How to Pray for Sunday Gatherings

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Prayer precedes power. God empowers us for his purposes as we seek him in prayer. As a church, we long to see more and more of God’s power at work amongst us, in us, and through us. We believe that there are things God is ready and willing to do in direct response to the prayers of His people. We need Him.

How can we cultivate a habit of praying for our Sunday gatherings? Create a regular rhythm in your week to pray for the Sunday ahead. Pray for CATC with others—your family, spouse, roommates, friends, or Life Group. When we incorporate prayer into our weekly routine, we will eagerly anticipate what God will do. We become expectant and long to see him accomplish great things in our midst. 

Here are several weekly prayer rhythms:  

  • Pray with our Sunday morning pre-service prayer group. Come any or every Sunday to the auditorium or balcony and pray from 8:15-8:45am. Our space is open weekly to intentionally pray for the worship services. This is an unguided prayer time. Pray alone, pray with others, pray aloud, or pray silently. Simply show up and pray. 

  • Pray in your car on your Sunday morning commute to CATC. 

  • Pray on Saturday evenings before bed with Sunday's gathering in mind, make this a weekly family activity. 

  • Pray a letter each day from the PLEAD acronym below during your week Monday-Friday. 

What can we pray for our Sunday gatherings? When we intercede, we plead for the needs of others. So, simply remember the word “PLEAD.” Use this easy-to-memorize prayer guide specifically geared toward our Sunday gatherings.

P-L-E-A-D: Pray the following prompts

P — Pastors & Partners

  • Pray for our Pastors and any leaders/volunteers.

  • Pray for our Partners: King's Cross, Utah; Cross & Crown, Ft. Worth; Renewal City Church, Celina; our missionaries in Germany & the Middle East; and For the Nations working with refugees here in DFW.

L — The Lost

  • Pray for the lost in our services to hear the Gospel and respond.

  • Pray that we would engage the lost around us in our daily lives.

E — Each Element of Our Services

  • Pray for rich engagement in the elements of our services—worship, confession, assurance, teaching, communion, response & prayer.

  • Pray that folks would be compelled by the Spirit to seek prayer from prayer partners or to seek answers about faith from the response team.

A — All Ages & Activities

  • Pray that every age of folks on campus will encounter Jesus—birth, kids, students, young adults, Adult Life Groups, and every stage of life.

D — Desire & Dedication

  • Pray that we depart with a deep desire to love Jesus and a dedication to serve others this week.

Be encouraged. Together we can powerfully pray. Together we can see the Lord do amazing things in our midst. We see a promise attached to a directive in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

What might our promise-keeping God do among us if we humbly, persistently, and expectantly pray?

Let’s pray.