The Organization and Working of Prayer Groups

This paper deals with practical advice on what prayer groups can do to make their groups
effective and strong.

CHARISMATIC PRAYER GROUPS

Charismatic Prayer groups can be understood in different ways.

Prayer groups are gatherings of men and women whose lives are centered on the Lord
Jesus and whose relationships are built around a prayer meeting and other shared
activities. Prayer groups are means by which the charismatic renewal spreads. They
frequently have a powerful impact on individuals. For many people, the initial contact
with a prayer group involves a new encounter with the Lord. Subsequently, weekly
gatherings for praise, teaching, and cells provide persons with continuing support for
personal growth.

A prayer group must learn to adapt itself to many local situations by maintaining a
balance between flexibility and structure.

VISION: CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL PRAYER GROUP

“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Prov 29:18

Prayer groups that make real progress and fulfill God’s plans and purposes are those that
have understood well its vision and mission, it goals and objectives

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE CCR: ICCRS STATUTES ( ICCRS Newsletter Jan – Feb 1994)

The ICCRS (International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services) Council lists five central goals common to various
expressions of the renewal worldwide. It would therefore be fruitful to study what these are:

1. To foster mature and continuous personal conversion to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

2. To foster a decisive personal receptivity to the person, presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

These two spiritual graces are often experienced together in what is called in different parts of the world as the
baptism in the Holy Spirit. They are most often understood as the personal acceptance of the graces of Christian
initiation and as an empowering for personal Christian Service in the Church and the world.

3. To foster the reception and use of the spiritual gifts (Charisms) not only in the Charismatic renewal but also in
the broader church

4. To foster the work of evangelization in the power of the Holy Spirit, including the evangelization of the un-
churched, the re-evangelization of nominal Christians, evangelization of culture and social structure.

5. To foster the ongoing growth in holiness through the proper integration of these charismatic emphasis with
the full life of the church.
MEMBER AND ACTIVITIES

Most prayer groups will have things that are common to all, and things that are dependent on
God’s specific call to a particular group in a particular territory. After listing these we will
look into what they entail and what must be done to make them fruitful and successful. They
can be divided into two categories:

1. Members
2. Activities

1 The Group members

• Committed members
• New comers
• The leader, service heads and core group leaders

2 Activities
• Weekly prayer meetings
• Cell meetings
• Initiation seminars
• Growth and training seminars
• Outreaches
• Ministries

THE GROUP MEMBERS

• Committed members are those who have been initiated into the group through the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. They are members who make it their priority to attend a
weekly prayer meeting, become part of a cell group where there is one, and join in
serving the group through some ministry or the other.

• New members can be categorized as those who are in the process of being evangelized
and have been introduced into the prayer group.

THE LEADER

He/She must have the gift of leadership, and must be mature in Christ. The leader must
be chosen by God i.e. chosen after much prayer, fasting and discernment.

• Respectably. By his conduct and life ought to gain the respect of the members, so
they will follow him as he leads them to the Lord.

• Relationally: A leader is not a drill sergeant, cold, functional, condescending but a

shepherd, who knows his sheep.

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 • Responsibly: A pastor assumes responsibility. He understands what the Lord
wants and what must take place at the meetings. He takes responsibility, He makes
things happen, not just hopes that they happen.

• Demonstratively: He must lead by example, show the members how to worship

spontaneously, exercise spiritual gifts, pray out loud, share, express faith and love,
etc.

• Able to disciple A successful leader is not just one who is committed to programs and
activities, but also one who is “people-oriented,” - one committed to the brothers and
sisters whom God has entrusted into his care.

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CORE GROUP LEADERS

• Qualification The core group is an important unit of the prayer group and must consist of
mature and committed disciples of the Lord. They should have been baptized in the Holy
Spirit, and have walked with the Lord in a committed way for at least a couple of years.
They should not be living in serious sin and wrongdoing. Should be spiritually,
emotionally and intellectually sound. They should have adequate experience regarding
the functioning of a prayer group, leading Praise & Worship and must preferably belong
to some ministry or service in accordance to their spiritual gifting. Most of all they should
be actively involved and available for building up the prayer group. They must be
“servants’ at heart

• Composition The number of members in the core group may depend on the size of the
prayer group. A small group could have about four to five members, a fairly large group
could have seven to eight members and a very large group could have ten to twelve
members. If the prayer group is registered as a Trust, the core group members could be
taken as trustees with appropriate terms as decided by the leadership. It is good if heads
of various ministries are included in the core group.

