How to Secure Attendance at a Prayer Meeting by R.J. George

R. J. George was a predecessor of mine by more than a century, having served as a pastoral theology professor at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary from 1892 until the time of his death in 1911. George wrote a three-volume set entitled Lectures in Pastoral Theology that contains a treasure trove of pastoral advice. In his second volume, entitled Pastors and People, he explains with wisdom, care, quaintness, and even some humor how a pastor should go about encouraging people to come to a prayer meeting (pages 32-34). I have reproduced this short section below with some editing. Read More

Prayer meeting appear to have fallen out of favor again at least in the churches in which I have been involved. They enjoyed a revival in the twentieth century with the charismatic movement but the focus of charismatic prayer meetings was largely on "baptism of the Holy Spirit" and healing and not on the unchurched and the unreached. Yet every great revival, or spiritual awakening, has begun with prayer.