Gaining Historical Perspective
Sunday School originally focused on teaching poor children how to read. The creation of public education and other factors caused Sunday School leaders to rethink its purpose. Over time, it became a strategic means for local churches to reach and disciple people of all ages in their communities. Arthur Flake's journal reflects this focus.
Flake highlighted the importance of prayer when it came to reaching people who had yet to hear the gospel. In his first book, Building a Standard Sunday School (1922), Flake specified that "Every teacher should have a prayer list of all lost for whom his class is responsible." (p. 103)
He explained this idea in greater detail in the paragraph that followed:
Each teacher should have a prayer list both of the lost pupils in his class and of the lost who are prospects for his class. This list should be kept in the Bible and daily spread out before God as the teacher prays for each one by name… Many Sunday School pupils can be reached only through prayer. (p. 103)
In his journal notes on which the 1922 book was based, he also called for each teacher to share his or her prayer list with other teachers. In effect, the prayer lists possessed by the teachers were to be dominated by the names of people who had yet to become followers of Christ.
Here's how his idea would play out in real life. Let's say we teach an ongoing Bible study class for our church (most commonly called Sunday School). We would then have a prayer list that contains only the names of people we are trying to reach, all of whom are unbelievers. These names represent people we have talked to who told us they are not believers. We ask the members of our group to carry a list as well, and we all pray for those names.
Every teacher in the organization has the same kind of list. When all the Bible study teachers meet together, they share their lists, and we share our list with them. While the list of folks in the hospital or of those facing a difficulty are important, praying for the salvation of people by name is at the forefront of our prayer times.
Daily, By Name, for an Opportunity
The main element is daily prayer for lost people by name with a hope to share the gospel with them specifically. Let's think about the importance of this idea.
Daily: Every day we brush our teeth, eat our veggies, and take our vitamins. We view these actions as essential for our health and wellbeing. These are simply part of that we do. Flake called on Sunday School teachers to pray every day for the lost people their groups were trying to reach. What would happen if we began to see praying for lost people as a daily necessity?
By Name: Names are important. When we hear a name, images of people with that name immediately flash in our minds. The simple mention of a name can cause us to smile, grimace, or feel other emotions. That name creates an identity that goes beyond a casual glance. Praying for a person by name also moves us beyond casual prayer. How many times have we prayed for "all the missionaries in the world" without a single face or name flashing through our minds? There is just something about praying for someone by name. We become connected to that person in a different way. Compassion, empathy, and urgency come as a result of praying for a specific person.
For the opportunity to share with them: Too many times, we find ourselves asking God to send someone to share Jesus with a family member or neighbor with the understanding that He will send anyone other than us. He may very well send someone else to share with the person for whom we are praying, but He may also be preparing us to have that conversation.
Remember, we need to do this kind of praying as a group. We are not on an island praying for the lost by ourselves. We come together as a group to pray for the lost, seeking to reach people as a team of people. When a person on the group's prayer list attends our Bible study group, everyone who prayed had a part in that person being there. The Great Commission was given to the church as a single entity, so we should view praying for lost people as a team activity as well.
List the names of lost people for whom you are praying daily.
Take the time to pray for the opportunity to share with each person, asking God to prepare your mind and their heart.
Fostering a Praying-for-the-Lost Culture
Teachers set the tone for the groups they lead and the church staff sets the tone for those teachers. What is important to us becomes important to them. We begin by establishing a culture in our groups that fosters praying for people who are lost or unaffiliated.
Step 1: Start carrying a list.
We can't expect our groups to do something we are not willing to do. Begin with at least three names on your list. If you don't know three people who are lost, then put yourself into situations where you can meet people who are lost. Begin with your neighbors, initiating a conversation with them about their spiritual heritage. If all your neighbors are believers, then volunteer in your community. Pick wisely so you aren't placed in a position that compromises your witness. Many organizations exist, from helping the homeless to conducting community events.
Don't forget to use the list. Pray for people by name daily and for the opportunity to share with them again. Carry the list on your phone, in a journal, or in your wallet or purse. Make sure you can access it so you will not forget to pray for the people on your list EVERY day.
Step 2: Encourage your group to carry lists.
