Here’s a disturbing thought. When it comes to outreach, you might just be praying all wrong. Your church prayer meetings might be emphasising all the wrong things. Your prayers for your community, your friends, your neighbours and family might be focusing on entirely the wrong target.

Praying for people to become Christians can actually be counter-productive. It can hinder outreach, and hold back church growth. It can end up achieving the exact opposite of what was intended.

Now in WinningWays we talk all the time about praying for people to come to faith. In the Equipping Course we teach the John the Baptist principle, and how to pray people through a process.

We say that nobody comes to faith without prayer being there somewhere in the mix, that it’s fundamentally a spiritual transaction requiring spiritual engagement. We say that relationships are the vehicle by which people usually come to faith, and prayer is the engine that drives that vehicle forward. So I’m just stating things in strong terms to make a point, right?

Well actually, no.

The Bible is surprisingly light on prayer for people coming to faith. There are arguably only two examples in Scripture of someone praying that others would become Christians, and in neither of those does that prayer stand alone. In Acts 26.29 Paul declared that his prayer for King Agrippa, and everyone else listening, was that they become like him, persuaded to be Christians. Yet, at that precise moment he was also sharing his testimony with them.

In Romans 10.1 Paul states that his “heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” Yet he goes on immediately to question how the Israelites could possibly believe unless someone is sent to preach to them.

And that’s precisely the point, isn’t it? People coming to faith requires the willingness of witnesses, labourers, preachers and workers – those with “beautiful feet” – to engage with them. That’s where our prayer focus needs to be.

There's far more prayer in the Bible for those sharing good news, than for those receiving it.

Sure, praying for people to come to faith is implicit in Scripture. We’re to pray for God’s will to be done, His Kingdom to come. And it’s God’s will that all should be saved (1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Peter 3.9) so, of course,  we should pray along those lines. We should pray for hearts to be touched, for eyes to be opened, for obstacles to be swept away.

But what’s actually explicit in Scripture is prayer for Christians to communicate their faith. That’s where the overwhelming emphasis lies. There’s far more prayer in the Bible for those sharing good news, than for those receiving it.

Leaders in the Antioch church prayed for Paul and Barnabas and commissioned them to go out and preach good news. (Acts 13.3) Paul himself offered and invited prayer for opportunities and open doors to take the message out. (Romans 1.10, Colossians 4.3) He constantly asked for prayer from his churches for clarity, boldness, insight and perseverance in proclaiming Jesus no matter what the obstacles. (Rom 15.31, 2 Corinthians 1.11, Eph 6.19, Col 4.4)

Paul didn’t ask for theoretical prayer that the message would spread rapidly. Rather he asked for practical prayer for himself and his outreach, so that the message would spread rapidly. (2 Thess 3.1) And he was very upfront about praying for others that they would be “active in sharing” their faith. (Philemon 1.6)

Ultimately, when Jesus saw the multitudes, “harassed and helpless”, lost and in darkness, he urged his disciples to pray. But surprisingly, not for the actual multitudes themselves. Rather, he told them to “ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into his harvest field”. (Matthew 9.38, Luke 10.2)

That’s where the emphasis in missional prayer needs to be - with the workers. Ordinary disciples awakened to the missionary compassion of Jesus. Praying for people to become Christians on its own leaves the matter between them and God. We don’t have to do anything, we don’t have to get involved, we can simply pray. And that’s where it becomes counter-productive.

But just imagine what would happen if we prayed regularly and passionately for workers to be thrust into the harvest, for opportunities to share, for doors to be opened, for boldness, clarity and power in witness. Imagine praying for one another that we might be “active in sharing” our faith, that the message might “spread rapidly”. Imagine praying and laying hands on one another for outreach, setting each other apart for mission, as well as praying for those we’re reaching out to.

So let’s ask ourselves : Is our prayer counter-productive? Are we using prayer as a substitute for engaging with our communities? Do we suppose that people can believe and be saved without hearing a message from those sent? And how can we reflect the Biblical emphasis on prayer for the workers?

Here are five ideas to get you started :

Got any other ideas, thoughts, comments? Share them below.