HOME Prayer Ministry
Guidelines For Corporate PrayerCorporate prayer is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. Throughout the Book of Acts, corporate prayer was featured as a normal, everyday part of being a Christian. It has been said that "as goes your corporate prayer life, so goes your private prayer life." When corporate prayer is led by the Holy Spirit, it breeds trust, intimacy, and unity throughout the body and also with the Spirit. You develop closeness to those you pray with and closeness to the Spirit. You desire more. It can be one of the most fulfilling things in which you can take part as a Christian. However, true corporate prayer led by the Spirit and facilitated by a leader can also be one of the most difficult things we do if we don't surrender ourselves to the Spirit.
Because it is so important, CCV desires that everyone in the body take part in corporate prayer at least once a month. Because corporate prayer involves the full spectrum of believers from spiritual babies to the very mature and because God desires orderly worship (I Cor 14:26-39), observing prayer guidelines will allow for a fulfilling, unified, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led prayer meeting. The following guidelines should be follwed during
CCV corporate prayer times:
Because it is so important, CCV desires that everyone in the body take part in corporate prayer at least once a month. Because corporate prayer involves the full spectrum of believers from spiritual babies to the very mature and because God desires orderly worship (I Cor 14:26-39), observing prayer guidelines will allow for a fulfilling, unified, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led prayer meeting. The following guidelines should be follwed during
CCV corporate prayer times:
- Keep prayers short, generally less than 1 minute. Just a few sentences is best. It is not a contest to see who can pray the "most", the "best" or the "loudest". Prayer is not about how many words you use or how eloquently you string words together...God is not impressed. It is about flow from a heart that is in tune with God's heart and God's Spirit. Keeping prayers short helps keep focus on the topic and allows more people the opoortunity to pray.
- Keep prayers focused on ONE subject at a time and IN TUNE with the prayer topic.
- Pray Kingdom prayers! This is generally not a time to be praying for yourself or Aunt Betty in New York. If you say "I" during your prayer you typically are not praying a Kingdom Prayer. Keep Kingdom focused. However, if someone is really struggling with something that week, talk to the leader, and the group could pray for that person before or after the regular prayer time. Also, there may be exceptions to this as there may be prayer meetings or times during prayer meetings when there is a focus on praying for individuals as instructed by the leader.
- Don't be afraid of silence.....resist the temptation to break the silence just because it is silent. During
silent times the Spirit will be speaking to people. - Be sensitive and respectful to the Spirit, to the prayer leader, and to others in the group.
- Listen carefully to the leader and others as they pray and follow the flow.
- Allow a short pause between prayers within the same subject. After a long pause (minutes) and only after a long pause it may be appropriate to change the subject.
- If something "pops" into your head during prayer time, carefully consider whether it fits into the current
prayer topic. Just because something pops into your head DOES NOT mean it is from God, but even if it is from God it DOES NOT mean you have to speak it immediately. You may have to save it and bring it up at another appropriate time at another prayer time. - Reading from scripture or praying through scripture is encouraged; however, keep scripture readings to
just a few verses. It is generally not appropriate to read a whole chapter from scripture. As with a long
prayer, likely many topics have been brought up, people lose attention shortly and their minds wander...not much is gained. - It is not appropriate to pray a five-point sermon. Preaching / teaching is best done in other venues.
- Be on time for the meeting! The leader will give instructions and topics of prayer at the beginning of the
meeting. If you must come in late, sit in silence for at least 10-15 minutes before joining in so you have a
feel for the flow. REFRAIN FROM CHANGING the prayer subject during the entire course of the meeting
as the subject very likely had already been prayed and therefore you are using time that could be used for other prayers. - If you want to pray in your spiritual language, that is welcome, however please do so quietly. If you feel you have a tongue for the group, you may pray it out loud and the leader will then guide the group so that an appropriate time is given to seek God for an interpretation. All exercise of spiritual gifts must be done in harmony with scripture and are subject to the discernment and guidance of the leader of the meeting.
