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Church Leadership

Three Things to Share with a Suffering Group Member

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I’ll never forget the first time someone called me looking for comfort in a tragedy. I was a 19-year-old student pastor, and my primary ministerial gifts at that point were ordering pizza and playing Halo. I was actually playing video games when the call came. It was the mom of one of my middle school students, and when I answered she was already scream-crying. It took her several minutes to tell me her daughter had run away from home. She sobbed, “Brandon, I don’t know what to do.”

My heart stopped. My brain shut down. I didn’t know what to do either. Nor did I know what to say. I tried to talk, but no one has ever mumbled so many syllables without any actual words coming out. All I remember was the mother asking me for answers and having nothing to offer. I had nothing to share with her but stutters and awkward silence.

If you disciple others, you likely have had phone calls like that in your past or will have them in the future. The people you disciple will experience pain. They will undoubtedly suffer dark moments. And you have the awesome opportunity to be ready for the moments your brothers and sisters come to you for help. When they call, you have the privilege of pointing them toward comfort.

There are passages all over the Bible that can bring hope to hurting hearts, but one great example is the powerful psalm King David used to preach to his own heart during perhaps his darkest moment of suffering. When David was betrayed and hunted by his own son and in danger of losing everything he had, he knew what to say to his soul in Psalm 3. This Psalm can be a powerful message for those you love when they are seeking comfort in their suffering.

But You, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts up my head.” —Psalm 3:3

Here are three things to share with your people when they come to you for comfort:

1. The Lord is your shield.

When those you lead are suffering, remind them God is their sovereign protector. “Lord” means “the Existing One.” Everything else exists secondarily to Him. That means everything that has power only has power to the degree that God allows it to exist. He is sovereign AND He is a shield all around us. Nothing gets to the crying mother or the group member you love without getting through God. When a suffering brother or sister calls, you can tell them they are surrounded on all sides by the sovereign Lord of the universe.

2. The Lord is your significance.

David reminded himself in his suffering that the Lord was his glory. The word “glory” means “weightiness” or “significance.” To desire glory is to desire significance. I’m sure David wanted to be significant. He was the king of the nation of Israel, but when that was being taken from him, he knew where true significance rested. Compared to the glory of God, everything else is weightless. You and the people you disciple will be tempted to find your glory in a career, or a bank statement, or a waist size, but when those sources of false significance are shaken we can remember that we matter at all only because we matter to God. The fact that we matter to Him is stunning. It is a weightiness beyond anything we could hope to scrape together on our own. When you group members suffer, remind them that God is their significance.

3. The Lord is your hope.

The Lord is the lifter of your head. In Psalm 3, David’s life was wrecked. He lost his job. He lost his family. He was homeless. Most of us probably can’t even imagine a moment that dark. But David knew who he belonged to. David had been known to sing of God’s faithfulness and unfailing love. He trusted that the heart of God was filled with love for him, so even as his head hung in suffering, he could say with hope that his sorrow would not last forever. He knew the comforting hand of the Lord would ultimately lift him up. David knew God always lifts the heads of His hurting children. And the suffering souls you shepherd have that hope, too. Our dark moments will never have the last word.

Brandon Hiltibidal is a former church planter and multi-site pastor, and he is now part of the Groups Ministry team at Lifeway Christian Resources. He and his wife have two little girls. You can read about his group ministry and his girls on Twitter: @bmhiltibidal.
Church Leadership

Praying for Your Small Group

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by: Tyler Quillet

Person 1: Shares a prayer request.

Person 2: Says they will be praying for person 1 this week.

Person 2: Doesn’t pray for person 1 this week.

I don’t think I’m the only person who has failed miserably at saying I’ll pray for someone and then forgetting to do so. Ashamed as I am of this, I hear from so many others that struggle with this same thing. As we do life alongside those in our groups, we must be faithful to pray for them.

This will be as simple a blog as you’ll read this week, but I want to do nothing more than get us praying for our group members. Colossians 1:9-14 has been a great model of prayer for me over the years, especially when I don’t know the specifics of what to pray for a person. I’ve simply added their name to this prayer. So, below, you’ll see Colossians 1:9-14, CSB. Beneath that, I’ll write this out as a more personalized prayer for the people in your group with blanks where you can say their name as you pray.

Instead of reading something that you’ll chew on throughout the day today, I pray that you’d be reminded and encouraged to pray for your group members. If you need a guide to do so, use this. If not, simply go to the Lord on their behalf. And, they’ll be incredibly blessed to receive a text from you today that simply says, “I’m praying for you today”.

Go and pray fervently for your group today.

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God, today I ask that you fill _______________ with the knowledge of Your will. Give _______________ wisdom and spiritual understanding today as they make decisions that would glorify Your Name. May _______________ walk worthy of You, fully pleasing you. Bear fruit in _______________ in every good work and grow _______________ in the knowledge of You, God. Strengthen _______________ with all of Your power, according to Your glorious might, so that _______________ would have great endurance and patience, and that _______________ would joyfully give thanks to You, Father. You have enabled _______________ to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. You have rescued _______________ from the domain of darkness and transferred _______________ into the kingdom of the Son you love. In You, _______________ has redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Thank you, Father, for my friend, _______________.

Tyler Quillet is the Discipleship Strategist for the Custom Bible Study team at Lifeway Christian Resources. He lives in the Nashville, TN area with his incredible wife, Cathie, and two boys, Cylas and Bowen. Tyler also speaks, writes, and coaches alongside Cathie as they pour into and love on the infertile community through Cathie’s “The Missing Peace Project”. Tyler previously spent 15 years as a pastor and is passionate about serving churches and pouring into church leaders in a variety of ways. 
Church Leadership

4 Scriptures to Pray Over Your Groups

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For many of you, the months of August and September mark the beginning of a new small group year. And even if it doesn’t, this time of year always brings about a sense of renewal and rejuvenation with the beginning of fall. In all of the planning and transitioning that goes into this season of ministry, remember that one of the most important things you can do for your group (and for your church’s group ministry as a whole) is pray over it.

Whether your groups are launching in the coming weeks or you’re coming up on just another Sunday, consider these four Scripture passages to pray over your groups, and invite your group members to do the same. Then continue to grow your list of prayers as the fall semester progresses.

Matthew 22:37-39
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Colossians 3:12-17
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

2 Corinthians 13:13
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Church Leadership

4 Questions to Ask About Prayer Requests in Your Group

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In almost every Bible study group, prayer requests are shared. In fact, we may even feel cheated if prayer requests are eliminated from our group! Unfortunately, gathering prayer requests is as far as it usually goes. But what if we saw a prayer request as an opportunity?

Here’s what I mean: some prayer requests require ministry action. For example, if a couple uses the prayer time to announce that they are expecting a baby, passing that information along to the Preschool Sunday School leaders would be important. Deacons and other ministry leaders could be informed about hospital stays, family crises, and deaths of family members. In this way, the prayer request becomes an opportunity for ministry action, reaching all areas of the church.

Prayer requests also represent opportunities for church leaders. By knowing needs, leaders can make wise choices when they plan events, host fellowships, and train leaders. The pastor could better understand the needs of the church and prepare sermons that meet the needs expressed in the prayer requests. Being aware of specific needs makes him a better pastor.

To do this kind of intentional action, you need to ask four questions:

  1. How can we efficiently gather accurate prayer requests?
  2. How do we communicate the requests?
  3. To whom should we communicate these requests?
  4. How can we encourage those making a specific request?

Let’s take a deeper look at these questions.

How can we efficiently gather accurate prayer requests?

Notice the two words, efficiently and accurate. A Bible study group could spend the majority of their time gathering requests, but that would compromise their time of actually studying the Bible. For me, making a sheet of paper available during the study time for people to record their requests has been the most efficient. The second element is accurate. We want to make sure that the requests shared are up to date. There is nothing worse than telling someone that you are praying for their loved one, only to find out that the loved one passed away a month ago.

How do we communicate the requests?

This question involves both form and medium. How we word something is very important. If someone requests prayer for a nephew who hates his job and is looking for a new one, that request could be worded when shared with others as a request for a nephew who needs wisdom about his future. We don’t know who may read the requests in today’s world, so we need to be careful. Hospital stays and other events requiring time away from home become important information if it falls into the wrong hands, which brings us to the medium: should we post all our requests on social media? What are the risks of making a request public? Do we really want everyone on Facebook to know about Dave having surgery and being in rehab for 6 weeks? How we communicate is important.

To whom should we communicate these requests?

We have already mentioned sharing requests with the pastor and other church leaders. Who else needs to know about the prayer request? We mentioned a couple announcing an addition to their family earlier. Who all needs to know about that particular request, and why?

How can we encourage those making a specific request?

Gathering prayer requests is certainly about being aware and knowing how to pray intelligently, but it is also about encouraging those for whom we are praying. There is nothing like getting a note from someone who is praying specifically for you. Those notes lighten the load and help us face whatever challenge we are facing. Part of this is celebrating God’s answers as well. Both the one being prayed for and the one praying are encouraged by answered prayer, so finding a way to include answers to requests is also important.

Prayer is an important part of the life of a Bible study group. Requests serve as a means of communicating priorities, needs, and victories. They give us clues about each other, helping us build deeper relationships. They also provide opportunities for us to minister to people and involve others in the process. If they are that important, then some strategic thought is in order. The four questions identified above should serve as starting points to help you think strategically about the requests shared in your Bible study group.

G. Dwayne McCrary is a project team leader for ongoing adult Bible study resources at Lifeway, including the adult Explore the Bible resources. He also teaches an adult group and preschool group every Sunday in the church he attends.
Church Leadership

Looking Beyond Our Group’s Comfort

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by Tyler Quillet

As a former pastor, I led a number of different small groups. Couples groups in our home, Sunday morning groups, men’s groups, young adult groups, you name it. I’ve led enough groups to ashamedly be able to say that I oftentimes preferred comfort and consistency over change. See, when my wife and I were in a group with the same couples, we got comfortable around each other. It was easy to get together, hang out, and talk about Jesus together. There was nothing difficult about getting together with good friends. The idea of bringing new people into the group oftentimes felt like a daunting task. What if they mess up the camaraderie we have? What if people don’t feel comfortable sharing in front of them? The new people won’t get our inside jokes. What if they just aren’t a good fit?

I admit it. I’ve been that leader. I’ve been the leader who got comfy and didn’t want to rock the boat. I’ve been the leader who liked the group I was with and didn’t want to chance shaking things up. I’ve been the leader who was more concerned about my own comfortability than new people in our church getting connected and being discipled. I’m ashamed to say I was that leader, which is no leader at all.

Fast forward from my time in church ministry to a new adventure for our family. We moved five hundred miles from anything we’d ever known. New state, new community, new everything. Before we even found a church home, we met a couple who would eventually turn out to be great friends. They invited us to their small group before we even visited their church! They were willing to invite two complete strangers into an existing group that had been together for a long time. They had no problem with us hopping in and potentially rocking the boat. And, for that, we are forever grateful!

You see, we went from leading groups for years in our own home to needing our navigation app to find the home of our new small group full of strangers. We walked into that house having never met anyone but our new “friends”, who we had just met weeks prior. They all welcomed us with open arms. We ate together, laughed together, got to know one-another, and spent incredible time in God’s word together. They weren’t concerned about someone messing up the good thing they had going. They were only concerned with a new family in town getting connected and feeling loved.

Almost two years later, and this is our church family, who we love dearly. A group stepped outside of their comfort zone, focused on the mission of Jesus Christ and not of their own hearts. This group could have stayed comfy, doing week after week together as friends. Instead, they stepped outside their comfort zone with a missional mindset. For this, we are thankful.

I look back on how blessed we were to be so welcomed into an existing group. At the same time, I feel guilty for not having that same missional mindset with our groups years ago. I made it more about me than I did the mission of Jesus. I wonder now how many families fell through the cracks or never got connected because we were comfortable within our circle. I wonder how many people still don’t know Christ because we never invited them into a discipling opportunity. 

If you are a group that has gotten comfortable together, let me encourage / challenge you in five specific ways moving forward:

  1. Begin to pray as a group for opportunities to invite new people in.
  2. Have eyes open for potential group members or ask your pastor for suggestions.
  3. Invite new people into your group and prepare your group to welcome new members.
  4. Welcome your guests with open arms, make them feel at home, and love on them well.
  5. Don’t stop inviting new guests and creating new groups!

Throughout scripture, we see those on mission constantly stepping out of their comfort zones. There aren’t many (or any) times that we see those on mission being comfortable amongst their circle, unwilling to step into new and unfamiliar relationships. May we the church, may we as leaders, may we as groups continue to step outside of what is comfortable, trusting Jesus to give us what we need to move toward others with the hope that we may have opportunities to point them to Jesus. What would it look like for your group to look beyond its own comfort today? Go do it, and ask the Lord to be glorified in it!

Tyler Quillet is the Discipleship Strategist for the Custom Bible Study team at Lifeway Christian Resources. He lives in the Nashville, TN, area with his incredible wife, Cathie, and two boys, Cylas and Bowen. Tyler also speaks, writes, and coaches alongside Cathie as they pour into and love on the infertile community through Cathie’s “The Missing Peace Project”. Tyler previously spent 15 years as a pastor and is passionate about serving churches and pouring into church leaders in a variety of ways.

 

Church Leadership

An Innovative Approach to Church Life…from 1916

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The following historical tidbit surprised me.

It just seems so natural to walk into the store, make my selections while I walk up and down the aisles, and check out. But prior to 1916, you went to the local grocer and simply handed him your list. He went to the back, got the items, and brought them out to you. Every store did that, including the store Clarence Saunders operated in Memphis. But the process bugged Saunders. It was time-consuming. He wanted a faster way to serve customers—and serve more customers.

This sounds so ordinary to us, but he rocked the shopper’s world when they walked into his new store and found all the products were out front—not in the back. He handed shoppers a basket and empowered them to pick up their own items!

Some people expected this approach to fail. The naysayers expected a negative reaction: I should be paying less since I’m doing the bulk of the work. But when Saunders opened his new store on September 6, 1916, his innovation took off. And here we are 100 years later, gladly standing in the chip aisle, trying to choose between Cool Ranch or Nacho Cheese Doritos. Some of us still shop in the store bearing the same name as the 1916 original: Piggly Wiggly.

Believers need to approach the Christian life with the same attitude we have when we enter the grocery store. If you need something, you go get it. Instead, too many Christians go to church expecting others—in particular, the church staff—to do things for them.

  • Pastor, I need you to pray for my Uncle Murray. Because God listens more to pastors.
  • Pastor, you need to share the gospel with my neighbor. If he was saved, he’d keep his dog out of my yard. Because the message of salvation only has meaning when it comes from the pastor—and not from someone who has been yelling at the neighbor’s dog.
  • Pastor, you need to visit Martha. She’s upset because she’s been ill yet no one came to see her. Because only pastors are allowed to visit the sick.
  • Pastor, the restroom is out of paper towels—again.

Anyone who has ever pastored can tell you these are exactly the kinds of things many church members expect their leaders to do. It never crosses their minds that they could do these things themselves.

Church members need to get out of 1915! Let’s move into 1916 with its innovative approach to grocery shopping and apply the same principle to church life. If you see something in life and ministry that needs to be done, do it. Don’t present your list to the pastor and expect him to do it.

Notice who does the work of ministry in this passage:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service” (Eph. 4:11-12).

Don’t give your ministry shopping list to your pastor. Take care of it yourself—as God leads you and works through you.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet. 4:8-10).

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.
Church Leadership

Tornadic Activity in Your Group

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by Jared Musgrove

I grew up in Oklahoma where tornadoes are just part of life. You learn to live with getting out of their way. You also learn that there is not a true linear pattern to how they are formed. As I was raised to understand, tornadoes are dependent on weather conditions coming together just so if they are to exist. The conditions of lightning, rain, wind and clouds can exist and a tornado never form. Some of these may exist and then immediately a whirlwind ensues. Tornadoes don’t follow a particular pattern or process. Elements come together out of certain conditions, and all those elements must be present for a tornado to form.

Your Bible study group may isn’t all that different.

Your role is to ask God for the elements to come together in such a way that souls are spiritually formed when His Holy Spirit moves. Word. Prayer. Food. Fellowship. Encouragement. Accountability. These are some of the elements. Assemble and plan for them faithfully, and pray for the wind to blow.

After you place the extra chairs out, sit in the circle where you will have group that night. Pray over each chair that represents a soul who will sit together with others to celebrate the truth that the Father sent the Son. Raise empty hands of faith and ask the Lord to produce great fruit in you and your group members.

We cannot make the group happen, any more than we can create a tornado. But we can anticipate God’s bringing together of elements for the formation of a spiritual event in the lives of those who make up our group.

Jared Steven Musgrove serves as Groups Pastor and elder at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity in preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the husband of Jenny and the father of two sons, Jordan and Joshua. You can follow him on Twitter @jsmusgrove 

 

Church Leadership

Leading a Small Group Series About Prayer

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While we talk a lot about prayer, we don’t talk nearly enough about how to pray. Prayer is critical to the disciple, and we welcome this discipline as part of our conversations with other believers. In my own journey, I don’t remember anyone pulling me aside or inviting me into an experience with the objective, Pray like this. I’m sure many of us have taken it upon ourselves to search the Scriptures for effective prayers, but I’m sure there are many others who want to be more faithful and disciplined in prayer.

I scheduled a series about prayer for our small group earlier this year. Instead of a series that walked group members through Jesus’ model prayer (Matt. 6:9-13), I opted to explore several prayers of the New Testament as a means for discussing the examples from the people that faithfully forged the early church from a broken and lost culture—in this case, exclusively, Paul.

Sources. I used two sources, both from D.A. Carson. The first is the small group Bible study Praying with Paul and the second is A Call to Spiritual Reformation. I used the videos and questions from the small group study during our group time. The book was extremely helpful to me in preparing to lead the group, but also for augmenting the discussion with extra material and insights. For 8 weeks, we examined prayers from 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Colossians, Romans, Ephesians, and Philippians. Here are a few tips for leading such a group.

Handout. In addition to the Praying with Paul Bible study books, I created a handout with summaries, condensed commentary notes, future group meetings and topics, and review of past weeks. On this handout I also included discussion questions in addition to what is in the Bible study book. I like doing this for an at-a-glance discussion guide. Plus, it’s something I can send electronically ahead of the group for those people that like to use phones or tablets.

Weekly Take-Aways. I was sure to emphasize a take-away each week. Studying, discussing, and reading Scripture are their own reward. Beyond that, I like for group members to have a “1 thing” they can add to their routines to grow as disciples. In this context, the take-aways included interceding for those outside our inner circles—even people we don’t know, giving careful thought to ongoing prayer needs in our lives (those things for which we will always petition), obedience to God’s commands is the first order of being within God’s will, and developing our own understanding of what it means to be “unceasing” in our prayer life.

Quick Prayer. This isn’t prayer request time nor is it a time for a pastoral prayer of any kind. Rather, it’s an invitation to the Spirit and acknowledgement for the group that we’re entering a sacred space. For this particular series, I was mindful to introduce the weekly take-away for our prayer life.

Discussion Warm Up. Often referred to as the Ice Breaker, this question gets everyone engaged in the discussion and frames the content for the week. My warm-up questions range from list like “According to polls, what things to people pray for the most?” to something more open-ended like “What reasons do you think people give for not praying?”

Background. Right after the warm-up but before the text, I like to provide just a little insight into the authorship, historical background, or interesting word choices about the passage. This is just for context and to create an environment ready for God’s word.

Scripture Reading. We always read the text out loud. And we always read the text out loud multiple times. And we always read the text out loud from different translations. And we always read the text out loud from multiple translations, from different people. Of course, it’s important to avoid putting people on the spot or making anyone uncomfortable, but reading from the Bible is crucial to the effectiveness of any group. The text is included in the Bible study book, but I also like for group members to read from their own Bibles.

Discussion Questions. I choose 6-8 questions from my options from the Praying with Paul Bible study book, the questions at the end of each chapter in The Call to Spiritual Reformation, and questions I developed with my group in mind. The questions are extremely important. A couple of rules I employ are (1) no yes/no questions (2) no questions with easy, one-word answers. Everybody knows this, but it’s still takes intention to avoid them. You may also delineate questions by type: Objective (what does it say), Interpretation (what does it mean), Application (what do I do), Self-Revelation (how do I struggle). Too many objective questions can kill discussion and put people to sleep, while too many self-revelation questions exhausts the heart and leave group members looking for any kind of escape.

Wrap-up. This is a summary of the highlights, of course, and a clear distinction of the take-away along with any notable insights from the discussion. I like to draw from the author’s exact words during the wrap-up and include it on the weekly hand-out.

Prayer Requests and Closing Prayer. Take the opportunity to model the take-away. For instance, when the take-away was to pray for people we haven’t met, I prayed for a local church staff.

These are a few tips for leading a Bible study on prayer. I recommend Praying with Paul as your course. You may also take a look at Pray Like This that uses the Lord’s Prayer as its outline. Other options can be found at smallgroup.com for you to consider. You may want to consider leading your group in this way regularly, like every 12 months. For help in choosing your next study, we have developed the Balanced Discipleship Strategy.

