Think about your own Sunday School class or small group. When you pray together, what do you usually pray about? Many Bible study leaders are recognizing their class prays mostly about physical concerns for themselves or others they know and love. Certainly praying for physical healing is important, but should it consume all of our prayer focus?  Many adult Bible study leaders I speak with cannot recall the last time their class prayed for lost people by name.

How often does your Sunday School class or small group pray for lost people by name?  Recent discussions around the missional Sunday School seem to reveal a connection between a class’s prayer focus and how well it is impacting lostness.  These discussions have grown out of reflections of the Lifeway fall launch materials, Connect3.  This resource describes three levels of connecting—class, community, and commission. The focus at the class level is me. Us is the focus of connecting at the community level.  No surprise, them is the focus at the commission level.  I’m beginning to agree that how we pray tends to follow that same focus.

At this point, you probably have an idea of your class’ prayer focus. So if prayer might be a gauge or thermostat indicating our potential for impacting lostness, what can you do to move toward a missional mindset that includes praying for lost people by name?  Consider the following:
•Recognize many believers honestly do not think they know lost people.  Granted, they do—they just don’t know they do.  I’m finding the longer people are believers, the more they hang out with believers.
•As class members share prayer concerns, ask them how to pray for the person’s spiritual health. Many people will then add they do not know if the person is a Christian or not.  Further discussion may lead to praying for one’s spiritual health.
•Ask people to think about the places they frequent daily, weekly, and monthly.  Invite them to think of people they routinely see at these places.  Encourage them to go to the same bank teller, the same grocery clerk, sit near the same people at the soccer games, etc. to just start talking to people.
•Encourage members to tell these acquaintances how your class enjoys praying for people and ask how you can pray more specifically for this person. Most people will tell you how you can pray. Consider sending the person a note telling them when your class prayed for them specifically. These conversations often open the door to further spiritual conversations.
•Consider role playing conversations that may lead to discovering one’s relationship with Christ.
Regardless of what you do, recognize Sunday School classes and small groups’ prayer focus may indeed help you gauge how well you are impacting lostness.

Praying is a key component of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s GPS (God’s Plan for Sharing) emphasis.  For more information about GPS, go to www.scbaptist.org/gps.htm.

If you are interested in the missional Sunday School information or resources, go to www.scbaptist.org/smallgroups/missionalss.htm .  You may also email Belinda Jolley at belindajolley@scbaptist.org.  If you do not have Internet access, please call Pam Cashatt at 800-723-7242 (ext. 2100) to request the information.