The General Superintendent of Assemblies of God, Ghana, Rev. Stephen Yenusom Wengam, has called for a return to a culture of intensive prayer among Christians to help achieve the global Assemblies of God target of planting one million churches by 2033.
“We must re-dig the wells of prayer. We must go back to the culture of prayer in order to realise this goal,” he said.
Rev. Wengam was speaking at a gospel revival rally held at the Accra Sports Stadium last night as part of activities marking the 10th Triennial Congress of the Assemblies of God Fellowship.
He described prayer as the lifeblood of the Christian faith, saying it was the link between believers and God.
“Prayer is the oxygen of the Christian. It’s the bridge between us and heaven. We cannot establish one million churches without prayer,” he emphasised.
Rev. Wengam expressed concern about what he described as a decline in the practice of prayer among pastors, citing research which, he said, showed that the average pastor prayed for only 10 minutes.
He observed that prayer had increasingly been reduced to a means of resolving personal challenges and meeting individual needs, rather than serving as a foundation for Christian ministry and evangelism.
“Today, prayer has been limited to a tool to resolve personal issues and meet personal needs. But prayer is more important than that. The wheel of the gospel is prayer, and this must reflect in all our undertakings,” he added.
He urged pastors to demonstrate greater faith in prayer, particularly in ministering to people suffering from various ailments, and encouraged them not to shy away from praying for the healing of the crippled, the blind and others battling illnesses.
Rev. Wengam stressed that faith and prayer must go hand in hand, warning that preaching without prayer risked becoming an exercise in eloquence without spiritual impact.
“Preaching without prayer is rhetoric. Today, our preaching is only grammar, devoid of power. All this must change,” he said.
To reverse the trend, he urged the global Assemblies of God community to prioritise missions and evangelism, drawing inspiration from the commitment and sacrifices of the church’s pioneers.
The gospel revival rally attracted the Global Chairman of the Assemblies of God Fellowship, Rev. Dominic Yeo; former President of Malawi, Rev. Dr. Lazarus Chakwera; members of the Fellowship’s Executive Committee; and General Superintendents of Assemblies of God churches from across the world.
Pastors and members of various congregations also attended the event, which featured fervent prayers and musical performances by Nigerian gospel artistes Sinach and Dunsin.
