Evangelistic Prayer E-Book

J. Kie Bowman

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 87

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Acts 2:47 tells us that the believers in the early Church, prayed, and people were saved. In fact, this pattern--prayer first, then evangelism--is a pattern emphasized throughout the book of Acts.

 Somewhere along the line the modern Church has forgotten that biblical formula!

 Evangelistic Prayer explores the truth of this prayer-evangelism connection and shows individuals and churches how to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ as they put this early Church method into practice. Let Evangelistic Prayer challenge and equip you and your congregation to pray with more passion and insight for their lost friends and family.

 Kie Bowman is the National Director of Prayer for the Southern Baptist Convention, and Senior Pastor Emeritus of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. He helps lead a citywide prayer ministry in Austin, where he lives with his wife Tina. He is also the co-author of City of Prayer: Transform Your Community through Praying Churches.

Leseprobe

PrayerShop Publishing is the publishing arm of the Church Prayer Leaders Network.

The Church Prayer Leaders Network exists to equip and inspire local churches and prayer leaders in their desire to disciple people in prayer and to become a “house of prayer for all nations.” Its online store, prayershop.org, offers more than 150 prayer resources for purchase or download.

Copyright © 2024 by Dr. J. Kie Bowman. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of PrayerShop Publishing, P.O. Box 10667, Terre Haute, IN 47801.

ISBN (Print): 978-1-970176-33-9

ISBN (E-Book): 978-1-970176-34-6

Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to the congregation ofHyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, where I served as Senior Pastor for more than 25 years.Together we prayed thousands into the Kingdom.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are many people to thank because a book is never a solitary project. First, I want to thank my friend Jonathan Graf from PrayerShop Publshing for recruiting me to write this project. I first became familiar with Jon more than 20 years ago by reading one of his books on prayer. Later, in various encounters, through our mutual commitment to the prayer movement, we became friends. Eventually, he became my publisher, with this being my second book with PrayerShop, and hopefully not my last.

I also want to thank Blair Hodges, my former Executive Assistant at Hyde Park Baptist Church, for his editorial and secretarial assistance on this book. When I accepted this writing assignment, I had already decided to retire as Senior Pastor. By the time I had completed it, I had retired and was Senior Pastor Emeritus, which meant Blair was no longer my assistant. Still, on his own time, he was willing to continue his valuable editorial and grammatical reviews. Obviously, any mistakes are mine, but I’m confident there are far fewer than there would have been as a result of Blair’s keen eye and knowledge of grammar and style.

As always, I want to thank my wife, Tina. We went through a major transition this year as I was retiring, completing the manuscript, and moving my writing to our home. She has always lived with my writing projects more than anyone else, but this one intensified while I finished in my home office. She was patient and encouraging and, fortunately, understands me like no one else. I thank God for her.

Of course, I want to thank Hyde Park Baptist Church, where many of these principles were practiced for more than a quarter of a century. We started on a journey together years ago to be a “house of prayer” while winning as many people to the Lord as possible. They are great people.

Finally, a book is much more than whatever the author is thinking about at the moment. A lifetime of consideration about prayer and evangelism, and evangelistic prayer, has culminated in this work. As a result of thinking about these subjects and practicing these disciplines for more than 45 years, I have naturally read a lot, heard a lot, and been exposed to a lot that has influenced my thinking. When you have lived with an obsession for nearly 50 years, it’s hard to remember how you came upon some of your own thoughts. When writing, however, it is important to give credit to the work of previous and current authors whose work you rely upon. I have endeavored to do that wherever possible. Still, the influence of multiple generations of writers, evangelists, and teachers is, no doubt, reflected in my thought process and, in some cases, perhaps even my words. I owe them all a great debt because often their thinking has become my thinking. Any uncredited similarities to other works are unintentional, and every effort has been made to properly acknowledge dependence where required.

J. Kie BowmanAustin, Texas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IntroductionHow to Use This Book

Chapter 1The Acts Blueprint

Chapter 2Praying Like You Mean It!

Chapter 3Praying with an Evangelistic Focus

Chapter 4The Strategy of Evangelistic Intercession

Chapter 5Praying for Those Who Evangelize

Chapter 6Shake It Up

Chapter 7Help Wanted!

