If you have struggled to get your group to pray together, you’re not alone. Praying out loud in public is difficult for many believers, whether they are new to church or have been in the church most of their life. Some people are just a little more shy and are rarely comfortable speaking up at all in group settings. Others lack confidence and don’t believe they know how to pray “well enough” to pray in public. And many people have just not been taught to pray. We all know we need to pray, but not everyone has had a good model of prayer.
So, here are few suggestions to get your group members praying more:
First, model it for them. Make sure you allow enough time during your gatherings for meaningful prayer.
Consider taking some prayers from scripture and praying through them with your group. (If you need help finding some, please contact me.) Look up some prayers from some of the early church fathers and saints who have gone before us and pray them with your group. Print off copies for each person and have them pray silently together. If you do this for a while, eventually it becomes easier to have the group pray the same prayer out loud together. (Again, if you need some help with resources here, please contact me.)
Consider having prayer partners in your group. Get a stack of notecards and have each person or couple right down a couple prayer requests. Then have them trade cards with another person or couple. They are to pray together that evening at group and then pray for each other throughout the week. This also helps the group develop some closer personal connections.You can have the prayer partners switch each week or each month. If you have couples in your group you might consider having them partner as couples some weeks and then as individuals other weeks.
And here’s a fun one – using small slips of paper write down a variety of ways to pray: take turns praying in a circle, random “popcorn” prayer, pray for the person on your right/left, everyone prays out loud at the same time, pray on your knees, etc… – be creative. Then place those slips into a sock or small box. Pick a slip from the sock each week and then have the group pray however the slip instructs. This can become a fun way to emphasize a deeply spiritual element in your group. (And, again, if you need help with this, please let me know.)
If your group struggles to carve out time to pray, set a timer to alert you to pray at a certain time during the gathering and then stick to it. Be intentional, be creative, give some of these ideas a try, and let me know how it goes. If your group does well praying together, please share any suggestions and joys with us here on the blog.
