It is important that we understand the power of agreement in prayer and utilize prayer meetings as a tool for changing our situations, families, government, and culture.
Below, Ill cover some creative prayer meeting ideas and topics you may want to cover. While there is no one way to conduct a prayer meeting I have laid out a simple structure that utilizes key components of effective prayer meetings.
Make sure to check out our collection of Prayers for Meetings
and Opening and Closing Prayers.
- Praise and Worship: This can either be through singing a song, playing a CD, or reading a psalm. Beginning the meeting with praise and worship creates an atmosphere of focus and intimacy with God.
- Thanksgiving: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (KJV). God wants us to have a thankful spirit, so set aside a time that isnt about making requests but rather showering God with thanks for all He has done.
- Supplication/Requests: This is the time where we bring our requests before God. It might be a good idea to separate this section into two subgroups concerning personal requests and intercession. A time for personal requests would address the needs of the members of the meeting. Intercessory prayer would be a time where you could focus on prayer for issues other than personal requests, such as the government, the education system, the economy, and ethical concerns (i.e. abortion).
Creative Ideas
- Answered Prayer Jar: Keep an empty jar at the prayer meeting and every time a prayer is answered place something in the jar, such as a marble or something related to the prayer request. Overtime as the jar fills it will become a visual reminder that prayer does produce results and God answers prayer.
- Grab Bag Prayer: Divide the group into smaller groups and place prayer requests in a bag. Have each group pick a request and then have each group prayer over their picked request. If you dont want to do prayer requests, I suggest focusing on the seven pillars that influence culture (concept created in 1975 by Bill Bright, Loren Cunningham, and Francis Schaeffer as areas that influence the culture and need Godly change). The seven pillars are arts and entertainment, business, education, family, government, media, and education.
- Prayer Walk: Pick an area in your city or area that is in need of prayer and Godly intervention. Have the prayer meeting meet in that area and then walk through the area interceding for it in prayer.
- Pray Scripture: Hebrews 4:12 states that the word of God is powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. A very powerful and effective prayer is speaking Gods word when you pray. By praying scripture we come into agreement with what God is speaking. If you are praying about certain topics, such as healing, find scriptures where God talks about healing and pray that over your situation. If you are speaking prayers of thanksgiving start in Psalms. I suggest that even if you dont set aside a segment to pray in scripture that you begin to incorporate it into your prayer as scripture is a powerful weapon God has provided us.
- Adopt a Missionary: This would be an opportunity for your group to prayerfully adopt a missionary by setting aside a time where you intercede on behalf of them. While adopting a missionary is most common you could also adopt an organization or country.
How do you operate your prayer meetings?