4 Things Not To Do When Leading Corporate Prayer

Alliteration Can Be Awkward

Praying in public can be absolutely terrifying. People are watching and try as we might, it is very hard to forget that. The good news is that people are very gracious. They appreciate the effort and they appreciate progress. Towards that end I humbly offer the following four suggestions.

1. AVOID TELLING STORIES

I don’t mean telling a story before leading in corporate prayer; I mean telling a story during corporate prayer. I don’t know why I do this. God knows who I met with this past week, He knows how that conversation went, and so it’s almost certain that I am not telling this story to inform God of a need. Rather, I am telling this story to inform people of a deed that I did and for which I would like to be suitably praised.

Don’t do this when you lead in corporate prayer. Rehearsing God’s deeds can be useful; rehearsing your own is absolutely not.

2. AVOID PREACHING SERMONS

I caught myself making this mistake just a few weeks ago. I realized as I started praying after the sermon that I had forgotten to share one of my most brilliant insights and so, on the fly, I tried to work it into the prayer.

Prayer and preaching are fundamentally different. Prayer is speaking to God, preaching is speaking to people. Prayer after the sermon should be about responding, not regurgitating and elaborating. Just pray.

3. AVOID GIVING ANNOUNCEMENTS

Often in our services the corporate prayer time follows the announcement time and just like I can forget a line from the sermon and be tempted to slip it in, so too I can forget a key announcement and try to slip that in.

Don’t do that.

There’s nothing wrong with finishing your prayer and then mentioning that there is another important announcement that you forgot to make. There’s never a reason to pray “Dear Lord, please bless the youth retreat as they gather at 5:30 pm with their sleeping bags and toothbrushes packed in their water proof knapsacks. Bless them likewise as they hand in their $55 registration fee and their signed waiver forms. Help them to understand that if they don’t have those things they won’t be able to attend the event. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

That is not a good prayer under any conceivable circumstance.

4. AVOID POETIC PERFORMANCE

Jesus warned his disciples not to pray so as to impress other people (Matthew 6:5). That is a constant temptation for anyone who prays in public. I have caught myself praying in “KJV”. I have caught myself using elaborate alliteration. I have “warped” and I have “woofed” for no apparent reason.

We’ve all done it and we should all stop.

This is one of the reasons why I generally recommend that people not write down what they mean to pray in public. Written prayers will incline towards poetry. God does not require a crafted phrase. The Bible says:

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalms 51:17 ESV)

Pray from the heart. If you need to jot down a few points on a piece of paper, so be it, but avoid a fully written script. Let your public prayer be the overflow of your private love for Christ.

Do you love God? Are you thankful for His grace? Are you concerned for the lost? Are you eager to grow? Tell Him that.

If you are worried that you will ramble without some sort of structure then use the Lord’s Prayer. There are six petitions that you can use to wrestle your thoughts into some sort of balance and cohesion. You probably already have that memorized, so you should be good to go.

Remember friend, you are not trying to communicate your intelligence or maturity to your church, you are trying to express your gratitude and need to your God.

/ PAUL CARTER is a husband, father, and the lead pastor at First Baptist Church in Orillia, Ontario. He sits on the Executive Council for The Gospel Coalition Canada. He hosts a devotional podcast called Into The Word that you can find on iTunes or at www.intotheword.ca.