3 Trends in Prayer in the Church

One of the members of my advisory council is Dick Eastman, who is a member of the US National Prayer Committee and the head of Every Home for Christ. While sitting down with him once I asked him what he sees as trends in the prayer movement around the world. He shared with me two of them and I would like to add a third that I have seen as well.

Twenty-four hour a day prayer: Although the most famous in this trend is IHOP and 24-7 Prayer the idea of continual prayer is popping up all over the place. Even those churches that can’t do an ongoing 24-7 time will do seasons (maybe a weekend) or place (a prayer room) to facilitate long term prayer. Dick even showed me signup sheets from the church in China that is getting in on this trend.

Children and Prayer: Prayer is not just for adults. Engaging kids from a young age in the life of prayer can make a difference for the rest of their lives. Not too long ago I got an email from a Sunday School teacher in an African country who was online looking for resources to teach children on prayer. This leads to my observation on a trend in prayer.

Technology and prayer: I don’t believe we have even close to capitalized on the power that can be harnessed in the prayer movement. We are beginning to see glimpses of this with blogs like this one, apps for personal prayer and prayer request entry points. I think this is only a beginning. Every move of God has been helped by its latest technology. We have yet to see the full power of a Twitter/YouTube prayer movement.

What things are you see that is happening in the movement of prayer?