There are many ways to practice prayer with a group. Here are just a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

In Small Groups

• Read and discuss Tish Harrison Warren’s book Prayer in the Night, which explores the prayer of Compline that, as Warren says, "gave words to my anxiety and grief and allowed me to reencounter the doctrines of the church not as tidy little antidotes for pain, but as a light in darkness, as good news."
• In an episode of the podcast “Exploring My Strange Bible,” Tim Mackie of The Bible Project delves into the structure and importance of The Lord’s Prayer and how it can strengthen our daily rhythms of prayer (FYI, his talk really gets going around 13 minutes into this episode).
• Check out The Prayer Course, an eight-week journey through the Lord’s Prayer from the 24-7 Prayer ministry.
• Watch and discuss Prayer, Activism, and Racial Justice: Interview with Lisa Koons, U.S. Director of 24-7 Prayer USA.

In Intergenerational Groups

• Shape a summer series or plan a midweek gathering from the multitude of ideas in this list of Intergenerational Activities on the Faith Practice of Prayer.

In Prayer Groups

• If your church doesn’t have a group that meets together to pray, consider starting one. Prayer teams can contribute in many different ways: praying for the needs of the congregation, meeting with people who ask for prayer, and encouraging the congregation to grow in prayer together.
• Many denominations publish prayer guides for individuals and groups to use in prayer. The CRC offers a daily prayer guide for all who would like to lift the work of its ministries up to God.

In Children’s Ministry

• The one-page resource 5 Ways to Pray with Kids is a perfect handout for children’s ministry volunteers and for parents of the children in your ministry.
• The Lord’s Prayer: An Intergenerational Event and Worship Experience is a downloadable free resource from Faith Alive and Faith Formation Ministries with which children, teens, and adults can gather to learn about and/or deepen their understanding of the Lord’s Prayer.

In Youth Groups

• Youth groups are excellent spaces for teaching and practicing spiritual disciplines. Consider focusing an entire year of your gatherings on various faith practices, starting with prayer and using the resources available through The Faith Practices Project.
• Check out Praying for Others: 10 Creative Ways to Help Young People Pray.
• Introduce the daily Examen prayer to your youth group, as outlined by Brad Griffin in Teaching Young People a Daily Way to Pray on FullerYouthInstitute.org.

In Worship

• Find help for enriching corporate prayer in Prayers of the People from Faith Alive. The contents of this book are excerpted from the second edition of The Worship Sourcebook and originate from a wide range of sources.
• Read How to Make a You-Who-Do-To-Through Prayer from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship for more pointers on the prayers of the people.
• Check out how one church took their Taize-style prayer service online on this episode of the podcast “A Pastor and a Philosopher Walk into a Bar.” You might consider making an online prayer service a permanent part of your church’s ministry even after the COVID-19 pandemic.