Whether your meeting is online or in person, the  prayer time could be taken up with hearing people’s prayer concerns and never actually pray over them, especially if the group is larger than two or three.

Before you begin adopting a system, keep in mind that at the heart of HoPE is a value for all people. This means that the prayer leader or pastor doesn’t take up the role as the official pray-er. In other words, everyone’s prayer counts and you don’t want people having the mindset that they haven’t been prayed for unless you have prayed for them.  Everyone will be empowered to pray for the other. You may have someone in a crisis that you zero in as a facilitator, but that moment is a “teaching moment” as my prayer leader mentor used to call it. What he meant was that it was a moment when people watch the leader, learn from him or her  and eventually  will model in their lives what they have witnessed.

You may have them partner up, share with one another and use a Prayerscript.

Here are some  additional suggestions on how to  handle multiple prayer requests within your group or congregation in ways that convey that each prayer concern really matters.

The Prayer List

Invite people to submit their prayer request via a prayer line, or an email or the pew cards, and let them know that the prayer list will be made public on the following week.  Set a deadline as to when they can be received for printing. If there is a space for phone number and email on the forms. Be prepared to return messages.

Have the list typed up and printed for distribution during the meeting. Use initial or first-names for confidentiality. Take time during your meeting to invite people to join you in praying for the content of the list.

Here’s an example of a list I’ve used (to be posted soon)

Encourage people to bring back updates and how they have felt or seen their prayers answered.

The B.L.E.S.S. Prayer

Author Alvin Vandergriend made up a fantastic acronym that I’ve used as part of the Praise portion or the meeting and as part of the Intercessory Prayer.  In the case of the latter, invite people to speak to one another in regards to one of the letters of BLESS or invite them to share with one another  what area of their life they sense their need for God most.

Naming

When it comes to praying for individuals that we carry in our hearts-I have at times introduced the prayer by instructing people that we’ll be saying their names out loud as they come to our mind. No details necessary: “Lord, now we place these loved-ones into your loving care…” And begin by saying a name of someone in your life who needs prayer. People usually follow suite  one by one or all at once. At times, a person sitting nearby will recognize the person’s name and agree in prayer by saying “Amen” or “Yes, bless them,Lord”.  Naming is a way for most people to feel heard by God and the community.

Themed Focus

Select one area of prayer that you’ll be focusing on that day. It may be Our Children or Health or Job Search. Invite people to share from that area of need and pray over the requests. Announce the themed focus for the following week. They may know someone who might especially find encouragement and need to be present next time you meet.

The Treasure Box

I have  small treasure box that I set up front. Any attractive jar or vase will do. At some point, invite the people with prayer requests to come up front and drop their concerns in the container. Once we are done, we pray for God to intervene on our behalf.

Make an exchange: Occasionally, I will have a stack of bookmarks or printed scriptural encouragements for pick up after we have dropped in our prayer requests. Once, I bought a collection of stones for individuals to pick up as a reminder that God is our rock (2 Samuel 2:2). It’s part of the T of making the prayer experience FIT.

The Pass-Along-Journal

One of our leaders created an attractive book cover and we use it on top of a regular note book with lined pages. The notebook is passed along during our gathering. By the end of the hour, it’s filled out and we pray over the journal entries for the day.

Any variations of the suggestions above or ideas  that you have found helpful when it comes to addressing with care the multiple prayer requests within  your HoPE group?