No smoking gun for the demise of the weekly prayer meeting can be found. That Wednesday tradition is simply fading off the scene in much of American Christianity. As far as I can tell, nobody is trying to kill it. Regular prayer meetings are simply vanishing.1

What is replacing prayer meeting in the life of the church? In some cases, another preaching service has filled in where prayer meeting was last seen. In other instances, children’s ministry or outreach programs have stepped into the void. However, in an increasing number of churches, prayer meeting has given way to nothing. Few came, so, the service was cancelled, leaving little trace behind.

Of course, Christians pray in every church service, right? Why should we be concerned for the loss of a dedicated prayer meeting? Traditions came and go. We have freedom to pray when and where suits our schedules best. However, where regular prayer meetings have already vanished, what have we lost?

We Lost a Biblical Emphasis

The Bible emphasizes the importance of prayer, especially corporate prayer. The first church listed cooperate prayer as one of its pillars (Acts 2:42). We see the entire church praying together in the face of persecution (Acts 4:31; 12:12; 16:25). The first church leaders gave themselves to “prayer and the Word,” refusing to let mundane matters to dethrone this spiritual discipline (Acts 6:4). Paul gathered the leaders of the church at Ephesus for a time of corporate prayer (Acts 20:26). In the more than thirty instances of prayer in the book of Acts, no less than nineteen specifically refer to corporate prayer. Clearly, corporate prayer was vital to the early church.

We Lost a Historical Impetus for Evangelism

In church history, prayer meetings have often coincided with gospel advance. For example, the first missions movement in America began with the Haystack Prayer Meeting. Those at this meeting were instrumental in sending out Adoniram Judson, the first American commissioned as a missionary.2 Over a hundred years later, when evangelist D. L. Moody traveled to a city to preach the gospel, he started regular prayer meetings that continue long after his team had left.3

In our day, the general trend in society is away from Christianity. Many formerly robust congregations are now dwindling. Evangelistic fervor among believers has cooled, and even those committed to faithful witnessing often admit little fruit.

Where is the power? Where are the conversions? Without being overly simplistic, we must ask this question: could there be a connection between decreasing emphasis on corporate prayer and diminishing fruit?

We Lost a Regular Reminder of Our Dependence on God’s Power and Wisdom

Prayer is verbalized dependence on God. If we are not praying together, are our churches truly depending on God? We have strategies, seminars, books, and videos. We have programs designed to fill any lack in our churches. But no programs can replace God. And only prayer accesses His power (Ephesians 6:10-18) and His wisdom (James 1:5).

God is the one who saves, not us. God is the One who transforms lives, not our programs. And God is the One who guides us as we look to Him. The ability is His. If we do not pray together, how can we work together in His strength, unified as we depend on Him?

Concluding Thoughts on Prayer Meeting

The disappearance of the prayer meeting may be a symptom of a larger problem in the church today. Could we be trying to advance the Great Commission without God? If we were truly serious about God and His work in this world, would we not prioritize corporate prayer?

A focus on prayer is crucial for every church. Regular times of cooperate prayer are necessary for healthy spiritual and numerical growth. How can we practically reintroduce corporate prayer in our local churches? Here are some ideas…

  • Reinstate Wednesday prayer meeting. But remember, this is just a form. If the tradition of meeting for prayer on Wednesdays (or Sunday evenings) has lost momentum, maybe another approach to achieve the same function of corporate prayer would be better. Forms change (like meetings times and places) but the function (like corporate prayer) should not.
  • Focus small groups on prayer. Taking this approach, the leaders of each small group would need to embrace this emphasis and maybe even need some simple training to keep the corporate prayer from devolving into something else.
  • Make men’s or ladies’ events into special times of purposeful corporate prayer from time to time.
  • Get creative. The church where I am a member has recently introduced corporate prayer every Sunday morning when most attendees are already there. For half an hour between Sunday School and morning worship, we pray as a group following a prayer list with members assigned to pray for certain requests. I did the same in my church plant in urban Asia.
  • Stay purposeful, structured, and varied. Any way of doing things can devolve into a thoughtless tradition. Fight that trend. Whenever and wherever you implement corporate prayer, have a plan. Be careful not to let the time get stale, unnecessarily dragged out, or become a pretense of holiness. Remember Jesus’ warnings about public prayer done wrong in Matthew 6:5-13. But there also many ways to do it right—having leaders or members lead in brief prayers among the whole congregations, breaking up into smaller circles to prayer, etc.
  • Let the congregation see the leaders pray together. Before the worship service, gather the pastors, elders, and/or worship leaders for a brief time of prayer. If believers find out that Christian leaders are not just talking about prayer but also prioritizing prayer, maybe they will begin to see their need to participate too. They might even take initiative and gather others to pray with them during the week.

The Wednesday night prayer meeting should not be an untouchable sacred cow. However, the function it once filled in American church tradition is essential for churches everywhere. As Jesus exhorted his followers, “men ought always to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). We should personally pray without ceasing throughout each day (1 Thessalonians 5:17). But we must also pray together with other believers. As missionary Mary Slessor observed during her difficult missions work in Nigeria, “Pray on, dear one—the power lies that way.”4

  1. The de-emphasis on corporate prayer in the church is reflected in other arenas also. For example, the Christian college I attended still has a mission prayer band—a voluntary time each week dedicated to corporate prayer for missionaries. However, the students who attended twenty plus years ago used to fill a large hall. Now, only a small room is needed because numbers of participants have dwindled. ↩︎
  2. Read more about Samuel Mills and the Haystack Prayer Meeting in my missions devotional, Daring Dependence: A 31-Day Journey with those who Found their Strength in God, p. 98-99. ↩︎
  3. Read more about the influence of prayer in the life of D. L. Moody in my missions devotional, Daring Dependence: A 31-Day Journey with those who Found their Strength in God, p. 138-140. ↩︎
  4. Read more about Mary Slessor in my missions devotional, Daring Devotion: A 31-Day Journey with those who Lived God’s Promises. ↩︎ ↩︎