To promote a life of prayer and church ministries through prayer, the Chinese church has launched many campaigns. The church sets up special rooms and caves for daily devotion and prayer, carries out prayer chains, and fasting and morning prayer meetings, to name a few.
Prayer room
In a teaching building of Heilongjiang Theological Seminary, each of the 52 prayer rooms has a cross and prayer kneeling pad where seminary students are free to have a devotional time and pray alone.
The number "52" stands for 52 weeks in a year with a blessing that every student can have personal devotions and prayer on a daily basis.
A graduate told me that she liked to meet God and talk with Him in a fixed room. Some students even stay there for several hours.
Prayer cave
A church in Shaanxi built 66 small "prayer caves" on its sloped wall, implying 66 books in the Bible.
The 75-year-old Sister Shao has for over a decade been getting up at 4 a.m and later, praying for over two hours. Her regular prayer topics concern the world, different countries, unreached places, her church ministries, ongoing events in her church as well as prayer requests from other believers.
Sunday prayer team
During each Sunday service conducted in a northeast China church, there is a 20-strong team praying throughout the process. Teams take turns in leading worship and attend other services when it's not their turn.
Prayer group for church construction
The church in Jinsha New District, Qitaihe, Heilongjiang, has a prayer group who prays three times a day for its new church construction.
For the construction project, the congregation and especially the prayer group, has prayed various kinds of prayers, such as regular scheduled prayers, chain prayer and fasting.
Deacon Zheng who has led the group for eight years has experienced many answered prayers. "A church that values prayer will experience revival and through our prayers, the Lord Jesus will add to their number those who should be saved. Although prayer is important, how many people want to attend prayer meetings? Praying is very boring and tedious, can easily become formal, but we enjoy the sweetness of the Lord's grace under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, having the same mindset as Jesus Christ and His care for God's house... Let's pray, pray, and amazing things will come! Glory to the Truine God!"
21-day chain prayer
Since 2009, Baoji Huoquan Church in Shaanxi, 21 days before Easter, starts a fasting chain and prayer movement. During that period, the congregation meets every evening and takes a rented bus home when the gathering ends.
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."(James 5:16)
- Translated by Karen Luo