• Frequency of Meeting The core group should meet at least once in a week or fortnightly
for prayer and to foster love among each another and to receive guidance from the Lord.
The prophecies received during prayer meetings or during other times must be noted
down and discerned. From these prophecies should emerge the plans and activities of the
group. Once tabled, due care should be taken to supervise and pastor these plans in to
fruition.

• Agenda The core group must evaluate and plan the various activities and the programs in
the prayer group. These should include its weekly meetings as well as the other larger
ones during the course of the year viz. praise & worship, teachings, L.S.S., recollections,
cell programs, retreats, get-togethers etc.

• Accountability It is beneficial for every core group member to have a spiritual advisor so
that he /she can continue to grow in spiritual maturity (bearing the fruit of the spirit Gal
5:22). The core group should set time aside to meet over weekends at least once or twice a
year to come before the Lord to seek his plans and directions for their group.

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• Priorities They must give high priority to their interpersonal relationships. It should go
beyond business at core meetings and be bound through a sincere intimacy, reflected
through their loving and caring for one another when in need. A core group of this kind
will then lead to a united leadership that the enemy can never break – after all we are l
familiar with the warning, ‘Strike the shepherd and the sheep go astray.’

• Intercessors All core group members must be intercessors and must pray for the member’s
spiritual growth protection and other needs. . They should watch over their members lives
not as hireling, for personal gains but as true Shepherds ‘after God’s own heart.

SPIRITUAL ADVISORS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND EPISCOPAL ADVISORS

It is very important that members/leaders as well as local service teams remain

accountable to Spiritual advisors and Episcopal Advisors resp.

ACTIVITIES

WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING

The most important event that gives shape and life to a prayer group in the CCR is the
weekly prayer meeting. However- though it is the most important one, one must not
forget that it is only “one” of its many parts. Many fail to understand this distinction -
often identifying a prayer group with just the weekly prayer meeting.

Definition: A prayer meeting is a gathering of disciples and believers who have

experienced the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts in a renewed way through the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. They have a common desire to give glory to God, through
praise and worship, hearing and obeying His word, sharing their life with one another
and fulfilling the Lord’s command to “Go make Disciples of all nations”

In Short: It is for God’s people to present themselves to the Lord, and for God to do
something with them - to deal with them, and shape them into the image and likeness
of his Son and empower them to faithfully fulfill His mission of establishing his
Kingdom here on earth.

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR MEETINGS

Neither human ingenuity nor group dynamics can account for the wholesome effect prayer
meetings have on their participants. The Spirit of the Lord governs and inspires each prayer
meeting. No two prayer meetings are ever alike, for the Lord wants to meet us at where we
are, and desires that we express our praise in different ways. The Lord ‘s word to us enfolds
according to our needs and according to his plans for us. The Holy Spirit inspires the songs,
prompts the exhortations and sharing, creates moments of silence or loud praise, suggests
scripture passage or speaks through the gift of prophecy. He coordinates the various elements
into unity.

However, often, because the Lord inspires a prayer meeting, some participants feel that to do
any thing to direct it or change it is “unspiritual.” To the contrary, to refrain from taking
action to build the prayer meeting is itself a dangerous and unbiblical approach.

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Paul’s teaching to the Corinthians corrected their unspiritual approach and suggested means
on how to improve their meetings.

1 Cor 14:26-33

Let all things be done for edification.

If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and
let one interpret.
But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to
himself and to God.
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
If a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first be silent.
For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may

LEADING A PRAYER MEETING

Though we may not realize it, there is a crucial distinction between one who
“emcees” the meeting, and someone who really leads it.

Leading a Prayer Meeting is not:

• emceeing a show, banquet or meeting where one helps other people enjoy
themselves, or humors and entertains them

• presiding over a scripted program, introducing the next “act” and making
witty observations about the previous one

• administering a pre-planned, pre-packaged program; hence, all we need is a

winning personality to do the job. People leave the meeting feeling good
inside, but without much depth. Did they really encounter the Lord?

Leading a Prayer Meeting is:

• primarily leading our people to God. We respond to God and appropriate

His word to us.

• pastoring, not hosting. He has a personal relationship with the people. He

has a responsibility to lead His flock in following the Lord, in keeping them
in the right direction and not wandering away.

• seeking to hear and understand the word of the Lord, and using His
authority, influence and gifts to help people embrace, appropriate and obey
God’s Word.

• coming “before” the Lord, attuned to the Holy Spirit. This way, the leader
can lead the people in greater faithfulness to God and lead them to meet the
Lord in prayer.

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• more than simply executing a program. In fact, he must be willing to set the
program aside if, by doing so, he can more effectively lead the people to
come before God in the right way, and to respond to His Word.

IMORTANT ELEMENTS IN A PRAYER MEETING

Although there ought not to be a fixed formula for a prayer meeting, most prayer
groups over the years seem to have adopted the following basic format in general:

Frequency and duration: Once a week for at least 1 ½ hrs

Format
• Welcoming and greeting the Members
• Introduction to the day’s agenda
• Praise and Worship
• Silent waiting on the Lord
• Prophecy
• Teaching
• Announcements
• Final hymn

Other things that could be introduced at different times

• Testimonies
• Intercession and petitionary prayers
• Prayer for healing
• Eucharist once a month recommended where ever possible
• Use of Audio Visual aids, Skits

Though many different things can be done during a prayer meeting we will
consider its three most important elements in greater details:

1. Praise and Worship

2. Prophecies
3. Teachings

PRAISE AND WORSHIP: Every activity in the prayer group must lead its
members into becoming “worshippers” in “Spirit and Truth.”

Focal point Praise and worship is the focal point of every prayer meeting. Every activity that a
prayer group undertakes must draw its people into becoming true worshippers. For example,
the weekly teachings must lead to transformed lives which in turn must draw people into a
deeper life of worship and surrender to God – “. an offering of their bodies as living
sacrifices” as Paul exhorts us in Romans. Similarly, when people get healed physically,
emotionally and spiritually a new freedom must come in to their ability to praise and worship
God in all situations of their lives. The testimonies that members give and they listen to must
lead them in that direction as well. When this occurs one can rightly conclude that the prayer

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meetings are indeed effective and are becoming what they ought to be in accordance with
God’s plans and purposes for the CCR

God Alone Our prayer meetings must be God centered if they are to be worshipful. It means
an explicit turning to God. We must have that profound sense of awe, that we are gathered
not just for ourselves, but also for God. We must look to God and recall his nearness, and
yield our hearts to his movements. The prayer meeting is a time to put aside other concerns
and to think of God: God alone.

In Good Order: Praise and worship must be conducted in good order. It must be edifying to
all who participate. Excessive emotionalism and hysterical shouts must be avoided. “Shout
but don’t Scream” is a good guideline. Leaders must encourage the members to grow in their
vocabulary of praise and mature beyond mere “ejaculatory” shouts of “Alleluia” and ‘Praise
the Lord.” The Attributes of God, His works as found in scripture and our own lives is a
good subject for our praise.

The leadership must also be on the look out for gifted praise and worship leaders and should
train them well so they can lead the group genuine and pleasing worship to the Lord.

PROPHECY

Prophecy is one of the most prominent gift through which God speaks and leads his people.
This is evident both in the new as well as old testament. St. Paul exhorts us to seek it more
than the other spiritual gifts 1 Cor 14:1 Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

Through this gift the Lord is able to “up-build, encourage and console” (1 Cor 14:1) the
members of the prayer group. It ensures the group’s ongoing direction and formation. The
leadership should therefore encourage this gift among the members and especially spot those
who have the ministry of intercession.

Prophecies could be noted down or taped and later transcribed to seek the Lord’s consistent
leading for the group, over a period acting and obeying these directions will take the group
forward in leaps and bounds.

PERSONAL TESTIMONIES

Personal testimonies are wonderful instruments that ignite peoples faith and hope in God.
People are given the opportunity to share how they have experienced the Lord work in their
lives .Testimonies must be short and to the point to be effective. A good model could be 1.
Life before meeting Christ
2. Circumstances of the conversion. 3. Life after having met and surrendered to Christ..
Another helpful tip on sharing – keep the ABCs: make it AUDIBLE, keep it BRIEF, and it must
be CHRIST-CENTERED

PREPARING AND GIVING A TEACHING

An important tool that the Lord uses to shape and form the members of a prayer group is
through the teachings given at a prayer meeting. It is very important therefore that leaders
and those responsible, take time and effort to become accomplished teachers – teachers well
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versed with Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. The following are some
guidelines, which can help those with teaching gifts to become proficient in their skills:

Firstly, talks must be prepared prayerfully and with clear goals in mind. There should be
different varieties of talks, viz.
• Evangelistic: preaching the basic Gospel message, viz. the ‘kerigma’
• Instructional: the “how to” talks
• Exhortative: inspirational - that cause people to “go and do it”.
• Expository: expounding the mysteries of Scripture

Keeping the audience in mind one must consider what kind of talks is appropriate. This will
depend on where the people are in their walk with the Lord and what the Spirit is doing in
their midst and when. Talks should have the three elements well defined: Introduction, main
content and the conclusion.

