A Practical Guide to Small Group Prayer
by Mikey Walter
I don't think I've ever met a Christian who denied the importance and power of praying together. You can't read the Scriptures and come away believing any differently. In Acts 12 we see a group of believers praying together in a home. Their cries reached the ear of God and God responded with the miraculous release of Peter from prison by an angel. In Acts 2:42 we read that the church, who at that time met almost exclusively as small home groups, "devoted themselves to [1] the apostles' teaching and [2] the fellowship, [3] to the breaking of bread and [4] the prayers.
I am a huge proponent of small groups. At New City, we call our small groups missional communities, small communities on mission together. If we were to survey small group leaders in churches across our city and ask this question, "Of the four things that the early church was devoted to, which one does your small group struggle with the most?" I’m not sure, but I suspect that prayer might come out on top. But why is that? There are several different reasons I'm sure, many rooted in our disbeliefs and misbeliefs about prayer, but I think one practical component might be that we're just not quite sure how to start or what to do.
So here are some thoughts that might help as you consider growing in prayer together. This might even be a good reference to come back to when you feel stuck and want to maybe try something new.
Corporate prayer is a training ground – We want to petition God and see him respond to our prayers, but corporate prayer is also a time of training, a time to teach and show others how to grow in their own life in God. Prayer is better caught than taught, so pray together. There are times to assemble the seasoned intercessors and let them loose to make war for an hour or more, but your small group meeting is likely not the occasion for that. Keep this in mind and try to create an environment where the seasoned and not-so-seasoned can be comfortable and engaged.
Structure is OK! – Create as much structure as your group might need, while always being mindful of the Spirit's leading. Despite what some might think, spontaneity does not equal Spirit-led. God can lead us in our times of planning as well. You may want to plan some prayer topics with specific prayer points, and maybe even some Scriptures to pray with them. Know where your people are in their spiritual lives and how much structure they may need in order to engage. It might be wise to start with a good bit of structure at first and let off a bit as time goes on.
Remember ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. We don’t have to just go around praying our “prayer requests” (supplication). Why not have a time of thanking God for what he’s done in your midst, or worshiping together, or a silent time of confession?
Stop and pray anytime – Prayer doesn’t have to be limited to a special occasion or the beginning and end of the meeting time. During discussion if something comes up that’s worth praying about, you can say two simple sentences, “Can we pray for that now?”, followed by “Who wants to pray?”. Pray, and move on. Pausing and praying like this is such a great act of love!
Break up into smaller groups – Reserve 10-15 minutes at the end of the meeting to break up and pray in smaller groups. Smaller groups create a space for people to be more vulnerable and willing/challenged to open up, even more so if you spilt up by gender. Have someone ready to lead each group.
Schedule rotations – It’s hard to cram in everything we want to do as a small group in one night. At New City we encourage our missional communities to have people share their stories, and practice sharing the gospel at our family gatherings. We also want to intentionally pray together. All of this is in addition to a meal, fellowship, and discussion. Consider rotating each week between sharing a story/testimony, sharing the gospel, and having an intentional time of worship and prayer.
Have a prayer coordinator – As with most things, if someone doesn’t own it, it probably isn’t going to happen. Designate someone as the prayer coordinator. Let it be their job to plan intentional times of corporate prayer for your small group.
Regular prayer and worship nights – My missional community regularly gathers on Thursdays, but on the 3rd week, we usually have a 3rd place event (an event outside of the normal gatherings that can be easier for an unbeliever to attend) during that weekend. We started meeting together that Thursday before the event to pray and worship. We don’t have a meal and we encourage everyone to fast. We pray for many things, but the goal is to also pray for the 3rd place event and for those we invite who do not yet know Jesus.
Pray the Scriptures – Praying the word is powerful. Go to https://ncchur.ch/prayers and you’ll find a list of apostolic prayers in the scripture. Encourage your people to use this resource or their Bibles in general. When we’re praying for a topic and I don’t know what to pray, I’ll often pull this up on my phone, read an appropriate scripture, and then pray from there. This is a great way to help people who just don’t know where to start.
Keep prayers short – Encourage everyone to pray 30-second prayers. It’s hard to really stay engaged with someone when they’re still going strong after 10 minutes. It can also be intimidating for others who may not be able to pray like that. Don’t fret if people go longer, but try to set an expectation from the beginning.
Pray together, not just in sequence – Encourage everyone to really pray together. Many times, in the middle of someone else praying, we find ourselves thinking about what we should pray next instead of petitioning God together. Stop trying so hard to come up with a good prayer and focus on approaching the throne of grace in unity together. It’s powerful.
If you want to flesh out any of these ideas or talk through what prayer could look like in your own small group, I’d love to talk with you (Mikey Walter - mikewwalter@gmail.com). If you would be interested in having a few people come help lead your small group in your own prayer and worship event we have folks that would love to help!