Pastor Uses Social Media to Unite People in Prayer

Does prayer matter? If people unite in prayer, does it feel different than when they pray on their own? If an entire denomination comes together in prayer, what would happen?

These are the types of questions that Pastor Dave Struyk of Community Christian Reformed Church in Wyoming, Mich. was asking. 

He knew that many people in the Christian Reformed Church  were praying for their local congregations and their denomination as a whole, but he also knew that the life of a prayer warrior can be isolating. It can be hard to know how to pray, and what to pray for. Finding motivation or encouragement to continue praying can be difficult.

So Struyk began a Facebook page called Praying for Renewal in the Christian Reformed Church, as a way to help intercessors feel connected with each other, and to give them encouragement in a regular and engaging way. That was six years ago, and the page has been building momentum ever since, calling the church to prayer and seeking God’s blessing and renewal.

“The idea of the Praying for Renewal in the Christian Reformed Church [page] came from the way that God had been teaching me about the importance of prayer for bringing growth and new life to our churches,” said Struyk. He hoped to network people, encouraging them to pray for their own churches, each other’s churches, and for the worldwide church.

Struyk noted, “I entitled it Praying for Renewal in the Christian Reformed Church not to be exclusive but to promote the connections that we have as Christian Reformed churches. God has blessed the response beyond what I imagined.”

He created the page in 2010, but began "promoting" the posts more recently. Since then, he said, it has grown significantly to more than 2,700 likes/follows. He estimates that about half of those who like or follow the page are not from Christian Reformed churches. To help get the word, out, Struyk recently posted an introduction to the page on The Network, an online forum for CRC members.

Most weeks, Struyk posts two or three times, with quotes from well-known Christian writers, Bible verses, specific prayer requests about the church, and events related to prayer. Each weekend, people connected to the page are invited to list their own congregation and to pray for the churches listed.

“The goal of the page is not to accumulate a certain number of ‘likes’,” Struyk explained. Instead, he hopes “that those who like the page or the post are encouraged to pray for their churches and to raise the bar in what they expect God to do in bringing renewal to their churches.”

“What wonderful things does God have in store for the congregations in the Christian Reformed denomination if a significant number of its members joined together to pray for renewal?” Struyk asks on the page. As more people join the page and unite in prayer, he is excited to find out.