Prayer Walking – Let’s Go!
Our shared vision at Gold Avenue Church is to see the gospel of Jesus Christ transform our lives, our neighborhood, and the world. Prayer Walking is one way that we can engage our neighborhood(s) and see that transformation come. In an earlier post we encouraged continued prayer walking on an individual basis since meeting as a group was not possible. The Prayer Walking Leadership Team has discerned in conjunction with church leadership that now is a good time to start organized prayer walking again! We’ve been going out and prayer walking regularly in our neighborhood for quite a number of years and have seen much fruit as we pray for the neighborhood, interact and pray with neighbors, and so much more. We would like to invite everyone to participate in prayer walking, as now is a time when our neighborhood and world need prayer more than ever! (Note: this is a long post so please stick with it and read the entirety. It may seem like a lot to take in at first but with practice it gets easier!)
Basics of Prayer Walking:
Prayer Walking at Gold Avenue Church is all about being led by the Lord each time you go out, and being open to different expressions of prayer and engagement, all of which are equally valuable in the Kingdom of God. We usually prayer walk in small groups of two or three. Pray together before going out and ask for the Lord’s guidance and wisdom. You may spend your walk praying and interceding for your neighbors and neighborhood, asking the Lord to guide you and your prayers. You may be led to talk to someone who is outside or to knock on a door, listening to them with care and sharing the love of Jesus with them. While you are talking with them be listening for promptings from the Holy Spirit as to how to engage and respond; perhaps they need to hear about Jesus for the first time or maybe they need encouragement or a fresh infilling from the Lord. There is no set formula, besides letting the Lord lead and work through a loving conversation. Pray with and for them before you go, blessing them and their family with the peace and joy of Jesus, and inviting a deeper relationship with Him. Rejoice in what the Lord does in these conversations and pray for the person and their family as you leave, even if they didn’t engage or respond how you’d like. Perhaps invite them to engage with us at church (online for the time being, you can pass out cards with the church’s info, contact Mark Essenburg to get some connect cards). Please remember to practice social distancing while walking and talking with others.
How It Will work:
For the time being, there will be some differences from our normal structure. We normally meet as a group, have a devotional and worship time, go out, then come back to share stories. Instead, we’d like to encourage pairs or trios to meet up and prayer walk whenever works for them and wherever in their neighborhood that they choose. We’ll use a shared calendar to coordinate who is available and when.
To view available times that others would like to go prayer walking, check the calendar below or you can sync it to your own calendar (instructions at end). If you click on an event, you’ll see the details of the general area that person would like to walk, and their contact info. If you find an open time and approximate location that works for you, contact that person and set up your prayer walking time. They will then update that entry in the calendar. If you don’t find any time that works for you, you can add your own times for others to choose. Even if you already have a partner without using the calendar, please put your time on the calendar so that intercessors can be praying for you while you’re out prayer walking. If we all use this and have lots of participation it should work really well to help us coordinate and set up times to go prayer walking.
A note on forming teams – if you’re new to Prayer Walking, we often form teams with at least one person who has experience. We call them the “Confident Ones”. This is so that they can help less experienced prayer walkers to learn and grow in their prayer walking. They will identify themselves on the calendar with a “CO” after their name so that if you would like to partner with someone with more experience, you will be able to find them easily.
Prayer Walking Calendar
Instructions for syncing this calendar to your calendar can be found here: Prayer Walking 2020
Adding or modifying Your Own Prayer Walking Time Slot, or “Event”:
- Login to the Prayer Walking shared calendar:
- https://goldavenuechurch.breezechms.com/events/overview#/?view=month
- User: prayerwalking
- PW: GACpw1
- Click “Add Event” button or click on the day you’d like to schedule
- Uncheck “All Day (under event name)” and and click “show more options (lower left)”
- Add in the time and details of when you’d like to put your prayer walking time in
- Name your event as follows: Your first name – Open
- If you already have a partner name it as follows: Your first name – Closed
- If you are a “Confident One” as mentioned above, add a “-CO” after your name
- Add a description that gives an approximate location you’d like to walk and your contact info
- Click the blue “Save” button
- Your entry will show up (or be updated) on the shared calendar for others to view!
Other Important Info
If you aren’t comfortable or able to go outside and prayer walk, but would like to continue to engage in prayer, we’d love for you to pray for teams that are going out. Having people interceding for prayer walking teams is critical, prayers for God’s guidance and leading, protection, and safety.
Whether going out or not, you could pray for your neighborhood using a map; look up your address on google or Apple maps and zoom in to see and pray for houses around you. Another possibility is to use an app like Bless Every Home (video link). This helps you keep track of who and where you’ve prayed. It can be a great tool to help to get to know your neighbors as well.
Testimonies
Please share your stories from Prayer Walking, without names, to Mark Essenburg, Director of Outreach & Enfolding. The story may be featured on the blog as a way to hear about how the Lord has worked through Prayer Walking, so please indicate if the story can be shared publicly (leadership may edit for space and clarity). We’d like to encourage one another during this time with how the Lord is working in our midst and bringing about the transformation we’re praying for.
Closing
We hope that this system makes it easy to connect and pray together for our neighbors and neighborhood. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Essenburg. Prayer Walking not only blesses those we pray for, it also blesses you as you pray, strengthening your faith and relationship with the Lord. It’s also a place to practice using gifts that God has given, so be open to how He wants to use you and be discerning of when and how He leads to use your gifts. Be blessed as you go and may the Lord make His face to shine upon you!
