The Effect of Reflective Prayer on Organizational Transformation

This project looks into the underused potential of reflective prayer as taught at Awakenings Prayer Institute (API) to positively impact organizations that regularly use it. A three-part qualitative study began with investigating the literature on reflective styles of prayer and on organizational health. A retrospective study was conducted of four practitioners who have used the reflective prayer tools taught at API in their organizations. The final part of the qualitative study was an intervention in which three organizations were measured before and after undergoing a trial period of regular reflective prayer. Four aspects of organizational health were measured in the intervention:

1. the extent to which the organization sought alignment with the will of God,


2. the effectiveness of conflict resolution,


3. the processes in place to avert leadership dysfunction, and


4. joy at the work.

The outcomes, although consistently showing improvement in all four aspects of healthy organizations, were quite undramatic. Although the numerical increases were all, the narrative responses confirmed the positive direction of the change. Limitations time and scale no doubt had an adverse effect on the results. Perhaps with a longer test period and a larger pool of participants, the numerical results would have been more remarkable. With a caveat of cautious optimism, reflective prayer was shown to result in a closer alignment with God’s will, more effective conflict resolution, more accountability in leadership, and more joy at work.