8 Creative Prayer Ideas for your Small Group

It is Tuesday evening, your small group has gathered, you have had some supper, opened up about what is happening in your lives, read and discussed God’s word and now it is 9:25 you have 5 minutes left to pray together before your 9:30pm finish time……. what do you do? “David would you close in prayer for us…….”

David prays a two-minute prayer and you all go your separate ways. This may be ok if it happens on the rare occasion in your small group gathering but if this pattern is the ‘norm’ may I suggest you are missing out on a depth or relationship with one another which comes through giving prayer a ‘higher’ priority.

Sometimes groups can get stuck in a rut when it comes to praying together, my prayer is that these creative ideas may help you and your group.

  1. Plan your group time well and always allocate time for prayer, also ask different people in your group to come with a plan or activity to lead the prayer time. This will make sure you allow time for them to share what they have prepared.
  2. Make prayer the first thing you do together instead of the last (or mix it up).
  3. Pray for your city or local community – Take a current city/local newspaper, give group members a couple of pages each and five minutes to find something to pray for. Then each person prays for what they chose from their page. Make sure you don’t use up the time with people sharing what they chose, it is better to move straight into prayer.
  4. Taper candles can be lit and placed in sand buckets by group members, prayer can be on a specific topic or prayers can be said in silence. Add symbols, pictures and quiet music to create a different atmosphere for your prayer time.
  5. Split the group into a smaller sub groups, and then pray for one another. Sometimes quieter members feel more comfortable praying in a smaller group.
  6. Try asking specific questions like, “What do you sense God wanting to do through you in the coming weeks?” or “How would you like God to work through you this week?” Or ‘This week ground rule; you can only pray for a personal concern tonight.  Nothing for your sister’s husband’s co-worker’s daughter’.
  7. Prepare some large cards with words on them – such as ‘gratitude’ ‘grace’ ‘forgiveness (or the fruits of the spirit) place them where people can see them and then use these words as your prayer focus. Use one, two or multiple words or words which connect with the topic/passage the group has been studying.
  8. Listen to a piece of instrumental music, as each person listens ask them to write a prayer of worship or thanks to God, when the music has finished invite anyone who wishes to, to share their prayer.

Author

  • Tracey Ware

    Tracey has a heart and passion for small group ministry which goes back to her teenage years. It was in a small group that she was mentored, challenged and encouraged in her Christian walk. She believes that small groups have amazing (often unleashed) potential to impact not only the local church but our world! ?Tracey is an ordained pastor and has had many years’ experience in small group ministry in both NSW and Victoria – (Australia). She is currently the Pastor for Life Groups at Syndal Baptist Church. She was a guest presenter at the Twelve Conference in April 2015, and also established the first SGN Huddle in Australia in Sept 2015. (Melbourne VIC). Tracey is married to David and has two young adult sons.

Have a question or an insight? Leave it below!

Upcoming Events

Feb

Feb 20-22: The LOBBY Gathering SoCal
Learn More

Related

Follow Us

Sign up for our Newsletter

Daniel Thomas

Connections Director

423-534-9321

daniel@smallgroupnetwork.com

Daniel serves as Executive Pastor at Community Church of Mountain City, TN.  Daniel and his family are on a mission to establish roots within their community, fight for peace and serve well.  He serves as our Connections Director in laying the groundwork for Circles. He loves great coffee and traveling with his wife Tia and two children, Deklan and Aden

ACCELERATE! Hawaii

Pricing: 

Individual Registration – $209.00

Team of 2 Registration (price per person) – $199.00

Team of 3 or more Registration (price per person) – $189.00

*Registration ends on Nov 8th, 2021. Walk-in registrations are not available.