Select a Sunday (or whatever day your group meets) and share with the group about your list. You don't have to share the names on your list, but you could. Tell them how you created your list, about the relationships represented on the list, and the purpose of the list. Be sure to tell them how carrying the list and praying every day for the people on that list has impacted you.
Distribute cards, Bible bookmarks, or other items they can carry on which they can write their lists. Emphasize that you will not ask them to share their lists today. Some will need time to identify three people who are lost and with whom they have had some type of conversation about spiritual things. Some may realize they don't know three people who are lost and that they need to take action to change that. Encourage them to take whatever action is needed, giving them time to do so.
We need to get into the practice of looking for natural ways of using the prayer list within the life of the group. We may want to send a message as a reminder to pray daily. We may end each session with a general prayer for the people represented on the lists. If your Bible study curriculum calls for the group to identify people with whom they could share insights gained from a lesson, encourage the group to first look at their daily prayer lists for potential people with whom they can share.
Step 3: Create a group list.
After a few months of encouraging the group to pray daily for three people, invite the group to share the names of the people on their lists. Share your list first, writing the names on a board or large sheet of paper. Invite others to share as you add the names given. You may encourage the group to add the names to their lists or provide the full list to everyone later. Encourage the group to continue to pray for their lists daily and to pray for the names of the others listed at least once a week, if not daily.
Periodically, review the class list with the group. Allow them to add other names to the list and give updates. If they have had additional opportunities to share with a person on their list, invite them to tell about that experience. Take time to thank God for the opportunity and for His answers to prayer.
What specific actions do you need to take to implement these steps?
More Actions to Consider
Create and maintain a GC List.
Some have used the term target list, but Great Commission (GC) List may be a better title. The idea is to create a display somewhere in the room of names the group is praying for. If other groups use the room, create the display to accommodate their lists as well. You might choose to use only initials or first names just in case the person listed attends. Some have created the display so that the names can be moved up the list after they attend or the member had an opportunity to share the gospel with them. The point is to keep praying for lost people at the forefront of the group, and the GC List serves as an ever-present visual reminder.
Restructure the Class Prayer List.
What we list first declares importance. We have all done it, listing the "most pressing" requests first, pushing other requests down the line. On some prayer lists, the last thing listed are the names of people needing to know Christ. We tend to pray for the first things listed and then get to the other items when we have time. (Most of us don't get to the rest of the list.) We all know surgeries, tragedies, and other items should be given prayer time, but should those items supplant praying for the lost by name?
Designate One Sunday a Month.
Select a Sunday every month that is dedicated to praying for lost people. It doesn't matter which Sunday, but the second Sunday tends to have the least number of conflicts (most holidays tend to fall on the first and last Sundays of the month). On that Sunday, explain that the focus of the class prayer time is for people they know who are lost or unaffiliated. This will take some discipline since the week you designate will be the week you really want to share about something you are facing. Life happens that way, but it will be worth it. Include praise for the opportunities to share over the past four weeks. Allow volunteers to tell how God used them in the past four weeks to share the gospel with someone.
Provide tools.
Find resources that can help the group share the gospel with others. Create a list of questions that could be used to transition a conversation to spiritual matters. We need to do all we can to help the believers in our groups be faithful witnesses for Christ.
Ask as a habit.
This seems simple but ask people in the group to share the names of lost people for whom they are praying by name. If they don't have anyone, we can share our lists with them. If they have a name, add that name to the list. We can ask them before class, after class, while walking down the hall, or by contacting them for this specific purpose. What would be wrong with calling members of our groups to share our lists and ask if they have a list so we can pray with them about the salvation of the people listed?
Create a Display.
Provide a large fish tank like display with three colors of ping-pong ball, white, yellow, and green. Encourage individuals to write with a marker the names or initials of people for whom they are praying and to place the ball in the fish tank. When the share the gospel with the person whose name they placed on a white ball, they then record the name on a yellow ball and place it in the fish tank. When a person whose name is on a ball accepts Christ, their name or initials are to written on a green ball and placed in the fish tank.
Which actions listed do you think would best work in your group? What steps do you need to take to implement those actions?
What about Kids?
We can certainly find ways of helping people of all ages think about praying for others who need to know about Jesus, God's love for all people, and Jesus' offer of salvation to all people.
