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  #1  
Old 11-13-2007, 08:43 PM
meBNme meBNme is offline
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Old fashioned? prayer rooms

At one time, Nearly every church had a prayer room that was filled before each service.
Sometimes so full it was hard to breath, and vertical movement was the ONLY movement.
Many times, the service would start in the prayer room, long before official start time.
People were filled with the Holy Ghost before church ever started.... in the prayer room.
Folks would come into the sanctuary already drunk in the spirit, and a mighty worship was already going up, long before any music began.

Some churches have moved their preservice prayer to the sanctuary, "to get everyone involved" or for "organized group prayer" or "focused prayer"

Some have abandoned the prayer room altogether, and its now used for fellowship, or classrooms or drama practice more than prayer.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a trend brought on by the onslaught of hectic schedules, late work hours, and people who'd rather sit and watch than kneel/stand and pray?

How does YOUR church handle preservice prayer now?
How was it "back in the day?"
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  #2  
Old 11-13-2007, 08:47 PM
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Praxeas Praxeas is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meBNme View Post
At one time, Nearly every church had a prayer room that was filled before each service.
Sometimes so full it was hard to breath, and vertical movement was the ONLY movement.
Many times, the service would start in the prayer room, long before official start time.
People were filled with the Holy Ghost before church ever started.... in the prayer room.
Folks would come into the sanctuary already drunk in the spirit, and a mighty worship was already going up, long before any music began.

Some churches have moved their preservice prayer to the sanctuary, "to get everyone involved" or for "organized group prayer" or "focused prayer"

Some have abandoned the prayer room altogether, and its now used for fellowship, or classrooms or drama practice more than prayer.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a trend brought on by the onslaught of hectic schedules, late work hours, and people who'd rather sit and watch than kneel/stand and pray?

How does YOUR church handle preservice prayer now?
How was it "back in the day?"
why isn't the sanctuary a prayer room if prayer meetings are being held there? Some churches never had or have a prayer room because they just don't have the room.

And BTW just because they have hectic schedules does not mean they are not praying or that they don't have prayer meetings during the week.
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Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:


  1. There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
  2. The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
  3. Every sinner must repent of their sins.
  4. That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
  5. That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
  6. The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
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  #3  
Old 11-13-2007, 08:54 PM
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dizzyde dizzyde is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meBNme View Post
At one time, Nearly every church had a prayer room that was filled before each service.
Sometimes so full it was hard to breath, and vertical movement was the ONLY movement.
Many times, the service would start in the prayer room, long before official start time.
People were filled with the Holy Ghost before church ever started.... in the prayer room.
Folks would come into the sanctuary already drunk in the spirit, and a mighty worship was already going up, long before any music began.

Some churches have moved their preservice prayer to the sanctuary, "to get everyone involved" or for "organized group prayer" or "focused prayer"

Some have abandoned the prayer room altogether, and its now used for fellowship, or classrooms or drama practice more than prayer.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a trend brought on by the onslaught of hectic schedules, late work hours, and people who'd rather sit and watch than kneel/stand and pray?

How does YOUR church handle preservice prayer now?
How was it "back in the day?"
Why is having it in the sanctuary not considered "prayer room"?

Since our church moved the pre-church prayer from the prayer room to the sanctuary, we have had amazing results. From just a portion of the congregation going to pray before church, anyone who enters the sanctuary in the 30 minutes before church has no choice but to be involved. We put the lights off (except for a few low lights) and have praise music playing, there is no visiting allowed, and we have been having some incredible services since we started this.
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  #4  
Old 11-13-2007, 08:55 PM
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dizzyde dizzyde is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Praxeas View Post
why isn't the sanctuary a prayer room if prayer meetings are being held there? Some churches never had or have a prayer room because they just don't have the room.

And BTW just because they have hectic schedules does not mean they are not praying or that they don't have prayer meetings during the week.
Oh, sorry, I repeated you a bit there!
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  #5  
Old 11-13-2007, 09:06 PM
meBNme meBNme is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Praxeas View Post
why isn't the sanctuary a prayer room if prayer meetings are being held there? Some churches never had or have a prayer room because they just don't have the room.

And BTW just because they have hectic schedules does not mean they are not praying or that they don't have prayer meetings during the week.
Maybe we misunderstood each other.
I am in no way saying that the sanctuary cannot be a prayer room.
And I am certainly not saying that people are not praying.
I'm also not talking about scheduled prayer meeting throughout the week/weekend.

I'm only talking about the typical 30 min before service prayer.
A lot of churches have left this. Many who use the sanctuary for preservice prayer, have found that more and more people are just sitting and looking instead of praying. Some are spending the 30 min quietly fellowshipping.
Others are running late and barely make it for service.

intimate time with God immediately before a service starts can DRAMTICALY effect the service, and I've noticed a lot of churches moving away from the designated preservice prayer like it used to be.

