Public Prayer

What does “public prayer” bring to mind? Probably most people think of the long prayer during a church service. Certainly that is one kind of corporate prayer. We will be talking about other forms. People offer corporate prayers as part of a church service. The prayers generally cover community concerns, world concerns and a few individual requests, usually those already known by the whole church.

Corporate prayer often includes a general invitation for God to be present in the service. These public prayers are not the time to preach a sermon. We’ll talk about prayer as evangelism later. The best prayers are simple and to the point using language commonly understood by most people. Some people write out these prayers and memorize them make sure they include everything in a logical order. The point is that the person praying in front of a large group is to be understood as representing all present, and even some who are not present. That one is speaking the voice and will of all, praying for things for which the whole body shares a concern. Before, during, and after an outreach event, this prayer is crucially important, but if it isn’t really the will of all, if it’s just the head elder, or pastor, or whoever, then it really isn’t corporate prayer. “Corporate” means of or pertaining to the body, and in this case, it’s the Body of Christ, the church we’re talking about. If, when that person up front is praying, the whole body isn’t praying along with him or her, in their own seats, then it isn’t corporate prayer.