Church Leadership, Uncategorized

Five Hints for Doing Prayer Requests Rightly in Your Group

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One of the challenges of leading a Bible study group is managing the time dedicated to prayer requests. I bet you’ve been a part of a group where prayer requests seemed to take a lot of the group’s time. Don’t get me wrong—I’m a big fan of prayer! But as group leaders, you and I must learn to manage the limited time we have with our group members. In order to devote time in the group to Bible study, fellowship, prayer, and other activities, consider the following ways to manage your group’s prayer requests:

  1. Assign the prayer requests. Oftentimes, I will write prayer requests on the marker board in my group’s meeting place at the church. I then ask group members to volunteer to pray for just one of the requests out loud.
  1. Use “the basket method.” Use index cards (one per person) and ask group members to write down their prayer requests, write their name and contact information on the card, and place them in a basket. Pass the basket around the group, asking volunteers to take one of the index cards, pray for the need, and then contact the person during the week to let them know their request is being prayed for.
  1. Pray in smaller groups. It can be intimidating to pray out loud in a big group, so consider dividing your group into smaller groups, maybe 4-6 people max, for the purpose of sharing requests and praying.
  1. Email them later. After hearing your group member’s prayer requests (and writing them down, of course), set aside time after your group’s Bible study and send out the requests via email (if I write them down on a marker board, I simply use my smartphone to capture a picture of the requests). That way, everyone in the group will have a current list of the group’s prayer requests.
  1. Use email to generate the prayer requests. On occasion when I can see that the Bible study is going to run long, I will say something like, “I’ll send an email to the group later today, and summarize the study for us and those who were not here today. If you have a prayer need this week, just “reply all” and let us know what it is. We’ll jump into action and begin praying for you.” I then control the length of the prayer time by simply praying for the Lord’s blessing on the group, our study time together, and those not present. When I’m running short on time, this allows me to complete the Bible study, but still make sure that people’s prayer requests are prayed for during the week.

Ken Braddy manages Lifeway’s Ongoing Bible studies, leads his church’s groups ministry, and blogs daily on Sunday School and small groups at kenbraddy.com.

Church Leadership

Igniting Fervent Group Prayer

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by Reid Smith

Praying in a group can be intimidating for those who haven’t done it before. You’d be surprised how many people are not used to praying out loud with other people around them listening in. This is vital spiritual practice for all believers to develop because agreement in prayer among two or more believers sparks the outworking of God’s will on earth as it is in heaven and builds the community of His church (Matthew 18:18-20).

As the leader, you can ignite a passion for prayer in your group by using some of these approaches:

  1. Be brief. Brevity can reduce the anxiety level in group prayer because it allows time for others to pray and serves as a model for simplicity in prayer (Matthew 5:7-13). People who aren’t use to praying aloud in a group will see short and simple as something they can do too.
  1. Be informal. Don’t have a big build-up. When it’s time to pray, just begin. For example, “Okay everyone, let’s pray. Feel free to jump in if you’d like. Lord, we…” This makes prayer feel less intimidating and more natural.
  1. Be yourself. Imagine God sitting across from you in the group and talk with Him like you would a good friend; after all, He is in your midst and wants you to share honestly from your heart. Have a conversational flow to what you share with the Lord and avoid Christian clichés or complex theological jargon.
  1. Go first in sharing a personal prayer request. This primes the pump for others to share and sets an example of vulnerability.
  1. Use Scripture. Invite people to articulate their prayer with biblical passages. They can read something that is meaningful to them and then say, “I believe that about…” or “Let that be true for…” and reference their own prayer need or one that was shared by another group member.
  1. Invite the most confident to lead. There is usually at least one person in every group who tends to be more forthright in prayer or they’re good about summarizing multiple prayer needs. At the beginning of your next group meeting, ask them how they’d feel about facilitating the prayer time. If they’re open to doing this, reassure them by saying, “Just be yourself…you’ll be great!”
  1. Don’t call on anybody. Some people get really anxious over the prospect of praying in front of others, and if they’re newer to the group, they may not return if you put them on the spot.
  1. Don’t go in a circle. This puts people who don’t want to pray aloud in an embarrassing situation, especially if they’re the only one to pass.
  1. Appoint somebody to write down prayer requests. Follow-up on prayer needs at your next gathering. This cultivates a warm and caring environment that will help people feel safer about personally engaging in group prayer.
  1. Integration. Revisit prayer needs outside of your regular meeting times or when you’re socializing together so prayer isn’t compartmentalized in your group life. Celebrate answers to prayer and be spontaneous about lifting up needs that arise so that prayer is naturally woven throughout the biblical community God is growing in your group!

Reid Smith has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. He lives in Wellington, Florida where he serves as a Groups Pastor at Christ Fellowship. You can find more of his helpful resources at www.reidsmith.org.

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