Every disciple-making movement (DMM) begins with and is sustained by extraordinary prayer—a united, fervent, and consistent outpouring focused on disciple making. Extraordinary prayer means praying more than you currently or ordinarily do. The book of Acts shows that every significant breakthrough in the early church was ushered in by prayer. Prayer places us into God's presence, aligns us with His purpose, and releases His power to advance His Kingdom. DMM prayer can be practiced individually or in groups. Here’s a simple template for effective DMM prayers:
Resource
- Thanksgiving and Challenges: Offer praise to God for the fruits of your efforts, progress made, and His presence in recent disciple-making activities. Share difficulties, disappointments, and experiences of suffering or persecution related to your disciple-making efforts.
- Scripture Reading: Choose a Bible passage and focus on disciple-making. This could be from your personal devotions, and section of Scripture, especially the book of Acts, or the DBS Story Sets. Pay special attention to words and phrases that relate to disciple-making.
- Prayer: Allow the words from Scripture to inspire and guide your prayers for upcoming DMM plans, desires, and activities.
Resource
- Watch Prayer (9:54)
- Watch Prayer (3:07)
- Watch Prayer Calendar (1:32)
- Pray for your coaches and disciples. Ephesians 1:15-23
- Fast while praying. Acts 13:2-3
- Pray using the resources at sites like 24:14.
Ideas for Prayer
the open prayers
- Pray for open eyes to see the spiritual condition of the lost. John 4:35 NIV; Matthew 9:36
- Pray for open doors for opportunities to reach the lost. Colossians 4:3 NIV
- Pray for open mouths to speak with boldness and clarity in witnessing. Colossians 4:4; Ephesians 6:19
- Pray for open hearts of the lost to receive the truth about God. Acts 16:14
the 7 sails prayer
A Disciple Making Movement (DMM) revolves around seven key elements, often likened to sails. Just as a sailing vessel requires two actions for movement—raising the sails (man's responsibility) and the wind filling the sails (God's sovereign choice)—DMM acknowledges both human initiative and divine guidance. See The 7 Sail Diagram.
- Focus on God's word: select a book of the Bible, and pray through it a passage at a time, with application to disciple making concepts and truths. Pray for an increase of people who read, obey and share God's word. Matthew 7:24-27, James 1:22-25
- Multiply Extraordinary Prayer: pray for the emergence of DMM prayer groups. Acts 1:14, 2:42
- Cast Vision: pray for opportunities to share about God's activity in disciple making and invitations to be issued to be trained. Acts 4:20
- Train believers: pray for effective instruction of the DMM principles and core resources like Discovery Bible Study (DBS). 1 Corinthians 11:1; Matthew 4:19; Matthew 28:20
- Go Out Among the Lost: pray for faithful and fruitful engagement with people both in situational and intentional efforts. Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19
- See Groups Start: pray for the emergence of Discovery Groups that mature and multiply. Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2; Acts 2:36-42
- Ongoing coaching: pray for gatherings that encourage the trained to persevere in the disciple making journey. Acts 14:22, 16-40
contact list prayers
This practice involves praying for at least one person from your phone contact list each day, aligning their last name with the corresponding day of the month. Here's how to do it: Start by reaching out to at least one person and ask if they have any specific prayer requests. Pray for their needs and concerns. After praying, let them know that you have prayed for them. This often opens the door to further conversation. Use this opportunity to share your vision and possibly guide them towards training or further spiritual growth. 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-D, 5-E, 6-F, 7-G, 8-H, 9-I, 10-J, 11-K ,12-L, 13-M, 14-N, 15-O, 16-P, 17-Q, 18-R, 19-S, 20-T, 21-U, 22-V, 23-W, 24-X, 25-Y, 26-Z