Praying Out Loud

Thank you, Karen, for letting us use your honesty for a launching pad to discuss this fear and for those of you who took the time to leave a comment. May I suggest that when you are leading a prayer group, do not set things up so that any person is going to be forced to pray out loud. Don’t go “in order.’ Let people pray conversationally—short prayers, entering into the ongoing conversation as they want to.

Here is a passage from Heart’s Cry, Chapter 9, which is about praying in groups. Audrey is my mother, Audrey Kennedy.

Before this small prayer group started, Audrey’s experiences in group praying had not been encouraging. “In my experience, you went around the room and prayed in order. There were so many ways to be intimidated. If the person right before you said what you were going to say, then what? Or if someone prayed so eloquently and beautifully, how could you follow that? I was always busy listening to people’s words, not to their prayers. I felt put on the spot. I felt it my Christian responsibility to come up with a good, heart‑felt prayer.”

When Audrey’s first prayer group began, she didn’t define it as a prayer group. They were a group of women who wanted to know more about prayer. They began to learn that they didn’t have to use anyone’s church or denominational language. They used conversational prayer. The women from this prayer group helped each other become aware of God in every situation. They helped each other tear down barriers to intimacy. When they were together, their attention was focused on realizing the power of God among them. Even when they were addressing each other in conversation, they knew that God was communicating through and among them. This group met weekly for years and still retain a deep bond today, even though the members live in different cities. They are still actively involved in prayer for one another.

Since then, Audrey has started three other prayer groups. Each one started when people felt a need to learn more about prayer and asked Audrey if she would help them. The second prayer group started when three women from three denominational backgrounds expressed to Audrey their hunger to know how to pray. Eight women attended their first meeting. In a month attendance had grown to 32. They met weekly and soon expanded the time allotted from one hour to two. From this prayer group, a couples’ prayer group and another women’s prayer group began. Audrey met weekly with the original group for five years, until she moved away. When she left, the groups were still going. (Heart’s Cry, Chapter 9)