Members of the Sioux Falls First prayer team. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conference.

During this liminal time, we hunger for God's direction and listen for the Holy Spirit to breakthrough. Now more than ever, we need the power of prayer. Prayer is vital, and the training for a Breakthrough Prayer Initiative has gone virtual.

A little more than six years ago, Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey, an ordained elder of the West Ohio Conference, author and leader of church transformational processes, stood on the stage of the 2013 Annual Conference in Bismarck, North Dakota, and invited the members of the Dakotas Annual Conference to begin praying for the Holy Spirit to breakthrough in their lives, churches, and communities. She shared stories of seeing the Holy Spirit unleashed through the power of Breakthrough Prayer in the history of the Methodist Movement from a faith community in Hurrnhut, Germany, all the way to churches of all sizes across the U.S.

There are many types and styles of prayer. Breakthrough prayer is a Spirit-led thing, according to Nilson Kibbey. "We all pray for the sick, grieving, for protection and safety," said Rev. Nilson Kibbey. "Breakthrough prayer is not just one person praying. It is engaging large swaths of the congregation, adding to the church's prayer life—a comprehensive effort allowing God to break through with new possibilities.

What began as teaching at Annual Conference and continued to be shared through the Missional Church Consultation Initiative (MCCI), has spread through the Conference with more than 85 churches and 15,000 United Methodists across the Dakotas being involved with the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative throughout the past six years.

Jane Hincks, Dakotas Conference Co-Lay Leader and a member of Legacy UMC in Bismark, North Dakota, has been working with Sue Nilson Kibbey as a trainer for the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative. COVID-19 has prompted the training to go virtual. 

Nilson Kibbey asked Hincks if she would do virtual training with a Korean church in Wisconsin. So instead of conducing a six-hour, in-person training, the congregation in Wisconsin watched the recorded training sessions and connected with Hincks virtually.  

Hincks spoke with the pastor beforehand to get a feel where they were at in their prayer life in the church. 

"Apparently in their culture, prayer is very predominant," says Hincks. "I sent the recorded training for them to watch together on their own. Then we followed up with Zoom with kind of a question and answer session."

The congregation is made up of mainly college students, creating a different dynamic than most typical congregations. Hincks says, "There was a youthful enthusiasm, with a hint of skepticism as to how this looks. I could tell they already had depth in their current prayer lives based on their questions."

Participants in the virtual Breakthrough Prayer training said they got a lot out of the training and are looking forward to brainstorming their next steps

Jane Hincks, Dakotas Conference Co-Lay Leader. Photo by jlynn studios.

Hincks plans to follow-up with pastor Han to see how they are doing. She says, "I am not sure if we will do future training like this. We need to give it a bit more time to see how it goes first. I think it went well, but I still think in person is ideal." 

Churches who have taken the training are given the assignment to implement a Breakthrough Prayer Initiative in their churches. This is more than a prayer group or a prayer focus. It is a church-wide effort that asks each member, each committee, each program to implement practices of breakthrough prayer into their meetings and gatherings. 

Pastors and laity have led their churches to prayer walk through their neighborhoods and communities. They are asking God to show them who God is calling them to reach. People lay on hands and pray over different spaces in their church building, asking the Spirit to break through, remove an obstacle, re-ignite the passion, or give them a new vision. Members give sticky notes during worship and place them around the church with their specific prayers for that area or ministry; unite as a church to pray at the same time every day for God to do more than they can ask or imagine in and through their churches.

To learn more about the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative, contact Jane Hincks via e-mail or follow the Breakthrough Prayer Initiative group on Facebook here.