Believe it or not, one of the most effective ways to engage people who are not yet a part of your church is through an online prayer ministry.
When most of us think about a prayer ministry, we think about how it can help people who are a part of our church.
But what we have found is that people who are not yet a part and have profound needs are very likely to engage with a church if there are prayer opportunities online.
There is a right way to build a prayer ministry online, and in this conversation, we’ll talk you through it.
Table of contents
Build Prayer Landing Page
The foundation of a great online prayer ministry is a great prayer landing page. This has to be more than a prayer form. Take the time to talk about prayer. Tell people why you believe in prayer. Let them know what to expect if they ask for prayer. Use photography to help better engage people. If your page looks like an afterthought, people will not engage. If you build something that looks the part, people will be more likely to submit.
Ask For Prayer Requests
When it comes to prayer, Jesus tells us that we have not because we ask not. In our experience, this is true with prayer requests as well. You need to ask people to submit requests. On that form, be sure not to ask for too much information. In our experience, it is best to keep personal details optional. A typical prayer form should include name, email, and prayer requests. This is online, so we recommend skipping the phone number for now. If you must include it, make sure the phone number is optional.
Get Traffic
If you build it, they will come, right? WRONG. Unless your church already has a lot of traffic, you will not see any activity on your prayer page unless you start getting the word out there. Promote it on Sunday and let people know all about it. Put it out there on your social media channels and ask people to submit their needs. One of the best ways to get traffic for your online prayer ministry is to use the Goole Grant for Churches. With this grant, Google gives your $10,000 in free ads every month, and you can use some of those to promote your prayer page for people who are searching.
Pray
This one should be obvious, but as you get prayer requests, you need to pray. Build a team around prayer if you don’t have one already to help share the load. Do not let these requests you receive fall through the cracks.
Follow-Up
Once you have prayed, make sure to let the person who submitted the request know you have prayed for them. A short email or text message goes a long way to let people know that this is important to you, and it helps them feel heard and know that they are cared for.
Ask For Testimonies
After a week or so, plan to reach back out to the person who submitted the request. Ask them if there are any updates. Often this is when you will hear stories of answered prayers. People love to share these kinds of stories, and hearing them will serve as an encouragement to keep doing what you are doing.
Share Testimonies
When you get those testimonies, ask the person for permission to share their story with others. If they’re okay with it, tell the whole world about the great things God is doing! Dedicate part of your prayer landing page to stories of what God has done. If you can include quotes from the person who prayed – do it. If they are willing to share a video, that is even better.
More On Online Prayer
