Culture Point #3 - Prayer

We have been taking a close look at the six principles that comprise the culture of Child Evangelism Fellowship. Earlier, we examined the first two culture points—the Importance of Godly Leadership at Every Level and the Importance of the Spiritual Welfare of our Workers. Both of these points are significant in our ministry as instructors of teachers.

Today, we want to focus on the third culture point:

Importance of Prayer as Our Foundation It is not the work we do, the meetings we hold or the decisions we make that bring the greatest advances in the work; it is the time spent before the throne of God in prayer, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that brings power, laborers and resources into the ministry.

If we were to take an informal poll, asking our CEF family to rate the importance of prayer in our ministry, it would undoubtedly rank at the top of the list, right alongside reading the Bible. Yet, for all our talk about prayer and its importance to our task, how many of us have a deep and consistent prayer life?

This culture point states that prayer is “our foundation.” This is true of our ministry, both in a literal as well as in a spiritual sense. D. L. Moody once said, “Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure.” If you go back to the beginning of CEF’s history, you find our founder, Mr. O, was that kneeling figure—a man of prayer. He knew that the great task of building a ministry to children could not succeed without it!

In the book, The Indomitable Mr. O, his biographer tells about how, from the very beginning, Mr. O bathed this ministry in prayer. He would rise every morning at 4:00 and go to his “prayer closet” in a grove of trees on his property and pour out his heart to God for the children. As the work grew, he used a world globe to pray for the children of the nations. Even toward the end of his life, Mr. O was still actively and consistently praying for the workers in CEF around the world—by name!

In his book, Everything by Prayer, Mr. O makes his prayer philosophy very clear:

“Every spiritual program must be defended and supported by definite believing prayer. Every God-called man and every God-planned enterprise must have praying folk to pray out the problems. To carry on the work of God is to wage a terrific warfare with Satan and all his hosts. Before the battle there must be preparation wrought in prayer; during the battle the warriors must be upheld by those guided of God to be intercessors; after the battle there should be praise.”

Scripture teaches many principles about prayer. We are to pray in the will of God and with confidence (1 John 5:14-15); we are to pray in the name of Christ (John 14:12-15); we are to pray in faith (Js. 1:5-8); we are to pray for definite things (Rom. 8:26-27); we are to pray with a grateful heart (Phil. 4:4-7). These are just a few of God’s prayer principles.

As instructors of teachers, we need to be leaders who set the example in prayer. Do you pray for the children in your area and around the world? Do you pray for your TCE students? Do you pray for your TCE graduates? Do you pray for the clubs your students are teaching? Do you pray for God to give you more students? Do you pray that God will raise up more IOTs from your courses? Do you pray for the financial needs of the ministry? These are just some of the areas of prayer we should be involved in.

Many of you are very conscientious in praying for your students. Some IOTs set aside definite prayer times during their TCE courses. Some secure prayer partners outside of the courses to pray for individual students. One IOT shared how he and his family keep the names of their TCE students on index cards and pray for them at family meals. How encouraging it would be for your students—and graduates—to know that you are remembering them in prayer on a regular basis!

If you ask most CEF workers what the greatest need is in their ministry, they will mention two things: workers and finances. Please notice the last statement in our culture point on prayer: “It is the time spent before the throne of God in prayer, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that brings power, laborers and resources into the ministry.” Clearly the answer to our ministry needs is found in prayer.

Mr. O said, “It is wonderful to know that God is still the owner and sovereign, and He is a friend of mine. When we pray we ask an omnipotent Friend, the owner of all, for the thing we need, or we commit to Him the problem.”

As IOTs and ministry leaders, let’s be people of prayer. Let’s pray for the children. Let’s pray for our students. Let’s pray for more workers. Let’s pray for our financial needs. Let’s pray for each other. And then let’s rejoice together as we see our faithful God at work!

Do you have a special way to pray for your TCE students and grads? Click the "comment" link below and share it with us. You might have a great idea that will inspire another IOT to be more dilligent in prayer!