How to Lead a Prayer Meeting

God has called us to gather corporately to pray as a church community. In the book of Acts, we see the early church devote themselves to the apostle’s teachings, fellowship, and the breaking of bread and prayer. That is why we practice corporate prayer, where we get to gather as a church community to pray for specific points and for each other. That is why we have prayer meetings organized by a person or a particular group of people who are either volunteers or full-time staff of the church. If you are leading the prayer meetings in your church or are part of the team that does so, this article will show you some practical tips that you can apply as you lead and conduct prayer meetings. Note that these tips are not absolute or universal. Different congregations have different ways of leading and conducting their prayer meetings that work well.

Acts 1:14

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

Acts 2:42

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

How do you conduct a prayer meeting?

When conducting a prayer meeting, it is essential to plan. You don’t plan in order to make the prayer meeting a formal event or a program, but instead, you plan so that the prayer meeting goes smoothly. For example, suppose you conducted a prayer meeting and didn’t prepare the prayer points you would like the believers to pray for beforehand. In that case, the believers gathered in the prayer meeting won’t know what to pray for as a group. While you may be able to think of prayer points on the spot, it is better to prepare the prayer points beforehand. That way, you can think of all the prayer points you should include and avoid missing any of them. That is just one of the things that you must plan as you conduct a prayer meeting. Depending on the venue of the prayer meeting, you may need to prepare and assign volunteers ahead of time to prepare and operate the sound systems, like the microphone and speakers. You may also need to assign volunteers who will prepare and arrange the chairs and even volunteers who will lead the worship. You can also plan out who will conclude every prayer point with prayer and give a short exhortation before or after the prayer points are given. While you shouldn’t make a prayer meeting into a formal event, it is essential to plan for conducting the prayer meeting.

Another thing you should note is that as you plan and conduct a prayer meeting, don’t try to do everything on your own. Yes, you may be the one spearheading or leading the prayer meeting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you alone should prepare the prayer points, arrange the chairs, operate the sound systems, lead the worship, give a short exhortation, and every other essential element. As mentioned, assign tasks to other believers. Moses himself encountered the same situation. He was overwhelmed by having so many tasks that he needed to do as the leader of Israel. However, his father-in-law, Jethro, advised him to delegate his tasks to trustworthy men. The same is true when leading and conducting a prayer meeting. You should delegate tasks to trustworthy believers so that you don’t end up doing everything. You can’t be a one-person army!

Exodus 18:17-23

17 And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:

20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

22 And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

23 If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.

Heavenly Father, You are the God who gives wisdom and understanding. Give me the wisdom I need as I prepare and plan for our upcoming prayer meeting. Give me the wisdom to delegate the tasks to the right believers who will faithfully do their assigned tasks. I pray that You will cause these plans to bear fruit and that we will have a Christ-exalting prayer meeting. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

How do you lead in a prayer meeting?

Since you have already planned and prepared everything for the prayer meeting, most of what you will do during the event is coordinate. You will coordinate with the volunteer believers you have assigned to do different tasks. That means checking on the volunteers assigned to operate the sound systems to ensure that everything is good or that technical difficulties are resolved right away. Right before the prayer meeting, you can also inform the worship leaders and the minister as to when and what their cues are for approaching the pulpit. You can lead the prayer meeting by being the emcee. You can tell the congregation to stand up as you worship God, present the prayer points to pray, tell them when to proceed to the next prayer point. However, you don’t necessarily have to do all that. You can also delegate the task of being the emcee to someone else. Leading a prayer meeting does not necessarily mean that you are the one who has to be behind the pulpit. You can lead the prayer meeting from behind the scenes.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23-24

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.

Leading and conducting a prayer meeting is no different from reaching out to the lost. It is a way of serving God. As you lead the prayer meeting, your motivation should be to serve God and glorify Him. That means serving and leading with excellence because God deserves our very best.