Saint James writes in his epistle that “the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful” (Jsa 5:13). We have all seen the power of prayer at work in our parish communities. This is the reason that the Archdiocese of Detroit requested that every parish launch an intercessory prayer team leading up to its 2016 synod. These prayer teams took on different forms. Some met weekly to pray for the local church, and others distributed a weekly email with prayer intentions from parishioners. At one parish in the Diocese of Victoria, British Columbia, the pastor invited six families to join him on an intercessory prayer team. Each member is assigned a day of the week and fasts and prays for the parish on that day. Using intercessory prayer teams can change your parish in an extraordinary way.
If you’re thinking of starting an intercessory prayer team at your parish, look first to those people who already show evidence of a strong prayer life and then branch out from there. Consider asking your pastor, a staff member, or a parish volunteer to lead a workshop on “how to pray” and use that as a springboard. Using intercessory prayer teams in your parish can bring about great good, spiritual and otherwise.
