The Prayer Movement: Reformation Not Revolution
- Nov 16, 2015
- 3 min read
The Prayer Movement proper is an organic, non-centralized movement among Protestants and "Charismatic" Christians with roots in the U.S. and England. This movement is diverse, but it is centered on creating spaces (usually referred to as "houses of prayer") for night and day prayer and worship based largely on the model established by King David when he took a portion of Israel's Levites and assigned them to the ministry of singing and making music night and day (likely 24/7). This group of Levites represented over four thousand individuals initially, and took part in the creation and preservation of the Psalms. In less than twenty years, the Prayer Movement has spread globally. There are at least ten houses of prayer in Virginia alone.
At their core, these houses of prayer share basic similarities or values with each other, although again, there is a tremendous level of diversity. These values include, but aren't limited to, (1) the value of corporate prayer (see Acts 2 and 4), (2) antiphonal (or responsive) singing and praying (Eph. 5:19), (3) the power and necessity of intercession (Lk. 18:1-8, Acts 2:23-31), and (4) combining the declaration of the Scriptures with our prayer and worship (Neh. 8:1-8; Eph. 5:19). In general, every house of prayer will reflect these practices, but in their own language and with their own methodology.
Now most mainstream Christians in the U.S., whether they like it or not, have seen this as a revolutionary movement–ushering in a new way of doing things in the church. And, very understandably, this has caused many leaders in particular to be wary and suspicious of our community. One of my main objectives in returning to Regent University a couple of years ago was to pursue some of these concerns myself. What I discovered is that the Prayer Movement is reformational, not revolutionary.
Now I could write a whole book on this subject (and one day I just might!), but I am going to prove this point in the simplest way I can for the sake of brevity. So simply stated, the four values I noted above, have been present in the expressions of worship found in the majority of churches for the last two thousand years. You can see this clearly in those denominations which have maintained many of the centuries-old practices of the church, namely Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations (together these groups make up the majority of Christians in the world).
All of these denominations incorporate the public declaration of the Scriptures, responsive singing and praying, corporate intercession–sometimes including a time for spontaneous intercession to be made–and combining the Scriptures with worship. We also find in their rythms of worship an important emphasis on night and day prayer to varying degrees. The Prayer Movement is merely reawakening these practices in modern Christianity, and incorporating them into the modern context of the 21st century, which sadly, the majority of the churches in the denominations listed above have failed to do.
I could say so much more about this, but this blog has already gone longer than I prefer. But I will be unpacking this more in the future, along with the other ways in which the Prayer Movement is reformational. But for now, be bold in partnering with the Prayer Movement that God is orchestrating among the nations, recognizing that we are flowing in the same stream of worship that God's people have embraced for millennia, even spanning back to the times of Moses and King David.
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P.S. If you have a particular interest in the eschatological beliefs associated with the Prayer Movement, which are also diverse, know that I will be writing about these in the future as well. In general, these beliefs are the same as that of the ancient church. A good place to start is comparing the relevant teachings from Mike Bickle's online library with Thomas Oden's Classic Christianity.
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