Orchestrating Your Own World Prayer Concert

What is it?
WORLD PRAYER CONCERT is a guided prayer event you can host in your church or school. It is easily facilitated using the outline below.

It will take about an hour and a half. And is a powerful special church program, revival service, or vesper program that can build mission momentum in your church and make a world of difference.

A Look at the Goals

1. Glorify Jesus through united worship and united intercession.
2. Advance Jesus' world kingdom through focused intentional intercession.
3. Educate participants on world needs through prayer involvement.

How to organize a WORLD PRAYER CONCERT

1. Get some prayerful friends together to plan the place, the time, the leaders, the music! Brainstorm, vision, pray.
2. Pray faithfully for God's presence and God to be glorified through the event.
3. Broaden the circle of participants. Talk with your pastor(s), worship leaders, and elders. Think through your program (World Prayer Concert outline) Give assignments to different church groups such as Pathfinders, School kids, woman's groups, Deacons, teen groups, or small group leaders. (By broadening involvement you will broaden attendance!)
4. Advertise, announce, remind. Get other churches involved. Call church members with specific verbal invitations. Build enthusiasm several weeks before the event.
5. Have a practice a few days ahead of time with key participants. This isn't a Broadway musical, so don't go overboard on detail. But a practice helps those who are leading feel more secure about what they are doing, and will help the flow of the program.
6. Plan carefully, to make it a beautiful experience. Start on time. Close with a strong challenge to action. Have a joyous and powerful concert!

Your WORLD PRAYER CONCERT has four movements. Adoration (Worship), Agape (Prayer for the Body of Christ), Advancement (Prayer for unreached people and the needs of the world), Amen (Prayer of commitment)

You may choose to have music to transition between the three sections. (Here is a website with a lot of mission songs to choose from: home.snu.edu/~hculbert.fs/songs4.htm)

You may choose to have a brief reading or video to introduce the needs of the unreached.

You may choose to have moments of silence or private prayer.

Here are the KEY INGREDIENTS you will need for your WORLD PRAYER CONCERT. You may adjust it to fit the time, help, and music that you have available. You may intersperse a few songs, but the primary "music" is prayer. Be sure and print out the guide below to help people follow along.

ADORATION—Pray to Glorify the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

• First: (After breaking the group into smaller groups of 4) READ John 17:1-5 Second: Each person in the group will pray for one continent. Have them choose a continent to pray for. AFRICA, ASIA, NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA, EUROPE.

Each pray-er will include the following in their prayers:

1. Praise and Adore God. Pray that the God would receive from the nations glory, praise, honor, wealth, and the WORSHIP that is His from on every continent.
2. Praise God for what he has created on that continent. Be specific. Praise for specific rivers, mountains, landscapes, animals, foods, languages, and all the uniqueness contained there.
3. Ask that God might be given the rightful honor that he deserves from the people, languages, governments, and cultures on that continent.


• Second: Each person is to pray through one of the items below. 1. God to be glorified through human voice throughout the earth 2. God to be glorified through human hands throughout the earth 3. God to be glorified through children throughout the earth 4. God to be glorified through prayer throughout the earth 5. (If a fifth person is in a group) Pray God to be glorified through the ministry of the Holy Spirit throughout the earth.

AGAPE—Minister in love to those who are in God's body.

• First: Read John 17:6-19
• Second: In groups of four pray through the different types of specialized ministries that are working to penetrate darkness around the earth. Each person may pray for three. Pray that God will expand their ministries. Pray for the personal needs of the leaders, office staff, and front line workers. (The ministries below do not need to be prayed for in order.)
  1. Audio Cassette / CD sermon ministries
  2. Christian / Adventist Radio
  3. Christian Television / 3ABN and others
  4. The JESUS film
  5. The Internet and it's various Bible outreach potential 6) Bible Societies and Bible Translators
  6. Christian / Adventist book publishers and resellers
  7. Relief and Development workers
  8. Frontier church planters
  9. Medical missionaries in hospitals and clinics
  10. Theological schools
  11. Traveling Evangelists
  12. Mission Aviators
  13. Christian Tent makers
  14. Short-term mission trip participants and planners
  15. Secular University Campus ministries and Christian student groups
  16. Ministries to orphans and children
  17. Urban evangelism
  18. International cooperation among ministries
  19. Prayer networks and prayer ministries
  20. Other forms of ministry on your heart.

ADVANCEMENT—Pray for the needs of the unreached and needs of the world.

• First: Read John 17:21-26
• Prayer Plan:
  1. Have the whole congregation stand (an open space works best.) Have them form into pairs, (they should all be in two's, if there is an odd number make one group of three.)
  2. Pass to each person a slip of paper with one of the requests from the list below written on it. (You should print out and cut the list below into separate slips.)
  3. Give them these instructions, "You will pray out loud with your partner about the request that you hold in your hand. Your partner will pray for the request in his/her hand. After you both have prayed then trade requests (slip of paper) and find someone else who is done praying and then go and ask if you can pray with them. After prayer trade prayer requests with them. Do this until you have prayed with at least five people." (Leader, you can have them go longer if you desire.)