Talks that include the some of the following will be effective:

Definition of subject matter
Misconceptions
Scriptural examples (events, verses, people)
Personal examples
Practical recommendations; “how to’s”

CELL GROUPS.

“Let us consider how we may spur each one another on…” (Heb 10:24)

Purpose. In a large prayer group it is not humanly possible to relate to every one intimately.
Intimacy and interaction can only be establishing by forming smaller groups or cell groups
within a prayer group. A well functioning cell group can play a very important role in helping
members persevere in their walk with the Lord and in turn make the whole group strong and
fruitful.

Composition. It could comprise of 7 to 8 members in each group. They can be either mixed or
separate men’s and women’s group. - depending on what the goals and purposes of the
group are. If the group decides and is equipped to enter into a more transparent and intimate
personal life sharing, a separate men’s and a women’s group is preferred. However if the goal
is just ‘general support’ a mixed cells work well.

Duration: At least for an hour and a half. Weekly or fortnightly.

Roles of a Cell group: Cells help bring members into intimacy and facilitate fellowship on a
regular basis. It gives members the opportunity to share their resources talents and spiritual
gifting. It takes away ones tendency to remain independent. Encouragement, identification
and building up of one another charisms.

Members should be encouraged to discuss and apply the talks given in the prayer meetings.
Wherever there are cells, prayer groups become strong and dynamic and it is from the cells
that people often enter into ministries.

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A smaller group contributes to a conducive and non-threatening environment for members to
exercise their spiritual gifts and talents. These in turn help members to identify and encourage
the gifts resident in their brothers and sisters. Eventually the whole prayer group becomes the
beneficiary when those identified in cells are trained and encouraged to use their gifts for the
service of the prayer group and the church at large.

Accountability: A smaller group becomes an environment in which members can love, affirm,
encourage, help when in need and correct each other in their walk with the Lord. They can
hold each other accountable to the leading they receive form leaders, from one another and
the Lord himself. ”Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should
restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. . (Gal 6:1) “
Most of all they ought to keep a watch on the basic disciplines of one another’s Christian life.
Viz. Personal prayer, relationships, (families, members of the group, friends, people at office
and outsiders) avoiding serious sins, Bible reading, service etc

Besides these things cell members must be encouraged to visit each other at their homes,
participate in fun things like picnics, sports and healthy entertainment.

OTHER MINISTRIES:

The Lord will often use a prayer group to meet the needs of the territory that they belong to.
Accordingly, he will equip them with the necessary gifts to accomplish his plan in that area.
Ministries therefore should be established to respond to that need. Every prayer group must
therefore discern what kind of ministry the Lord is calling and equipping them for. However,
some ministries are common to all groups and some will be specific, depending on God’s
calling for them.

To establish these ministries it is important that people with the appropriate gifting are
chosen to lead them. On-going formation, overseeing, coupled with proper training is of great
importance to make them successful and protected from aberrations.

Workshops on spiritual gifts should be given to the prayer groups from time to time and
seminars to be given for the training of various ministries. Attending local service team
training seminars and National Seminars can be of much use and support. Some of the
ministries groups should consider are Intercession, Healing, Greeters, Service, Music,
Teachers, and Pro-life. Other specialized ministries could be prison ministry, helping and
caring for the poor and down trodden, literacy programs etc.

INTERCERSSION

A couple of years ago the “Mumbai Service Team” during one of its service team meetings set
some time aside to identify the common denominators in well functioning and numerically
large prayer groups. The evaluation unanimously concluded that the secret behind successful
prayer groups was their dedicated and ongoing intercession. In short, they were seeing
something that was already an established truth in the history of God’s people as witnessed in
the Holy Scriptures.

Of late the CCR all over the world has been recognizing this important dimension in the
divine plan of God and dedicated intercessory teams are springing up all over the world .In
India too the intercessory ministry has become a strong bulwark against the enemy and his
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schemes. It has become a powerful instrument in moving the heart of God on behalf of His
people.

