Prayer Training Retreat

• Posted on sdgale
• in 'CHOP Talk' Blog
• on November 12, 2012
• No Comments.

I received an invitation to speak at a church’s weekend retreat, Friday through Sunday, five sessions.  I limit my speaking engagements nowadays, so I had to decline.

However, I wanted to encourage the church in its desire to be trained in prayer. I put together a possible outline for a self-led retreat. I post my response here in the event it may be helpful to others considering such a retreat.

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One idea would be to use materials from my Community Houses of Prayer website to put together the five sessions, maybe directed by different leaders. Perhaps something like this:

• “_______ Church as a House of Prayer”.  You could use my article on “God’s House of Prayer—Extreme Makeover Edition.”
• “Prayer and Communion with God,” from section 1 of my booklet, Why Do We Pray?
• “Prayer and Kingdom Advancement,” from section 2 of my booklet, Why Do We Pray
• “The Practice of Prayer,” from section 3 of my booklet, Why Do We Pray?
• “Cultivating a Culture of Prayer at _______ Church”. You could use resources like my article on Prayer Cells and starting community houses of prayer in the neighborhoods represented by your church. Here you could evaluate current prayer (take pulse) and brainstorm ideas short-time and long-range.

Each segment could include questions and discussion.  You might include time for small group prayer and individual prayer (such as directed prayer walks).  There are other resources on the CHOP site, including blog posts that might be useful for devotional times.