Some of the beauty of what happens in local churches isn’t just the speaking or the programming. The beauty is found in the listening.
Over the past few years, corporate prayer has been moving from a marginal position in congregational life to a central one. “At one point, it felt like the main people talking about prayer were those who were old, or weird, or both,” reflected Reverend Geoff Eckart.
Rev. Eckart, who serves as chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the senior pastor of Daybreak Community Church in Hudsonville, Michigan, has seen a renewal in prayer movements in the last year. That renewal has shaped both his local and national roles.
At Rev. Eckart’s church, a 12-year-old student spearheaded the creation of a prayer room that has impacted the culture of the whole congregation. “The overall spirit of the church has shifted,” he reflected. “And we’re seeing people come to Christ in ways that make it clear God is intervening.”
One notable development in this movement is the convergence of key prayer initiatives, such as Dr. Jeff Clark’s “Praying on Offense” (PROOF) resource, Rev. Eckart’s work with the National Day of Prayer and Olivia Williamson’s work with Claim Your Campus. Together, these efforts provide resources and structure to the prayer movement that’s growing in Wesleyan circles.
Rev. Eckart bears witness to what he describes as a cultural transformation in the church’s prayer approach. Much like the 1990’s worship movement revolutionized the way churches engage in corporate worship, prayer is experiencing a similar resurgence in this moment. “Prayer is no longer a side issue,” he notes. “It’s becoming central to church life.” Churches that once relegated prayer to small groups or midweek meetings are now establishing dedicated prayer rooms, hosting prayer services and witnessing firsthand the ways God is answering prayers they previously hadn’t made space to pray.
Dr. Jeff Clark, associate head basketball coach at Indiana Wesleyan University and founder of Praying on Offense, has developed a model designed to equip Christians to take ownership of their prayer lives with structure and intentionality. Rooted in his doctoral work, Praying on Offense simplifies prayer into a reproducible strategy: 1-3-2. The model encourages believers to:
- Take spiritual ownership of one space they are already in.
- Commit to praying for three specific people in that space — one they have energy for, one they may struggle to pray for and one who does not yet know Christ.
- Engage in two key questions in prayer: “God, what do you want me to know?” and “God, what do you want me to do?”
Jeff’s original vision was to help build habits for individual prayer; but the upcoming version two (V2) of the Praying on Offense app weaves each person’s prayers into a blueprint for a broader prayer movement. Churches, districts, businesses and other organizations are beginning to implement Praying on Offense to sustain and expand their prayer efforts. The development of V2, which should be released later in 2025, will use gamification and community to help encourage the individual habits of prayer and the “next steps” that follow intercession with action. It is being designed specifically in response to the hunger for churches, districts and organizations who desire to launch their own prayer movement and will visually show the spread of prayer movements around the globe.
The intersection of Praying on Offense with other prayer movements, such as Claim Your Campus and the National Day of Prayer, highlights the prayer culture that’s emerging across the pan-Wesleyan world. Rev. Eckart emphasizes that churches that thrive in prayer often have a kingdom mindset … they look beyond their own programs, seeing how they can be part of a larger movement. This aligns closely with Jeff’s approach, which is built to mobilize prayer into “acts of fearless humility,” as Jeff calls them: loving actions that place someone else’s needs before our own.
Key themes emerging from these efforts are the balance between proactive and reactive prayer. While many churches are accustomed to reacting to crises through prayer, a healthy prayer movement also includes proactive prayer — praying in anticipation of what God is doing rather than merely responding to problems. Jeff’s Praying on Offense model and Rev. Eckart’s vision for proactive intercession are both addressing this gap, equipping believers to pray with purpose and expectation.
One of the most dynamic expressions of this movement is happening among middle and high schoolers. Olivia Williamson, director of Campus Ministries at Never The Same (NTS) has seen a significant shift in how students engage with prayer in recent years. “Students are hungry to pray,” she said. “They want to know how to talk to God — but many have never been taught. Prayer has often been caught, not taught.”
Olivia, who began her own involvement with Claim Your Campus as a middle school student, now equips thousands of students to lead weekly school prayer gatherings. “It used to be that when we talked about prayer, people said, ‘That’s cute,’” she remembers. “But now, they’re saying, ‘We’ve been hoping for something like this to come to our city.’”
The outpouring of support has been clear at NTS camp, as students now fill the chapel before services for optional pre-service prayer. “We don’t push it heavily — just mention it once,” Olivia said, “but hundreds of students show up. They lay hands on every seat and pray by name for their friends to encounter Jesus. It’s turning up the spiritual temperature, not just at camp, but back in their schools.”
That momentum continues after camp through the Claim Your Campus app, which guides students to pray weekly for their schools and with three friends — especially those who do not yet know Jesus. “We’re teaching them to hear God, to pray Scripture and to connect prayer with mission,” said Olivia. “This generation doesn’t want prayer to end at the walls of the church — they want to see it walk the halls of their schools.”
She shared Aubrie’s story, a student who began praying alone in sixth grade and years later helped lead a worship and prayer movement that now spans multiple schools and events. Or Daniel, a student who led a prayer group and then spent his lunch periods sitting with classmates who were alone — living out his prayers through intentional relationships. “They’re not just asking God to move — they’re moving with God,” Olivia said.
She encourages churches to get involved by sharing the Claim Your Campus app with students, prayer-walking local schools and empowering students to lead. “Students have a unique access to their schools that adults don’t. When churches affirm that and equip them to be missionaries, we see God do amazing things.”
Beyond the local church, these prayer initiatives are influencing national and even global prayer movements. The United States has had a National Day of Prayer since 1952, and as of 2024, Ukraine became the second world country to legally adopt a national day of prayer. Several other nations are exploring calling their people to intercession through a national day of prayer, recognizing that amid all the world’s turmoil, prayer can be a first resource instead of a last-ditch effort.
As these initiatives continue to gain momentum, the challenge will be sustaining the movement and ensuring that prayer remains central to the church’s mission. Tools like the Praying on Offense app, Claim Your Campus and ongoing church-based prayer strategies will continue equipping believers to take ownership of their prayer lives.
Ultimately, as Jeff, Rev. Eckart and Olivia all emphasize, the goal is not just to have more prayer meetings or write more books — it’s to see the gospel advance in new ways. The question for churches is not whether they should engage in prayer, but how they will engage. Whether it’s using the Praying on Offense app, implementing a prayer room, or asking the younger generations in our churches what prayer practices they might want to partake in, The Wesleyan Church is poised to be at the forefront of a movement that has the potential to “transform lives, churches, and communities with the hope and holiness of Jesus Christ.”
Rev. Ethan Linder is the pastor of discipleship at College Wesleyan Church in Marion, Indiana, and contributing editor at The Wesleyan Church’s Education and Clergy Development Division.
