past few years. Most of them were in a slow decline that we sometimes mislabel ‘plateau.’ Perhaps more than any single factor, the absence of dynamic corporate prayer ministries was the contrasting element compared to these 576 evangelistic churches. More specifically, I could not find one declining church that had an ongoing prayer ministry specifically for the lost. Perhaps these dying churches have not because they ask not” (Rainer, p. 77).

The following occurred at Pelham Baptist Church, in South Carolina, which was pastored by Harold B. Sightler from 1942 until 1952. Dr. Sightler later pastored Tabernacle Baptist Church of Greenville, South Carolina, for 42 years until his death in 1995.

“In 1946 only three people were baptized at Pelham, and so in early 1947 a week of prayer meetings were held at night at the church, prayer only, for revival and salvation of souls, with no preaching or singing. People began to get saved, and the church grew. It was during these meetings that my dad testified that he was filled with the Holy Ghost. The prayer meetings continued, and by 1949 were being held on Sunday nights after church in a pasture belonging to Thomas Leonard, located about 200 yards north of the intersection of what is now Westmoreland Road and Abner Creek Road. These often drew a hundred people and sometimes lasted until one o'clock in the morning. A rock altar was built around a tree. According to Thomas Leonard each represented a person being prayed for by name” (James Sightler, “Observations on Dr. Harold B. Sightler’s Early Ministry and the Heritage of Tabernacle Baptist Church,” http://tabernacleministries.org/Church/ history.php4)

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