Artwork for podcast The Church Lobby
Ep 127: Effective Small-Church Prayer Strategies, with Chris Paavola
Episode 1277th May 2026 • The Church Lobby • Karl Vaters
00:00:00 00:47:46

Share Episode

Shownotes

Prayer is a foundation of a healthy Christian life and church. Karl Vaters talks with Chris Paavola about four strategic ways his church prays that can help any church lay a more solid foundation for health.

The foundation of this conversation is a talk Chris gives to pastors, titled 4 Ways Small Churches Can Grow in Prayer.

  1. Sunday Intercessory Prayer
  2. Prayer Services
  3. Prayerwalking
  4. A new way to take prayer requests

This last point comes straight from the Bible using the for/that method. It can make your church prayer request times feel less like gossip and more like the time of connection and intercession they’re meant to be.

Chris Paavola is a pastor in Battle Creek Michigan who has written and spoken extensively about prayer, including Pray What You See: A Five-Week Prayerwalk Challenge.

Bonus Content

One Statement, One Question: The Power of a Simple Witness in a Complicated World, with Chris Paavola

Karl Vaters talks with Chris Paavola about how the resurrection of Jesus changed (and still changes) everything, especially to cut through the clutter by bringing unbelievers into the real reason we believe what we believe.

One Statement: “That’s not why I believe.”

One Question: “What do you think happened on Easter morning?”

Links:

PrayForYourChurch.com

@chris_paavola on Instagram

@chris_paavola on X (Twitter)

Using AI To Find Great Sermon Illustrations, with Darrell Stetler (Ep 111)

Books:

Pray What You See: A Five-Week Prayerwalk Challenge

25 Prayers to Christmas: Praying through the Christmas story

52 Prayers for Your Church: Because there's so much to pray

The Seven Symbols of Ash: An Interactive Ash Wednesday Experience

Less for More: Seven fasts in seven weeks for more of Jesus

40 Prayers to Launch: 40 prayers to help people pray for your church plant’s launch

To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube