03.19. The Prayer Meeting

The Prayer Meeting The prayer meeting was in progress. A few older saints had met for that purpose in an upper room of the chapel. But no one was praying. No one was saying a word. The silence was deafening. Then the stillness was broken by the slow, heavy clumping of footsteps on the stairs. A large black woman entered the room and sat down. Still no one prayed. Finally she couldn’t stand it any longer. She lifted up her voice and prayed. "Lawd, ah knows this place is dead. You knows this place is dead. It’s the deadest place either of us has been in for a long time." Then she rose and departed. After that there were no silent periods in that particular meeting. Perhaps she was an angel, sent to revive a dying prayer meeting, and a dying assembly.

There is no reason why a prayer meeting can’t be meaningful, interesting and effective. And a meeting like this is guaranteed to be well-attended. Yet in many churches today the prayer meeting has been given up as a lost cause and replaced by a small group fellowship, a teaching service or a time of “sharing”.

Some of the factors that have contributed to the death of the prayer meeting are participation by only the same few people every week: predictable prayers; long, dull pauses; crowding out of prayer by other activities. How can we deal with these problems?

First we must humbly acknowledge that there is a problem and then be willing to make changes.

Generally speaking it is true that people enjoy a meeting when they have some part in it themselves. So our first goal is to Increase participation in the prayer meeting. How can we do this in a Scriptural manner? Suggestion: have the men break up in small groups and pray in one section of a fairly large room, and the women do the same in another area of the same room. Movable chairs are ideal for this arrangement; fixed pews are not. In a meeting like this everyone has the opportunity to pray, and in small groups, people usually pray more than once. But of course there has to be a good supply of fuel for prayer. This need not be a problem. The person opening the meeting asks for worship and praise items; prayer requests; answers to prayer; etc. The Christians know that they should come equipped with paper and pencil to write down these requests; there will be far too many to remember.

Preliminaries such as singing, announcements, etc. should be kept to a minimum. Prayer is the main thing. Even ministry of the Word could be advantageously planned for another time. When the praying begins, there is a low, sacred sound of praise and petition filling the room, but no confusion. People hear only the prayers being offered in their own group. The time will pass quickly. Young people will feel free to participate freely. Everyone will welcome the change. The experience of multitudes is that prayer in a format like this is a joy and not just a duty. It is so stimulating that people don’t want to stay away. There is a sense of personal involvement, or sharing the joys and sorrows of others, and of seeing answers to prayer continually.