An Idea for Prayer Meetings

The church we’re joining has the best prayer meeting form I’ve ever encountered. The prayer time is divided into four sections, sometimes separated by appropriate scripture reading. The first section is Adoration in which the people pray aloud brief (1 minute or less) praise to God for Who He is. The second is Confession in which there are brief times for personal for confession of personal or corporate sin. The third is Thanksgiving in which a person may give a brief statement/testimony of something for which they wish to thank God and then someone around them prays a brief prayer of thanks for the matter. The last is Supplication in which a person shares a brief personal prayer request and then someone around them prays for that request. Did you catch the word “BRIEF”? That rule is repeated often. This method serves a number of purposes. It teaches people how to pray. It is efficient use of time. It brings the body together. And the discipline of brevity is good for us all. BTW, the prayers don’t follow the usual liturgical formula of “Heavenly Father we come to you in Jesus Name……..(body of prayer)……we ask this in Jesus Name, Amen.” They are sentence conversations with God that often end with just an Amen.