SEVENTY SIX GLOBAL "PEOPLE FOCUSED" PRAYER NEEDS

1. Pray for soldiers in the armies of the nations of the world.
2. Pray for world leaders.
3. Pray for people by language.
4. Pray for people who are very poor.
5. Pray for people who don't have enough to eat. (70 million live on the brink of starvation).
6. Pray for people who have Bibles, but don't have the Holy Spirit.
7. Pray for missionaries working under extreme conditions.
8. Pray for elementary, H.S. and college teachers in our SDA schools.
9. Pray for pastors and elders in our Seventh-day Adventist churches.
10. Pray for Bible workers around the world.
11. Pray for colporteurs in every country they exist.
12. Pray for writers and publishers who are specifically creating books to reach lost people.
13. Pray for new types of evangelism and creative evangelists.
14. Pray for people who are wavering in making a decision for Jesus.
15. Pray for missionaries and members who are witnessing to Muslims.
16. Pray for missionaries who are working for Jews.
17. Pray for missionaries and members who are working for Hindus.
18. Pray for missionaries who are living and working for the salvation of Tribal people.
19. Pray for people who are in restricted access countries and must work in secret.
20. Pray for people who have endured jail, beating and scorn for their love of Jesus.
21. Pray for home and cell churches in China.
22. Pray for missionaries doing church planting.
23. Pray for endurance for missionaries working in extreme conditions.
24. Pray for people who are witnessing in countries with a Catholic majority.
25. Pray for clean water and help for people suffering from disease from dirty water.
26. Pray for people who live sacrificially to give money faithfully to missions.
27. Pray for kids of divorced parents.
28. Pray for people who have heard of Christ only through radio and television broadcasts.
29. Pray that there would be Bible workers enough to follow up contacts from Bible schools.
30. Pray that the Bible could be translated into the 2000 languages that have no scripture.
31. Pray that children would grow up with a desire to go and help the poor, needy and lost.
32. Pray for world church leaders to make wise plans and live prayerful lives.
33. Pray for Sabbath school teachers.
34. Pray for countries where Christianity is illegal to teach or even exist.
35. Pray for churches in North America to grow in their global vision.
36. Pray for people with leprosy and crippling diseases.
37. Pray for house church leaders in Muslim countries.
38. Pray that prejudices could be broken in countries where minorities are being neglected.
39. Pray for people who are elderly with no one who cares for them or loves them.
40. Pray for widows.
41. Pray that God would help people enslaved in all countries by drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
42. Pray for our hospital workers to be ministers of the Holy Spirit.
43. Pray for Asians who are malnourished and need food, education, and help.
44. Pray for people who are famous and prideful.
45. Pray for African children who have AIDS.
46. Pray for people who control instruments of war.
47. Pray for Pathfinder leaders.
48. Pray for revival among churches all over the world that are stagnant or dying.
49. Pray for truck drivers.
50. Pray for schools to be well operated with high ideals and standards.
51. Pray for people who live in slums, ghetto's and the homeless.
52. Pray for people whose basic livelihood or survival is at stake because of changes in the environment.
53. Pray for people distributing, publishing, smuggling, and translating Bibles.
54. Pray for people who are producing and exporting evil media around the world.
55. Pray for people living with terminal illnesses.
56. Pray for people who grew up in the church but left.
57. Pray for people who are rich.
58. Pray for shelter and help to come to people who are victims of floods and earthquakes.
59. Pray for people who are in countries that have terrorists, guerrilla activity and war.
60. Pray for people around the world who are caught in witchcraft and sorcery.
61. Pray for orphans.
62. Pray for prisoners.
63. Pray for people who have abusive spouses or parents.
64. Pray for people who have been given visions and dreams and are contemplating Jesus.
65. Pray for student missionaries, youth mission trips, and those youth preparing to be career missionaries.
66. Pray for governments where basic human rights are denied.
67. Pray for ability to minister to people of other cultures who live near you.
68. Pray for the blind and deaf of poorer nations who likely will receive no special care.
69. Pray for people who are in physical slavery to cover debts.
70. Pray for ability for people who are studying languages preparing to be missionaries to unreached people groups.
71. Pray for people who are producing Christian radio broadcasts.
72. Pray for missionary pilots who are delivering supplies and help to remote outposts.
73. Pray for public school teachers.
74. Pray for women around the world who are treated unfairly because of being woman.
75. Pray for Christian songwriters and worship leaders.
76. Pray for people who are contemplating suicide.

AMEN—How to close your World Prayer Concert

1. If you want to take an offering, this is the place to do it. You might choose to sponsor a missionary with the offering, sponsor an orphan, help publish some good news or help build a church.
2. Someone should offer a challenge to a deeper commitment for missions. A story or personal experience can be shared. The experience of the early church from Acts 1-4 or Jesus' call from Luke 10. Stories from pioneer missionaries can be found on the web at: www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bio.html
3. If the space is large enough have everyone gather in a circle. Have them pray at random prayers of commitment. Introduce the prayer, by sharing how it is important to take continued action. Either to pray for the nations, to pray for missionaries, to give money to missions, or to prepare to go as a missionary through education, or to actually GO. Take a moment of silence with heads bowed to ask the Spirit what their commitment to the Great Commission is to be. Then each person is will pray (at random) with prayers beginning with the words: "I commit to . . . . Some examples: "Dear God, I commit to pray 10-15 minutes a day for God's mission work. Or "Father, I commit to start a small group Bible study in my dorm." Or "Lord, I commit to go as a missionary to Muslims." Or "Jesus, I commit to find a refugee family near my home." (You might share that you hope that if they are not sure that at least they can commit to pray that they will continue to seek God's voice in regard to their involvement in God's global mission.)
4. Have each person say to another, "God bless you for your commitment. May God help you change the world."