For much of my ministry, I never really thought about this question. In fact, I had been a pastor for over 20 years before this question even crossed my mind. Not because corporate prayer was easy, but because I wasn’t trying to do it. But when I finally tried to lead a church in prayer, specifically in corporate prayer gatherings, that is when I hit the wall.
Learning to pray together as the gathered church is neither easy nor automatic. It takes leadership, preparation, and persistence. And for me, it began by honestly facing the reasons why we struggle with corporate prayer in the first place.
My Story: One Ounce of Prayer in a Ten Pound Bag
I grew up in a home with parents who loved the Lord and loved each other. We were at church every Sunday morning and most Sunday nights. But we never went to Wednesday night prayer meeting. It wasn’t that anyone told me prayer meetings were unimportant or optional; I absorbed the lesson by observation. Good Christians went to worship and Bible study. Prayer meetings were optional.
That assumption followed me into ministry. As a student at Baylor, I bounced between several churches but never attended a prayer meeting. When I enrolled at Southwestern Seminary, I completed 96 hours of graduate work which included one elective on prayer. But I don’t remember anyone teaching me the importance of a corporate prayer gathering or how to lead one.
Stop and think about that. A seminary training pastors for local church ministry never once discussed how to lead a group of God’s people in prayer. Preaching classes? Plenty. Missions and evangelism? Entire departments. But corporate prayer? Silence.
I’m happy to report that my alma mater has already begun to correct course on this by offering classes such as Prayer and Global Ministry and by establishing a renewed emphasis on campus prayer life, but when I graduated and began serving churches, I had no vision or training for leading the gathered church in prayer. My first church didn’t have a prayer meeting before I came, and I didn’t start one. My second church did, but it was the typical model: we shared health concerns, held hands in a circle, listened to each other pray, and then moved on to Bible study because gathering together for the sole purpose of prayer was not enough to gather a crowd.
To summarize, no healthy models to follow, no preparation in how to lead. What could go wrong?
When I arrived at my current church over 20 years ago, about 40 people attended the Wednesday night prayer meeting. After six years of hard work and new ideas, I grew that meeting from 40 to 12. I tried everything, except learning how to lead God’s people in corporate prayer.
Finally, after three decades in ministry, I started asking the right questions. Why is praying together so hard? What keeps us from gathering for prayer with joy and expectation? How can I, as a pastor, lead prayer gatherings that breathe life into the church instead of draining it?
I even asked these questions to the few people left, and they confirmed what I suspected. Many believers find corporate prayer awkward, intimidating, or uninspiring. How can these things be?
What are We Up Against?
1. We lack good models.
Most Baptists, like myself, have seen only one model for corporate prayer meetings, and it is a model that is universally despised. Few people want to sit in a circle, holding hands, listening to each other pray for Aunt Edna’s arthritis. We have managed to combine everything that people dislike into one uncomfortable hour and then wonder why people stay home.
2. We have no training.
Pastors graduate from seminary equipped to preach, teach, and lead committee meetings. But there is very little training in how to lead people in prayer.
3. Our theology of prayer is weak.
If we believed that prayer truly shapes reality, we would treat it as our primary work both individually and as a community. The fact that the prayer meeting is the least attended on the weekly schedule reveals what we believe, and what we have led the church to believe about prayer. Do we even have a theology about corporate prayer or is all of our thinking on prayer about our personal prayer closets?
4. We only pray about sickness.
Biblical prayer includes praise, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession. But most prayer gatherings skip straight to asking God to heal the sick. By neglecting praying for the lost, for gospel advance, for justice and peace, for spiritual awakening, for the glory of God among the nations, prayer remains small instead of joining God in His greater purpose.
5. We don’t like others to hear us pray.
Jesus warned us about praying to impress others, yet many Christians worry more about sounding eloquent than speaking honestly and passionately to God. Prayer has become performance rather than communion with the Father. And if we keep putting people in positions where only one person is praying at a time, we further this problem. Genuine prayer requires honesty before God, and many believers keep their public prayers safe and innocuous to avoid revealing too much of the heart.
