Prayer Mapping

 

This past summer the Pastor from the mission team that came to serve with us introduced us to a new concept called "Prayer Mapping". While our church is familiar and even consistent to an extent in prayer walking this was a new concept to us that was completely transformational in how I personally am going to approach praying for my community and neighbors. 

In prayer mapping, while you most definitely pray while out walking in the neighborhood you take it a step further and make notes of what you observe. For example, you see a house with a trampoline so you would note that there is a connection to kids in that home, or you notice a wheelchair ramp so you make note that maybe there are elderly that need assistance in that home. The idea is that you then think of ways that you or your church can serve those people. 

On September 29th our church decided to do a serve Sunday and rather than stay in the four walls - we went out prayer mapping throughout the community of Olathe, Co. We divided up into 4 teams and each team had specific areas they were mapping. The task was this: pray, try to start conversations with those you encounter, map what you notice AND find at least 3 homes that you as a team can go back and offer to serve. The information and feedback we got was amazing! All four teams had specific thoughts on how they could serve the areas they covered. I am excited to see how God uses this means of being a church that went beyond the walls to reach our community!