Prayer is an important part of meeting together as believers. Prayer should be included in the small group. But often it can be uncomfortable and foreign to people in the small group.

How can you help people pray at small group? Offer them a prayer template with prepared prayer and they can just fill in the blanks like the person’s name or the topic. Pray through the Bible that gives people a subject and platform. Demonstrate it and continue to encourage people it’s a priority.

Making Prayer a Staple

The absolute best thing you can do for your small group is praying for them. Take time on a regular basis to pray for each and every individual in your small group. Pray specifically about what they’ve expressed they want help with, or how they want to grow. In addition, pray about what you’d like to see God do in your small group.

Prayer at the beginning and end

A time of fellowship based on the platform of faith in Jesus Christ should begin with prayer. Start small group, after an open social time, with a prayer out loud and inviting God to meet you there. Pray about the material. Pray that people will participate, be transparent, and be authentic. Pray that your conversations will honor God and that everyone will be encouraged. At the end of your time praying that God will use what you learned during this time, that God will help people apply it to their lives, and that people will read the Bible and invite God to participate in their lives every day, not just on small group days.

By setting this example as a leader you do several things;

1. Your setting the standard that prayer is important and will be included in the small group
2. You’re showing your dependency on God. You are not in control. You are the small group ‘leader’ but you’re not leading much – God is.
3. You’re providing an example to others on how to pray.

Invite others

When it’s time to pray at the beginning or end of the small group invite others to participate. Early on, or with a group of new believers, ask it opening like, “would anyone be willing to pray for our time together?” Notice the careful choice of words ‘willing‘. Don’t ask if anyone ‘wants’ to pray. After you ask leave enough time for people who might be considering to answer. This will be uncomfortable, but that’s what leaders do – they push into the uncomfortable. After asking if anyone is willing to pray, leave at least ten seconds. I like to count silently in my head as I look around and try to make eye contact with each person. This can seem like an eternity. Allow this opportunity for God to work. I’ve been surprised so many times with people speaking up at the last second volunteering to pray.

After a couple of small groups of you inviting others to pray, and waiting ten seconds, people will begin to anticipate this time and opportunity is coming. People will start to feel more uncomfortable with the ten-second silence than they will be praying.

Use a Template

Usually small groups will include an ‘application’ or ‘what you learned’ time toward the end. This is a great time to include prayer. Provide the expectation that everyone will be praying for the person on their ‘left’ tonight after they share what they’ve learned. Let them know that it’s alright if they haven’t prayed before or felt uncomfortable praying. If they don’t feel comfortable praying they can use this template you will pass out.

The template says “Dear Lord Jesus, please help (insert name)___ with what they have shared tonight, Amen.” If it’s someone’s time to pray and they still don’t’ want to pray even with the template, that’s alright. Ask them to pray silently in their head. If they still don’t, that’s alright too. Give them space and freedom and don’t pressure them.

Pray Proverbs

Another great way to help people pray in the small group is praying over Proverbs. Instead of trying to explain, let’s just go through an example:

Proverbs 10:1:“A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.”

Prayer “Dear Lord, help me be wise and not foolish.”

Proverbs 10:2:“Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.”

Prayer “Dear Lord, help me consider what I treasure. Will you give me desire righteousness more than material things.”

I picked Proverbs 10 at random, but you do this with any Proverbs. Give it a try, or bring it to the small group to help people pray.

Allow People to See the Need

Ask if there are any prayer requests during small group. Make this a dedicated time during small group. Go around the room and ask if there are any prayer requests. Again, people like to share what’s going on in their life. By tying this prayer we’re demonstrating our trust that God can help.

As people become more mature and comfortable with prayer, you can ask individuals to pray from someone. For example, after someone shares that they are having a hard time at work, ask someone directly by name, if they are willing to pray for them. Again, this might be uncomfortable, but this is one of our purposes as leaders to serve and go into the uncomfortable. Ask, the worse they can say is no. And in that case, ask if anyone else is willing. This time, don’t wait ten seconds because we don’t want the person we’re praying to feel like no one cares or their prayer request isn’t important. Just let the question hang a short time and then offer to personally pray for them.

After a while people get used to the prayer time, they expect and they become more comfortable with it. They also are seeing and hearing other people pray. They have been equipped with templates on how to start with a simple prayer.

Popcorn Prayer

This is where someone kicks off prayer and leaves it open for anyone to pray at any time. It’s an open forum for prayer. Provide a window of time that will be dedicated to prayer, then give members expectations you have of them. Tell them that you want people to pray if they feel like prayer. If the Lord lays something on their heart or mind, to pray. Let people know they don’t have to pray. During popcorn prayer, allow for silence. Become comfortable with silence. After a while when no one is praying, go ahead and conclude the prayer time.

Recap

Prayer can be uncomfortable for people new to the small group. Be patient with them and don’t require people to pray. At the same time ensure that prayer does have a place in your small group and communicate how important it is.

After setting the importance of prayer and showing it’s apart of the small group, move to the next step of equipping people with a prayer template. Not everyone will use it, some will still be uncomfortable while others will prayer without using it. But this templates sets an even stage and equips everyone without leaving someone feeling unequipped.

Next invite people to pray. Either through an open prayer time or during the application time, praying for the person next tot hem. Provide an opportunity for them to pray out loud and in front of people

Lastly, ask people directly to pray. Help people feel a little bit of accountability to grow in this area of faith.

Prayer can be uncomfortable. But by emphasizing it’s important, and demonstrating how to do it, and allowing time, it will help people pray in the small group. The blessing of faith and growth will be incredible and people will get more and more excited about it.

What if someone tells me they will NOT prayer,…ever!

Don’t take offense. It’s not your problem at all. That is between them and God. Instead lead by example and love and respect them where they are at in their faith walk. After a few weeks, or months, consider following up with them and asking them if they had a bad experience or something. Give them the opportunity to tell you their story on why this is stance.

What if prayer gets weird?

I’ve always had this little fear in the back of mind that someone will start yelling, or praying in tongues and confuse everyone. But the truth is it’s never happened to me. People are really respectful, and even people who believe in praying in tongues are respectful of others that don’t have the same beliefs. If something does get weird, go into the uncomfortable and approach eh topic softly and honestly.