6. We come to church to be entertained.
Modern worship services often resemble concerts or conferences: music, media, preaching, etc. Corporate prayer gatherings, by contrast, offer no passive entertainment. They demand active participation, which is challenging for those who are conditioned to watch instead of participate.
7. Prayer is hard work.
If praying comes easy to you, you are not doing it right. Prayer stretches our faith as we wrestle with God’s wisdom and timing. Corporate prayer is no different. It takes faith to knock on the doors of heaven asking the same thing over and over.
8. The Church is not being led well.
Prayer gatherings, like worship services, require thoughtful planning and guidance. For most of my ministry, I would just wing prayer meetings. But unprepared leadership produces unfocussed, lifeless prayer meetings. If we don’t lead well, the people have nothing to follow.
Growing a Culture of Prayer
As I have wrestled with these realities, I am trying to learn how to pray and how to lead a group of God’s people into praying together. My church certainly has not arrived, but we have learned a few things.
1. Lead prayer gatherings intentionally.
For years, I assumed that prayer meetings required no planning. Just show up and pray. That approach failed miserably. Leading corporate prayer well demands preparation, creativity, and pastoral leadership equal to sermon preparation or worship planning.
2. Teach people how to pray.
Most Christians have never been taught how to pray together in a meaningful way. We try to teach and model three simple skills:
- Active praying: even when one person voices the prayer, everyone else is praying along rather than merely listening.
- Sentence prayers: short focused prayers keep everyone engaged and creates space for others, especially children or shy participants.
- Simultaneous prayer: everyone praying aloud at the same time. We know how to do this with congregational singing where we all sing the same words. In congregational prayer, we can all pray about the same thing but provide our own words.
3. Expand prayer content.
To move beyond health concerns, we dedicate each gathering to a kingdom-focused theme such as missionaries, local schools, spiritual awakening, authorities, the persecuted church, the lost, broken families, etc. Many people simply need guidance on what to pray for.
4. Use movement and short prompts.
Attention wanders during long, stationary prayers. We break prayer into two- or three-minute segments with physical activity through prayer stations or rotating small groups. Everyone struggles with a mind wandering during prayer.
5. Vary the format.
Not everyone enjoys the same prayer style or strategy. We experiment with prayer stations, rotating small groups, open-mic prayers, prayer chairs, anything to keep things fresh and engaging.
6. Emphasize thanksgiving.
Some of our most meaningful gathers have focused solely on gratitude by celebrating answered prayers. Thanksgiving fuels faith for future requests.
7. Prepare hearts to pray.
Just as sermons need introductions to draw people into the text, prayer meetings need moments to center hearts on God. We often begin with Scripture, silent reflection, or confession before launching into corporate prayer.
8. Stay persistent and realistic.
While I don’t have in-depth research to prove it, I think that even healthy churches rarely see more than 10 to 20 percent of Sunday morning attendance at prayer meetings. Rather than despair, we thank God for those who come and lead them faithfully, trusting Him for fruit in His time.
A Call to Pastors
If praying together feels difficult, you are not alone. Most of us inherited weak models, received little training, and wrestle with people’s natural reluctance. But difficulty does not excuse neglect.
Pastors, our churches need us to lead in prayer with the same intentionality we bring to preaching or strategic planning. We must teach people to pray, model prayer ourselves, and persist when gatherings feel slow or small.
History shows that behind every spiritual awakening stands a praying people. If we long for revival in our churches and communities, we must reclaim corporate prayer as central, not optional.
At FBC Benbrook, we are still learning, but we have tasted the joy of believers lifting their hearts together to God in praise, confession, thanksgiving, and intercession with expectation that He hears and acts. My prayer is that more pastors will join this journey, leading congregations to discover the beauty and power of praying together.
