Prayer is the life of our souls, and the soul of evangelization. Once you’ve invited someone to take the next step, you might think that it’s time to part ways; but if you haven’t prayed, you’re probably wrong! Many times, prayer will have been part of the invitation you made—but not always. Don’t part ways, usually, until you’ve offered to pray out loud with them.[1]
How, then, do we pray? We should always go into prayer listening to the Holy Spirit, and open to what He wants to do in the moment. Then when we pray, we should be confident and bold. We’ll often already have a clear idea how to pray if we’ve been an “active listener” throughout the conversation. Usually we’ll be praying for the person’s needs, and the needs of those close to them. We should also praise and thank the Lord for what He’s doing in their life. Sometimes God wants to manifest Himself to a person through your prayer in a powerful way—a physical healing, emotional healing, or a deep sense of peace and joy. The goal is to minister to the person, to love them, to build them up in Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 8:1; 1 Thes 5:11). Although we will usually pray in our own words, from the heart, an “Our Father,” “Hail Mary,” or “Glory Be” may sometimes be just the thing to put a person at ease as you part ways with them. The “ACTS method” (Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplication) is also a helpful go-to approach.
The key in deciding how to pray is to remember that in prayer, it is not our work that matters, but the work of God. Evangelists sometimes find themselves praying in unexpected ways. Sometimes before or during prayer, an evangelist will receive a vivid image, word, or Bible verse to share with the other person. It may not even make immediate sense to the evangelist, but may be meaningful to the person.[2] Sometimes, as an evangelist prays from the heart, they become aware that their words are likely from the Holy Spirit speaking within them. Sometimes that awareness comes later, when the prayer is answered.
Here is a real-life example. A street evangelist prayed with someone named John. John is Catholic and had just shared that he was deeply sad. His wife, he said, did not practice the faith and would not go to Mass with him. The evangelist began by making an invitation to prayer:
“John, I’m so sorry to hear that your wife won’t come to Mass with you. I understand how much you love her and want her to have a relationship with Jesus. Can I say a prayer for you right now?”[3]
Then, the evangelist used the ACTS method to pray:
Jesus, we adore you, we love you, and we give you praise, for you are the Messiah. You came to save us from our sins. We are sorry for the ways that we have turned against you and failed you. Please forgive us.
Thank you now, at this time, for John and his wife. Thank you for the blessing of their family and their marriage. Please strengthen their marriage, and also pave the way for John’s wife to start going to Mass. Open her heart to more of you Lord; your life and love. Bless her. Give her wisdom. Bless John and give him wisdom in bearing witness to her of radical Christian love. Amen.
After John went home, that very night, his wife told him that for some reason she had an overwhelming desire to go to Mass with him. From that point, she started attending Church and became a disciple of Jesus. John contacted the evangelist and let him know what had happened. Praise the Lord!
Like the evangelist in this story, you ought to keep your prayer short and thoughtful. Sometimes, when we pray with someone for a longer period of time, we end up trying their patience. Also, lengthy prayers can sometimes reveal a lack of faith in God’s desire and power to answer us—as if we have to convince Him by an excess of words (see Mt 6:7-8).
If you are afraid of praying spontaneously from the heart, it might help to pray spontaneously every day during your own personal prayer time. For just a few minutes, bring God your own needs and ask Him for His fatherly blessing in your life. You also may practice praying aloud with people that you know and are comfortable with. When it is time to pray out loud for someone else, you can always ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and the right words. If you make a mistake, don’t worry! God is in charge. Mistakes are opportunities to grow. They help you learn what not to do, or what to do, the next time.
[1] Saint Paul Street Evangelization’s four-part method to listen, befriend, proclaim, and to pray & invite is a great ‘go-to’ plan for conversational evangelization. But as we said before, it need not always be in that order. This is especially true of the ‘pray’ part of the fourth step. It often goes closely together with making an invitation, but could definitely come earlier in the conversation. Prayer, for example, can play a big part of the proclamation of the gospel itself. Sometimes the “gospel” that a person needs to hear is a word of truth, encouragement, or wisdom spoken as you pray for them out loud. Some of our street evangelists, for example, focus their efforts to preach the gospel specifically upon praying for people. Instead of using a standard street evangelization sandwich-board sign, they use a “Prayer Station” sign, beginning the conversation with an offer of prayer. Both signs are available at our online store.
[2] We will discuss this phenomenon more in a future module.
[3] Note that the evangelist offered to say a prayer for John. John didn’t have to do anything but receive that prayer silently. It’s sometimes wise to avoid saying, “Will you pray with me?” For some people, that can be intimidating.