Developing A Dynamic Prayer Meeting
Thetus Tenney

Use this chart to design a prayer meeting by  understanding what God wants in your church. Develop the
FORMAT, choose the ACTIVITES to use in each segment of  the format. An example is provided in the last section.  (FORMAT-ACTIVITIES-PRAYER MEETING OUTLINE)

Christ- Centered Format

A format is the organization and process flow of the  prayer meeting. In this one hour model, 5 segments are  listed.

Focus on God – 10-15 minutes
The Goal: To set the people’s focus on God. God desires  an intimate relationship with Him. Therefore, a prayer  meeting must begin with God. The focus can be set on God  by highlighting and reality about God – who He is, what  He can do, what He likes or dislikes, the reality of His  purposes, etc… Prior to the prayer meeting prepare  yourself by seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance to know  what to emphasize about Him and the implications of our  relationship with Him.

Respond from the Heart— 5.10 minutes
The Goal: To create an opportunity for the heart to  respond to God. When the focus is on will respond to Him  as the Holy Spirit reminds the people of key issues such  as surrendering personal agendas, faith, gratitude,  dependence, repentance, praise, honesty, thanksgiving,  etc. Having and intentional segment allows the people to  solidify their response which will prepare their mind and spirit as they continue their prayer.

Seek first the Kingdom —15-20 minutes
The Goal: To lead the people to be on God’s agenda. God  said if we seek first the kingdom HE would give us  everything else. That is why this segment occurs before  we ask our requests. Deliberately utilize this time to  encourage an outward focus on God’s addenda by praying  for carious themes such as missions, evangelism, social  impact, the backslidden, the homeless, etc. Remember  also to pray consistently for projects and efforts  occurring in the life of your church in which God is  leading. Present these themes so that they become heart  issues, not head issues only.

Present Your Requests — 15-20 minutes
The Goal: To pray for needs from God’s perspective and  minister to one another. Teach the people how to think  of prayer requests from God’s viewpoint. Also use this  segment to minister to one another as prayers are  offered for various requests such as the sick,  marriages, financial concerns, crises, the youth,  mothers, bereaved, traveling mercies, etc.

Close in Celebration — 5-10 minutes
The Goal: To reaffirm expectations in God. This closure  will be a reminder to people to expect God’s answer. You  can use different means such as giving thanks, singing,  clapping, unified declaration, etc. When God is present  people want to respond, and it sends them out on a  positive note.

Involvement Activities

An activity is any way or means to focus the heart on  God, elicit participation, and facilitate ministry to
one another.  There are 3 groupings organized to highlight their  importance to you as a leader. Activities can occur  anywhere in the format and may fit in more that one  segment.

Focusing Activities
The Goal: To set the people’s focus on God. The Holy  Spirit stirs hearts through various focusing activities  such as the leader’s words, use of Scripture, singing,  testimony, drama, etc. Especially use these type
activities at the beginning of prayer meeting when you  are seeking to set the focus on God. Continue orienting  people to God as you progress through the prayer  meeting. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, select  what’s appropriate for your prayer meeting.

Participation Activities
The Goal: To involve as many people as possible both  numerically and physically. This structures likely
opportunities for God to speak and work through all the body. You facilitate this two ways:

Numerically: God wants His people (not a select few) to  participate in the prayer meeting, therefore: 1. Give  away leadership roles in various ways including having a  number of participants read Scripture, give testimonies,  guide prayer times, etc. 2. Give everyone a chance to  vocalize their relationship with God. Create these  opportunities through activities such as singing, small  groups, individually praying our loud all at once,  responsive reading, large group sentence prayer, etc.

Physically: People’s bodily participation often encouraged their heart to participate. Utilize various
activities such as coming to the altar, kneeling, writing a prayer card, clasping hands, standing to pray
with another, breaking into small groups, etc. This doesn’t have to be calisthenics. It could be as simple
as taking another’s hand, but don’t create spectator mode by allowing them to just sit there in the pew.

Ministering Activities
The Goal: For the body to minister to and build itself up in love. God wants us to minister to each other.
Employ activities such as kneeling beside another at the altar, having new mothers stand and congregation pray for them, having participants put their hand on each other’s shoulder, having the church surround someone with a special need, having small groups surround those struggling with cancer, etc. Incorporate these activities into the format to let the body build itself up in love.

Prayer Meeting Outline

• Focus on God
As a reminder of what God can do, read Ephesians 3:14-21. Recruit a member to give a testimony of how God answered prayer during the week.
• Respond from the Heart
• Encourage dependence by praying in small groups.
• Encourage faith and put hands together to symbolize expectation receiving.
• Seek First the Kingdom
• Have mission team come to the front and other members surround and pray for them on their upcoming trip.
• Pray in small groups for local Christians on site.
• Present Your Requests
• Have every member write a prayer card and send to the Hones family currently battling with cancer.
• Pray for couples with troubled marriages. Let congregation symbolize standing in the gap for these
couples by standing in pairs to pray.
• Pray in small groups for those needing jobs.
• Have open prayer time in small groups to pray for needs on members hearts.
• Close in Celebration
Have members sing “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” in a spirit of thanksgiving trusting Him.

The above article, “Developing a Dynamic Prayer Meeting” was written by Thetus Tenney. The article was excerpted from www.wnop resource files in October of 2012.

The material is most likely copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author.

However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.