Many churches are trying to develop teams of intercessors who pray together during the worship service. Some may not realize this practice is not new. The most famous instance of this practice was at Charles Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Temple in London during the mid to late 1800s. He had a room under his platform, and often had 100 or more intercessors crying out for the power of the Holy Spirit to flow during the service.

This is a practice that a lot of good prayer leaders and churches struggle to incorporate. It is not uncommon for churches to gather the pastor and worship participants for a short prayer time prior to the start of a service, but bathing an entire service in prayer is a difficult practice to launch. Why? Most believers do not understand why it is a good thing to do, making recruiting very difficult. Also, many believers have no concept of how to pray for an hour or more, so the thought of participating in such an endeavor is too intimidating for them.

A number of churches I know have overcome these issues by making this practice simpler and shorter. Rather than have a team of three or more pray for an hour, they schedule the time for 15-20 minutes at the start of the service. They provide prayer guides and suggestions of what to cover during that time, making it easy for even the least mature intercessor. It is far easier to get people to participate because they can still attend most of the service and are not overwhelmed by how long they think they will have to pray.

This is helpful because it bridges the gap between “almost nothing” and a full-service prayer support. The shorter prayer time provides a non-threatening training ground for intercessors. If the prayer guides are loaded with Spirit-led topics, this condensed time can be very effective.

–Jonathan Graf consults for churches and prayer leaders on growing prayer in the local church. Contact him at jong@harvestprayer.com.