How To End A Prayer Meeting

Prayer meetings are things that we do as a church community in order to gather together as a group and pray. How it is done varies from church to church, and no approach is correct or better. For one church, a prayer meeting may work like a simple Bible study, where they just meet in a hall or gathering room, form a circle, and pray. For another church, it could be like a service, where there is worship, a short exhortation, and then people are asked to pair or group up and pray for specific things. After achieving the purpose of praying together, how the prayer meeting ends also varies.

Heavenly Father, beyond the technicalities of doing prayer meetings, remind us that it is more about coming before You as a church community in humility rather than following a set program. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Ways To End A Prayer Meeting?

There are many different ways for your church to end a prayer meeting. In this section, we are going to give you some ideas that work for some communities. You can do either or several of the given ideas together. However, before that, there is one crucial aspect of ending a prayer meeting that you should always remember. That is surrendering to God’s will the prayer requests you lifted up to Him during the prayer meeting.

For example, the prayer meeting may be about praying for the upcoming election. You prayed for the commission of the election to do their jobs excellently, so they won’t take any bribes but instead ensure that the election is honest. You also prayed for the people of the United States of America to exercise critical thinking and not just vote for the likable candidate but one who will lead America well and with wisdom without implementing ungodly laws.

With so many more prayer points regarding the upcoming election, you can pray one last prayer in line with those prayers, where you lift to God the prayer requests you have as a church (Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7) and surrender everything to Him in faith, knowing that He is sovereign, as written in Psalm 97 and (There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Proverbs 19:21), over the affairs of the nation. It means humbling yourselves to God and lifting those prayers you prayed to Him in faith.

 

Aside from that, here are some other ideas on how you can end a prayer meeting:

1. Prepare some snacks for the church community.

Since the believers have already gathered together, you can take that opportunity to have fellowship with one another (And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42). As Christians, we are not only to pray, whether alone or corporately but also to have fellowship with one another. It would be a good opportunity for people to catch up, ask each other how they are doing, and perhaps even pray for each other. Of course, that is if they haven’t done that while waiting for the prayer meeting to begin. Regardless, it is a good idea to have fellowship after a prayer meeting and talk about your collective faith journey while having snacks. The snacks you prepare do not have to be fancy.

2. Take the opportunity to make any announcements.

Again, this is taking advantage of the fact that the church community is already gathered. You may have important announcements to make, like when and where the next prayer meeting will be, or perhaps you need to remind the church community when the regular schedule is. In that case, that’s an excellent opportunity to announce them. The announcements you give don’t have to just be about the prayer meeting. You can discuss other church matters as well, if necessary.

3. Engage the first-timers.

Though the people who attend prayer meetings are primarily believers who understand why they gather corporately to pray to God, sometimes first-time unbelievers also attend prayer meetings. They are sometimes invited by a believer or simply curious about what is happening in the hall where certain people are gathering and singing songs. After a prayer meeting, it is a good idea to welcome those who attended for the first time, whether believers or unbelievers, engage and connect with those unbelievers, and hopefully help them start their discipleship. That is also an initiative that should be told to believers beforehand so that it is something they do automatically. Even if the first-timers are believers, they may have just moved and are looking for a church community, so they still need to be engaged and connected.

Again, these ideas are not absolutes. It’s okay to follow them, and it is okay not to. In the end, both when doing a prayer meeting and ending it, our goal is to glorify God (Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31). How you do that and how you end your prayer meeting will likely be different from how other Biblical churches do it. Still, one thing should always be in common. Your efforts should be centered on God.