That may seem like a silly question. You want to seek God. You want His power, direction, His will to be released through your prayers. You want to see your church become more dependent on Him. What do you mean what’s the purpose of our prayer meeting?

Recently I participated in leading an evening of prayer at a church. It was the culminating event to a conference that had several speakers. The pastor wanted all of us—him, me and the other leader to each feel free to step to the mike and lead a section of the prayer time. We did have a little planning for direction ahead of time, but not a lot.

The prayer meeting was fine as prayer meetings go, but something happened that got me thinking about the purpose of a prayer meeting. At one point in the service the mike was opened to individuals to come up and pray. At first instruction was given as to some general topics (schools in the area, etc.), but as was typical at prayer meetings it become a mix of topics that were on the hearts of the pray-ers. What struck me was that the intensity of the praying increased. So much so, that soon the prayer meeting became not participatory for all, but it became a spectator event where the congregation watched as only intense intercessors prayed. After awhile we got them back into groups to pray on a selected topic and the meeting was participatory for everyone again.

There was nothing really wrong with the meeting but it got me thinking about purpose. When I go into a church and lead a prayer meeting I have two primary purposes in mind—and neither one has anything to do with seeking God or power, though those are important. I want to show a more dynamic way to conduct a prayer meeting, and I want to do something that will draw in the weakest and most immature pray-er. I do not want to intimidate anyone.

Not all prayer meetings should be or need to have that purpose. Mine do because of what I am trying to accomplish in a church when I speak there. I am trying to get the average pew sitter engaged in prayer.

My point is that a good prayer meeting leader will think about purpose when he or she plans the meeting. What do you want to accomplish with this prayer meeting. Do you want it to be accessible to all, or should it be an outlet for the strongest intercessors to go after God’s heart. If the former, than you have to watch format and passion. If the latter than you can’t worry that you only have five people coming to the prayer meeting.

Another example: when we try to bring churches in a community together in prayer, ask what’s our primary purpose? If it is unity, then you want to do everything you can to assure that it is formatted to appeal to the most conservative church that was invited. You do not want to offend. You want to bring everyone in. But if your purpose is something else (and it is perfectly fine to have a different purpose) than may not need to worry about making the meeting comfortable for every possible participant.

Don’t forget to consider these things when you plan your prayer times. Recognize that if the prayer time is geared toward one purpose, than you may not see something you want to see—more people, etc. Also recognize that your prayer meeting will be more effective if you format it with purpose in mind. And, though perhaps this thought should be expanded upon in another article, also remember that if others don’t share your purpose they can work against you.

--Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network and is an effective prayer presenter at prayer weekends in churches. Contact him at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it