The Importance of Prayer in Ministry

Tuesday was a day of prayer for Cru staff members around the world. In the morning I joined an online prayer meeting with my Innovation group teammates around the country. In the afternoon I gathered (in person, but socially distanced) to pray with a small number of local staff members who work in various support roles in the Indianapolis office.

Prayer has always played an important role in Cru’s ministry. When founders Bill and Vonette Bright were alive, they told us many times how God used a 24-hour prayer chain to help them establish the first Campus Crusade for Christ movement on the UCLA campus in 1951. By the time I came on staff in 1978, Cru had a long-standing tradition of setting aside two full workdays every year to pray (one in April and one in October).

You may be wondering, “What in the world does an entire workday of prayer look like? Do you just sit in one chair all day and pray?” I have experienced a variety of prayer activities during our Worldwide Day of Prayer over the years, including praying alone and with others, praising through musical worship, praying through a psalm, moving with a small group from room to room to pray through requests posted on the walls, and pairing up for prayer walks. We’ve prayed for requests from local ministry teams, requests from Cru ministries around the world, and our own personal requests.

praying through scripture
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

The theme of Tuesday’s Worldwide Day of Prayer was “Designed to Love” based on Matthew 22:37-40 and Ephesians 2:10:

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40, NIV).

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).

Would you join us in praying through Ephesians 2?

You can do something similar to what we did Tuesday.  Pray through Ephesians 2:1-10 first and then through Ephesians 2:11-22.

For each passage, read it two times slowly. (It will help to read it out loud.) Take time to ponder what the passage reveals about

  • who God is,
  • what God has done for us, and
  • what God has designed us to be and to do.

Let these insights lead you to praise Him and pray for His design to be more evident in our lives individually and corporately.

Denise DiSarro

View posts by Denise DiSarro
I am a staff member with Cru, a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ. I work on a creative team in the Indianapolis area.
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