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Maybe it’s an old guy’s question-I’m now 65 and I qualify as an old geezer. But I wonder, What is the state of intercessory prayer in the church today? In my Christian past I remember fervent loud prayer for forgiveness, for the outpouring of God’s presence and particularly for God’s action in the whole world. Often people prayed for folks they had never seen and would never likely meet. I can remember wonderful times of prayer as students, not only for the work in our own midst but for the work in students’ lives in many other parts of the world, for people and places most of us would never see.

But today we seem to encounter often the “empty church parking lot on Wednesday night” problem. I’m particularly interested in one phase of intercessory prayer. I’m curious about our focus on individuals and groups of people, asking God to act in the lives of other people who are not part of their own experience.

I’ve recently been taking informal polls about this kind of intercessory prayer (one could almost call it missions prayer) among Christian groups today. Almost invariably, I’ve found that an age segregation seems to be in operation. Those in the roughly 55+ age group are engaged in, or respond very favorably to the idea of this kind of prayer. Those younger, particularly 20s and 30s, seem inexperienced with it and are not even sure it appeals to them. Obviously this is a very crude generalization and grows from a very small data base. Interestingly, when I spoke with a young man who is a missions motivator in touch with literally thousands of college age students, he told me of the great fervor in prayer that he experiences in groups of students around his country. When I questioned him as to the character of that prayer, his analysis was that it focuses largely on repenting and a desire for purity and for the presence of Christ in the daily lives of the people praying. When I pressed the question further, to intercessory prayer for people around the world, it seems like that kind of prayer mostly is tied to the individual student’s missions experience. If they had a short term or other exposure to missions, they could pray with equal fervency for that particular experience.

One place where prayer does seem to be blossoming is the development of prayer teams. InterVarsity’s Urbana missions conference has long had groups of men and women who meet, some times around the clock, but usually during the platform and plenary sessions, to pray for those sessions. This kind of prayer team activity has spread largely in our chapters and in probably most of them there are appointed prayer teams who pray at various times. Again, when I inquired about the nature of those prayers they seem to be focused largely on the immediate experience of those praying.

Well, there are my informal poll results. I would be very interested to hear from others about their experiences, and I would be absolutely delighted if my experience is atypical and does not represent what is really happening in the church and among student groups in North America.

So, what are we doing to develop a commitment to and a practice of personal and group intercessory prayer for what God is doing around the world in the younger people that God is bringing in to the church?

We need creativity. In my experience young people at place A are greatly motivated when young people from place B come and report on what God has been doing in their midst. I wonder if the churches wouldn’t be stimulated by just such a sharing of stories, those who pray and see God’s responses to those prayers coming and sharing their stories with others. It would seem to me also that we could teach and train this kind of prayer with videos shot in other parts of the world where people pray as I’m indicating. This might stimulate and train our young people.

Perhaps when we have times of prayer for places that people in the group are not familiar with we should give brief historical and geographical introductions to those places and to the work of the gospel in those places. I’m suggesting there is an educational and a motivational activity to be carried out by the church leaders and those who have a high value placed on this kind of prayer.

What is the state of intercessory prayer in our churches and in our Christian groups on campuses today? I know it’s fervent for our own needs and our own experiences, but are we lifting up people and places where God is at work which we may never experience ourselves?

Terry Morrison directs the faculty ministries of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Madison, Wis.

June 7, 2002