Different kind of intercessory prayer that groups could conduct

• Early morning intercession
• Night Vigils
• Chain Intercession
• Offering of Eucharist
• Prayer walks and Jericho Marches
• Offering of Rosaries
• Fasting
• Networking with other intercessory groups in the cities and the Country

It is important to differentiate intercessory groups from those groups whose prime purpose is
to bring personal petitions. Intercession refers here to bigger issues, involving the Church, the
nations, the CCR at large, praying for the cities and events affecting lives of people.

• Healing/ Deliverance/ Counseling:

Often the Lord starts meeting people at their point of need. A large number of people
come to prayer meetings to receive healing. Provision must be made to minister to
them. Members who have a special calling and gifting for this ministry should be
trained and used for this kind of prayer. The healing ministry is a powerful tool for
evangelization in the hands of God. The presence of a healing ministry keeps the
prayer group alive and growing.

The member in a healing ministry can either come early or stay after the prayer
meeting to pray over people who are physically, emotionally or mentally ill. Along
with healing people should also receive counseling. There should be a specialized
team to pray over cases of deliverance and people under any curses, spells or any
other bondages to evil spirits.

• Greeters:
It is a good custom to have some cheerful people to greet and welcome the people as
they come for the prayer meeting. The members who come in, specially the new
comers will then experience the love of the Lord through the greeting. This will also
make them want to come again. A smile from the greeter can even heal a troubled or
sorrowful soul.

Service:
This is not a ministries are “Lime Light ‘ ministries. Much of the work at the prayer
group is often done behind the curtains. However, they are of most value in the eyes
of God. This ministry takes care of the setting up chairs, cleaning up the place, looking
after the sound equipment and such things. Brother and sisters in this ministry must
be appropriately honored and acknowledged for their selfless and silent service

• Music:
The Music ministry plays a very important role in the worship of the Lord. The
Leaders must always be on the look out for gifted musicians and instrumentalists.
They should be trained and used at weekly prayer meetings and at outreaches of the
group. .
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 Pro-life:
This ministry brings the awareness that abortion and contraception are evil in the eyes
of God and demeans human life. This ministry should not just operate at just the level
of bringing awareness about the wrongs of abortion, but must go a step ahead in
actual saving the unborn babies and rehabilitating the unwanted children who are
abandoned after they are born.

• Prison ministry, Visiting the Sick, helping the poor, Standing up fro the rights of th
exploited and downtrodden. Adult education and literacy programs. These are
ministries that are very close to the “Father Heart “of God.( Mt 25: 35-36) And we are
to be judged on the basis of how we have obeyed this call. poor, literacy etc.

• Evangelization should be the “pre-occupation” of a group. They must constantly look

fro creative ways in fulfilling tis important ministry. It can be done on a “One on One”
or through Life in the Holy Spirit seminars at different times of the year, Pre-
evangelization could be achieved through healing services. In short members of a
prayer group should always be on the look out for sharing the love of Jesus with
anyone they meet and later invite them to a prayer meeting, a seminar or a diocesan
event.

Special training programs must be conducted to train and conscientize our members to
learn how to evangelize.

• Ecumenism: Prayer groups while still Catholic in nature, should not forget that the
Lord wants his church to be united. Right from the inception, the CCR has played an
active role in ecumenism. While firmly holding on to our Catholic beliefs we should
venture out and become bridge builders for a unity. Unity of the “heart” can be
.achieved through common prayers, especially during the “Unity Octave” which the
Catholic Church normally celebrates during the beginning of the year. Common
fellowship times and project for good works can be done together.

RELATING THE PRAYER GROUP TO THE CHURCH

The Lord has raised the CCR not just for itself but to influence and strengthen the
Local church. Members must therefore look for opportunities to serve in their parishes
and dioceses. Those with adequate training can offer to conduct various seminars for
the parishes. Members especially those not in major leadership roles in the prayer
group should seek some service role or the other to support their respective parishes.
Be open to join the parish council if elected

The BCC is an excellent place for the members of the CCR to contribute to, especially
in their faith formation programs.

The prayer groups must submit to their local Bishops and the one he appoints. They
should be willing to offer any service that the diocese may ask for and which is within
their means to provide.

THE FUTURE: WHERE ARE WE HEADED?

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 It has been the cherished dream of many that some day the CCR will get fully integrated into
the whole church and there will no be no need of Service teams and dedicated leaderships. A
possible fruit of this would be the renewal of the Spirit bestowed on individuals in the
Pentecost liturgy of the parish, lay sermons as personal witness on Sundays and extempore
bidding prayers.

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