{"id":31672,"date":"2022-09-10T15:39:36","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/5-questions-to-make-prayer-a-vital-part-of-your-groups-ministry\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:39:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:39:36","slug":"5-questions-to-make-prayer-a-vital-part-of-your-groups-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/5-questions-to-make-prayer-a-vital-part-of-your-groups-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions to Make Prayer a Vital Part of Your Groups Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"
Priscilla Du Preez photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Joy Allmond<\/em><\/p>\n

Prayer gets cut out more than other elements of group discipleship.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times prayer gets left out of the group experience,\u201d says Lifeway\u2019s Chris Surratt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re rushed through the group experience. We\u2019ve got to get through the study. But prayer in groups is something we need to think about and focus on more.\u201d<\/p>\n

LifeWay\u2019s Director of Sunday School, Ken Braddy, joined Surratt and his co-host, Brian Daniel, on the \u201cGroup Answers\u201d podcast, part of the Lifeway Leadership Podcast Network, to discuss how to implement this key spiritual discipline in Bible study groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a group leader myself \u2026 we face that almost weekly,\u201d says Braddy. \u201cThere\u2019s a challenge of limited time\u2014time you\u2019ve got either to teach, have a time of fellowship, or focused prayer dwindles quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Surratt and Daniel asked Braddy five important questions about group payer best practices he has implemented over years of group leadership.<\/p>\n

1. What would you hope to see and hear in a group prayer time? <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Braddy, referencing Connect 3<\/em> by David Francis, explains an ideal evolution of a group\u2019s prayer life together.<\/p>\n

Class level<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a group first comes together for Bible study, they\u2019re not yet great friends,\u201d says Braddy. \u201cAnd so requests tend to be on the light side. People use caution \u2026 and stick with \u2018safe\u2019 requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community level<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cRelationships have begun to form, and people are now less afraid to reveal things,\u201d explains Braddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get better about saying things like, \u2018Pray for my son who\u2019s having trouble at work,\u2019 or \u2018I lost my job,\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m having marital issues.\u2019 It\u2019s a healthy evolution from general to specific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commission level<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is when the group realizes they have the ability to impact other people by sharing gospel\u2014and invite people to church, into their lives, and into the group,\u201d says Braddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cRequests at that level get fun because you start seeing the intersection of praying for \u2018safe\u2019 things while at the same time requesting prayer for their neighbor John, who doesn\u2019t know the Lord. When they hit the commission level, a group has a strong outward focus, and it\u2019s a great level to get on and stay on.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. How can you move your group to the \u201ccommission level?\u201d <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Braddy says the leader can certainly have influence when it comes to moving a group to this desirable level.<\/p>\n

\u201cShare stories of encountering people with the gospel,\u201d Braddy says. \u201cFor example, mention the name of the cashier at the grocery store you regularly see and are praying for. It helps the group know the leader values seeing new people coming to the Lord and praying for these people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key, explains Braddy, is for the leader to get the group thinking about who or what to pray for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve asked my group, \u2018Who are you praying for this week?\u2019\u201d he says. \u201c\u2018Who has God allowed you to bump into at the gym or in the neighborhood?\u2019 Put it out there and set an expectation that we\u2019re looking for people far from God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Braddy says, the goal is to move away from being a group with a prayer time to becoming a group of prayer.<\/p>\n

3. What have you discovered about carving out time for prayer? <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Like most group leaders, Braddy says he hasn\u2019t always incorporated prayer as effectively as he should, but he\u2019s learned important lessons that shaped his group leadership today.<\/p>\n

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See also  17 Ministry Struggles Pastors Face<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cOne thing I like to do now is write those requests on a whiteboard as they are coming in,\u201d he says. \u201cIf the group meets in a home that tough, but you can still write them down somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either way, he says an easy trap for a group is to talk about prayer needs, make a visible list, and still<\/em> neglect to be specific about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned to do when I write down those requests on the whiteboard is to then go down the list and ask, \u2018Who is going to pray for this?\u2019 And then we go down the list until every need has a designated person to pray over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braddy says another effective method for ensuring prayer becomes a priority in the life of a group is what he calls the \u201cbasket method.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the group will come in and have an index card on their chair\u2014which they\u2019ll use to write a prayer request for the week on one side and on the other side, write down a way to contact them, like an email address and a phone number,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Everyone in the group puts their card in a basket, passes it around, and everyone takes a card.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat allows each person to know there\u2019s someone in their group praying specifically for their need,\u201d says Braddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the week is over, whoever is praying over a need should contact that person and let them know you\u2019ve been praying. It\u2019s helped our group relationally, because people who wouldn\u2019t have reached out to the person cross the room are now developing a friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. How can a you better motivate group prayer?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned it\u2019s easier to lead a group to pray when I\u2019m in a genuine posture of prayer myself as a group leader, and it\u2019s not a \u2018check the box\u2019 item,\u201d says Braddy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crucial for a leader to spend adequate time during the week praying for group members and their requests. And to be honestly curious about how God is moving in each situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braddy says he\u2019s also learned how to include people who don\u2019t feel comfortable or even capable of praying in front of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf prayer time comes around, some folks feel like they will verbally stumble,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne way that often gets my group to pray in a deeper way is to circle up by threes and fours. I\u2019ve found there are some who will pray in those much smaller groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Should your group prayer time always be planned?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Braddy says some of the best prayer times he\u2019s seen in groups have been spontaneous.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne guy just started sharing about how bad his life was. I wasn\u2019t aware of all he had going on. He went on for several minutes, going into detail about his challenges,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the group circle around them prayed for him and his wife for the rest of group time. And that became our lesson: taking care of a group member who is hurting.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOY ALLMOND (@joyallmond)<\/strong> is managing editor for<\/em> Facts & Trends.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Connect 3: The Power of One Sunday School Class<\/h2>\n

David Francis<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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12 Truths of Building a Culture of Prayer in Your Church 10 Goals for Your Small Groups This Year 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community 2 Habits That Will Destroy Your Small Group <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Priscilla Du Preez photo – Unsplash By Joy Allmond Prayer gets cut out more than other elements of group discipleship. \u201cA lot of times prayer gets left out of the group experience,\u201d says Lifeway\u2019s Chris Surratt. \u201cWe\u2019re rushed through the group experience. We\u2019ve got to get through the study. But prayer in groups is something … Continue reading “5 Questions to Make Prayer a Vital Part of Your Groups Ministry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}