We held a Men’s Day of Prayer on a recent Saturday. The plan is easy: Gather briefly to pray and sing together; disperse for private devotions and prayer time; come back together for a sack lunch; then disperse again until the end of the time. 

We have learned several logistical helps over the several occasions we have done this:

• Sort out ahead of time “key” questions like who will open and lock up the building.  Also, where will the group assemble, what rooms are available (and heated), is the refrigerator available for lunches, will there be tables set up for lunch, etc.
• Have the participants come to a central site, like the church. Some men may need to do their praying at home, but the advantage of the church is that the distractions of home are avoided.  The time feels more “set aside” for drawing close to God.
• Set a specific start and end time, but allow flexibility for arrival and departure. We made the “day” be 9AM until 3PM, with lunch at noon. Have a designated meeting spot for initial prayer and lunch.  Assign one person to stay in the meeting spot and brief late arrivals on the plan for the day.
• Encourage bringing and sharing sack lunches with each other.  It adds complexity to provide a lunch and takes time to procure takeout from a restaurant or fast food place.
• Some preparation is good, either prior to or at the beginning of the day.  We make available a small NavPress booklet by Lorne Sanny called (appropriately) “How to Spend a Day in Prayer.”
• We make a variety of resources available to all.  Some may bring their own, but it is good to have Bibles and hymnals readily accessible.  We also draw up a list of recent “Prayer Chain” requests and topics from Tuesday morning, Sunday evening and other congregational prayer times.  Some participants enjoy praying through a church directory or staff list.
• The focus of the day is on individual prayer, but having brothers close by provides the opportunity to ask for specific prayer and minister to one another.

This may seem like a long list of planning activities, but a smooth operation allows all to calmly proceed to praying.  Related to the second item above, we don’t want to trade the distractions of home for new distractions at the meeting place.