Chapter 8Praying for the Power

Epilogue

INTRODUCTION

How to Use This Book

When Jonathan Graf, Publisher at PrayerShop Publishing, asked me to write this book, I jumped at the chance.

Early on, I decided to follow Scripture by only writing about those passages which directly mention prayer and also impact the advancement of the gospel.

We agreed this would be a short book, so I have included eight major passages, and thus we have eight fairly short chapters. There are other passages I might have included, but for what we were trying to do, I covered the necessary material.

At the end of chapters 2-8 there are sections called “Prayer Prompts” and “My Prayer Lists.” The idea is for each reader to turn the information learned from the chapter into a personal prayer guide.

Suggestions for Reading

This book is designed to increase the practice of prayer and help you become more effective in prayer evangelism.

•Read this book with a highlighter and a pen in hand. Read and think through a chapter a day.

•Identify the people you want to pray for.

•Use the prayer prompts at the end of every chapter as your prayer guide for the day.

Eventually, these suggestions for how to pray more evangelistically will become an instinctive part of your daily prayer habit.

Finally, after you have become familiar with the teachings of the book and the prayer prompts, you should consider teaching this book to small groups in your church. Organize a home Bible study or a prayer group at your office or dorm. Share what you’ve learned so that more people pray, and more people come to know Christ through prayer evangelism.

CHAPTER 1

The Acts Blueprint

Your culture will determine your future. Every family, every business, every church, and every people group united by a common ideology has an individual culture—the unique finger-print of that group. I agree with business expert Peter Drucker, who was probably the first to say, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Nowhere is the culture more important to an organization than in the hiring of the people who make up the workforce. As the lead pastor of a large church with a large staff, I conducted hundreds of interviews over the years. Building a team with the right DNA was always a top priority. We obviously wanted people with competence and character but also people who could flourish within our culture.

Since the right fit is crucial early in the hiring process, we wanted future team members to understand our staff culture. Two of our consistent team values were evangelism and prayer. One day I was interviewing a highly competent potential staff member for a key position, and I shared with him about our team values. His response was both transparent and a little surprising. He half-jokingly said, “Oh great, evangelism and prayer—the two things nobody’s good at.” We all laughed at his candor, but I’ve thought a lot about his response.

After spending my entire adult life in ministry and observing how ministers and church members live the Christian life, I think the staff candidate had a point. I’ve known a few people who were passionate and committed to both evangelism and prayer, but too few. A glance at the state of the American church tells the uncomfortable story.

For instance, a Christian journalist recently reported that a majority of Christians never explain the gospel to a lost person or even invite a friend to church.1 Even more concerning is the fact that about half of Millennial Christians think evangelism is wrong!2 Obviously, Christianity has spread around the world for 2000 years, becoming the world’s largest religion through the faithfulness and, at times, sacrificial evangelism of Christian people. Today, for some in the Body of Christ, however, the legitimacy of sharing our faith appears to be in question, reminding us that Christianity is always only one generation away from extinction.

How should we react to the dramatic downturn in evangelistic fervor and effectiveness? Can this trend be reversed? Yes. We can be much more effective in evangelism. The answer to reigniting the evangelistic passion we need is astoundingly simple, but it requires action. Are you ready to take a step and make a difference? Are you ready to understand the relationship between prayer and evangelism?

Unexpected Advice

Jesus said, “Wait.” Admittedly, that advice is counterintuitive. After all, didn’t Jesus say we should go into all the world? Yes, Jesus said, “go” (Matthew 28:19). But before we “go,” Jesus said we should “stop” (Luke 24:49).

The waiting period Jesus referred to is mentioned in the last chapter of Luke and similarly in the first chapter of Acts. The two passages are both written by Luke and clearly reflect the same ideas.

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

“And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘You heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” (Acts 1:4-5)

It’s clear that Jesus wanted His followers to experience the empowering of the Holy Spirit prior to any evangelistic outreach. In many ways, the Apostles, after the resurrection, were the most prepared, knowledgeable, and eager group of people who have ever existed to do mission work. They had first-hand personal knowledge of everything Jesus had done and said during His earthly ministry. In addition, they were eyewitnesses of the cross and the resurrection. They must have been eager to tell their story, but Jesus said they weren’t ready. They needed the power of the Holy Spirit. So, He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the outpouring of the Spirit.