Now obviously not all are, but I am interested to know what all of your experiences are like.
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  #6  
Old 11-13-2007, 09:07 PM
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Praxeas Praxeas is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dizzyde View Post
Oh, sorry, I repeated you a bit there!
lol
__________________
Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:


  1. There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
  2. The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
  3. Every sinner must repent of their sins.
  4. That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
  5. That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
  6. The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
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  #7  
Old 11-13-2007, 09:12 PM
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Praxeas Praxeas is offline
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Posts: 45,774
Quote:
Originally Posted by meBNme View Post
Maybe we misunderstood each other.
I am in no way saying that the sanctuary cannot be a prayer room.
And I am certainly not saying that people are not praying.
I'm also not talking about scheduled prayer meeting throughout the week/weekend.

I'm only talking about the typical 30 min before service prayer.
A lot of churches have left this. Many who use the sanctuary for preservice prayer, have found that more and more people are just sitting and looking instead of praying. Some are spending the 30 min quietly fellowshipping.
Others are running late and barely make it for service.

intimate time with God immediately before a service starts can DRAMTICALY effect the service, and I've noticed a lot of churches moving away from the designated preservice prayer like it used to be.

Now obviously not all are, but I am interested to know what all of your experiences are like.
I think the people just sitting there are the people who would not go into the prayer room anyways.

I used to think we HAD to have prayer JUST before church starts in order to have a great service, but I have been in services where the power was just as strong and there was no 30 min red hot prayer service before hand.

What is essential is a church that is praying...all the time. You don't have to be prayed up and full of faith just before church to have a great service. You can live your life like that on a daily basis. That's how they had revival in Acts...

I look at the pre service prayer really as a prayer meeting that we all need. It can be just before church...it can be hours before church...it can be in the middle of the week etc etc.

What really matters is that people worship during the service and are full of faith.
__________________
Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:


  1. There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
  2. The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
  3. Every sinner must repent of their sins.
  4. That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
  5. That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
  6. The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
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  #8  
Old 11-13-2007, 09:56 PM
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pelathais pelathais is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by meBNme View Post
At one time, Nearly every church had a prayer room that was filled before each service.
Sometimes so full it was hard to breath, and vertical movement was the ONLY movement.
Many times, the service would start in the prayer room, long before official start time.
People were filled with the Holy Ghost before church ever started.... in the prayer room.
Folks would come into the sanctuary already drunk in the spirit, and a mighty worship was already going up, long before any music began.
...
Has anyone else noticed this? Is this a trend brought on by the onslaught of hectic schedules, late work hours, and people who'd rather sit and watch than kneel/stand and pray?

How does YOUR church handle preservice prayer now?
How was it "back in the day?"
We all have a way of romanticizing about the past. We tend to remember the good times most of all- this makes life a bit sweeter. I have been cursed with a memory that records pretty much everything that is happening around me. There were these great times in prayer "back in the day" and there were long periods of drought when even the firmest of the saints withered.

The increasingly frantic pace of our schedules is also a problem as you mention. To keep the American economy growing we have had to send our wives to work- this doubles output and caused many of our parents to make small fortunes on the housing price boom that the ladies fueled. But there are the obvious downsides as well. American managers are frantically trying to find ways of getting more productivity out of their workers. In the end, you can only get so much blood out of a turnip.

Similar thing goes on in the church. However, people are wise. They see what works and what doesn't. They are learning to save their strength for those things that have the best chances of succeeding, whether it be a new outreach program or more effort in prayer. Too often "those things" never appear.

To the tired saints sitting in the pews, what tangible benefit can you offer them for crowding into a poorly ventilated prayer room and the effort of the calisthenics that you recommend? What's in it for them? Give them something tangible and real. "Drunk in the spirit" really doesn't cut it for most people. They have already looked for such a thing in vain in the Scriptures and most have searched in vain in the prayer room as well. They need something real to get them through this. Watta-you-got?
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  #9  
Old 11-14-2007, 05:34 AM
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Sister Alvear Sister Alvear is offline
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See what best works in each church and use it...Most churches in Brazil do not have Sunday School rooms let alone prayer rooms...everything is done IN the church or out under a tree.

Get the people praying is the most imporant thing!

However I do remember growing up in the states and those awesome prayer room experiences...lots of beautiful memories.
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  #10  
Old 11-14-2007, 07:17 AM
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scotty scotty is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 5,432
Yes sir, 20 years ago it was in the basement, now with the new church we have a specific room for prayer, lights out, people on their knees, people standing or walking(thats me, gotta move) Calling out to God. Some are worshipping joyfully , some are weeping, I remember as a kid you could hear the crys to God coming from the floor. Its a feeling like you and God locked in this confined space and your just drowning in His presence. Yes sir , we still have them.!!!!!!
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