This paper is focused on how this committee works as a Prayer-Nominating Committee that meets every month as a prayer group and makes their nominations in the context of prayerful discernment. A second focus is on assuring that the committee itself, is made up of spiritually mature persons who are equipped to make prayerful nominations of spiritual leaders. A church that wishes to incorporate prayerful discernment in governance is fully dependent upon The Committee on Lay Leadership functioning as a Prayer-Nominating Committee. This paper was prepared for United Methodist churches, but you can easily make adjustments in nomenclature according to your polity and structure. This paper gets to the actual beginning point for a congregation wishing to become a Prayerful Discernment Church, which is the Committee on Lay Leadership or your church s counterpart.
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This is a tested and workable plan for uniting a congregation in prayer on a vital concern. Although the time frame is adjustable, our congregation held our Season of Prayer from Labor Day until Thanksgiving Sunday. Each Sunday morning worship service featured a progression of methods of prayer that were taught and experienced as we were learning to pray together. After we selected the all-important prayer focus we entered into seasons of silent prayer, communal prayer, spoken prayer at the altar and prayer while we were seated in the pews. We offered homilies and guidance on prayer forms, including the Korean form of Tong Sung Kido, and we ended with a church-wide prayer vigil.