I love using crock-pots!  These slow-cookers are ingenious.  In the morning you pile it full of whatever you want to have for dinner at night.  And slowly but surely after many hours the dinner is ready to be enjoyed.  The food is always delicious, tender, and full of flavour.  But that is not all.  Throughout the entire day the kitchen and surrounds are full of the aroma of the pending meal.

I mention crock-pots to highlight a principle about prayer.  One of our goals in the CRCA is to develop a culture of prayer in our churches. In the book City of Prayer , Daniel Henderson is quoted as saying that 'a prayer culture is more of a crockpot than a microwave.'  A microwave is not my appliance of choice.  It cooks food rapidly by blasting it with electromagnetic radiation.  It is quick and easy, but gone are the benefits of food being delicious, tender, and full of flavour.  If we are to develop a culture of prayer in our churches Henderson's suggestion is a good one.  We must take a crock-pot approach.

I was reflecting on what a crock-pot approach to prayer might look like.  First, such an approach does not look for instant results when we engage in prayer.  Say a quick prayer and expect immediate results.  A prayer culture is marked by persistent prayer(Luke 18:1-8), long-suffering prayer(Psalm 37:7,8), and continual prayer(I Thess 5:17).  We keep on praying, even when the answers to our prayers don't come.  We keep on praying, even when it appears that evil is winning over good.  Our prayers need to be slow and steady, just like a crock-pot.  

Second, a crock-pot approach to prayer is full of hope and expectation.  As we persist in continual, long-suffering prayer we know that our God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...." (Ephesians 3:20)  This is the confidence that Paul held on to as he prayed for the Ephesian Christians.   And this is also our confidence when we pray.  The crock-pot does not bring instant results but the aromas filtering and filling the air make us confident that something good is coming.  And that is what a culture of prayer looks like.  As we engage in prayer we are confident that we "will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." (Psalm 27:13)

I like to mention the rest of the principles of developing a culture of prayer given by Daniel Henderson:

1. A prayer culture is not a prayer program.
2. A prayer culture always emanates from the epicenter of church leadership.
3. A prayer culture is fueled by experience, not explanation.
4. A prayer culture is rooted in clarity and conviction about community.
5. A prayer culture is sustained by the right motives.
6. A prayer culture is a key to supernatural mission accomplishment.

Are you keen, as we are, to develop a culture of prayer in your church?   Then note point number two.  This is the most vital principle.   You will never build a culture of prayer in your church unless the church leadership is on board.   As pastors, elders, and other church leaders, we need to build a culture of prayer into our lives, our marriages, families, and ministries.  As goes the leaders, so goes the church.  Session meetings, staff meetings, elder meetings, and other leader meetings need to be saturated with prayer.   It is not enough just to teach about prayer or prayerfulness; people need to experience it!

So here is my encouragement!  Remember the crock-pot when you pray or engage in prayer ministries in your church.  Allow your prayers to take time.  Be slow and steady in your prayers.  And pray with expectancy!  Remember the feast is coming!  Our Lord is preparing a table for us(Psalm 23:6).  Revival will come.   "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29)  Yes, the feast is coming!