Rethink Teaching Activities.
What we talk about matters. When teaching preschoolers while building a "tabernacle" out of wooden logs, we can ask them if we can pray for any friends who do not go to church. We can ask them to pray for us as we share with people about Christ.
They can pray for people by name as well. We can remind them that Jesus loves everyone and wants everyone to trust Him. While the teaching time is important, these conversations in the learning activities are critical, and we get to direct that narrative. We can incorporate these kinds of conversations when teaching adults as well, and we might even be able to do so around a table covered with wooden logs!
Praying for the Preschoolers.
Most preschool teachers have a list of the names of the kids in the group. The list usually includes the names of the kids, their parents' or guardians' information, and birthdays. We may make it a point to send a note and have a special treat to present on the Sunday before or after a child's birthday. But what keeps us from praying for the names on that list? We can pray for God to protect their minds, to open their hearts to Him, and to prepare them to fulfill His purposes in this world. We can also pray for their parents as they raise their children.
We can initiate conversations with the parents, finding out about their spiritual journeys. In the process, we may find another name to add to our list of people for whom we are praying. (Remember, the daily prayer list includes people who have told us they are lost.)
How can we begin to pray for the next generation of believers?
Write a prayer for that next generation.
The Means for Starting New Groups
Before we move on, we need to address a secondary purpose for creating the daily prayer list. First and foremost is the salvation of those on our lists. Secondly, we can use the list to help us start new Bible study groups.
Imagine teaching a class of thirty-year-olds. Let's say there are ten in the group who attend regularly, with a few more who attend sporadically. Imagine meeting in a room that will seat twenty people comfortably. Let's say those ten regular attenders have three names each that they are praying for, and we have six. Between the eleven of us, that's thirty-six people for whom we are praying. Let's now pick a Sunday when we encourage everyone to invite the people for whom they have been praying. Let's say half say "yes." (Research indicates that if we invite someone and offer to pick them up, between seventy and eighty percent will agree depending on who was researched. We will go with fifty percent for the skeptic.) Now remember, these are people who have been prayed for every day for several months. So we have our ten regular attenders plus the eighteen guests (36÷2) who agree to come on that Sunday (a total of twenty-nine people), and we try to fit everyone in a room that holds only twenty. The next week, we will probably go back to our ten since there just isn't space for more. None of us enjoy feeling like a sardine.
However, what if we did the same thing, but we created two groups for that Sunday—one led by an apprentice teacher from within the group and a second group led by us. If the second group also meets in a room that holds twenty comfortably, we now have space for forty people and
could manage the group if eighty percent of those for whom we have been praying agree to attend (29 [80% of 36] + 11 regular attenders). In effect, the list of people for whom we are praying becomes the tool for creating new groups!
If you are the pastor, staff person, or volunteer responsible for the Sunday School ministry of your church, the master prayer list functions as a tool for defining the new groups you need to start. We know new groups grow faster than established ones. In the illustration above we had thirty-year-olds inviting people on their prayer lists, and we can assume that most of these guests were other thirty-year-olds. That means children might come as well, and we will probably have a children's class overflowing too. We need not canvas the neighborhood looking for unreached people; we already have that information in the form of the master prayer list, and these are people someone in the church already knows. It makes sense that the master prayer list serves as the first place we go to determine what new groups we need to create. We may already have a starting point built on relationships already present within the church.
What steps are you taking to start a new group or help a new group get started?
A Reality to Consider
Prayer is a start, but it is not the end. The end is sharing the gospel with the person. Like Paul and Ezekiel, we are not absolved from our responsibility until we actually share. Some in our groups may not know what to say or lack training in sharing the gospel. The local church certainly carries some of the responsibility and so does every believer.
We knew enough to become followers of Christ, so we should be able to at least share that much. We are called to be witnesses, which means we tell what we do know. We can go with another believer who knows how to share the gospel. We can use a variety of resources to learn how to share the gospel … if we want to. I would like to think that when we, the teachers, begin to talk about lost people by name and praying for opportunities, that the "want to" in our groups might grow.
Condensed from Chapter 1 of It Begins with Prayerby Dwayne McCrary, Lifeway Press, 2019.