Praying for church services while they are going on is such an important part of a worship service at Four Mile Church. It is not the easiest thing to do, but it is such a blessing to both the church and to those who participate in this ministry. Here are some tips to help you prepare and engage in meaningful prayer during this time.
In preparation for serving on the in-service prayer team:
- Familiarize yourself with the songs that we will sing
- Review the scripture for the week
- Bring a notebook, Bible, and something to write with
- Pray in advance that the Holy Spirit would use this time to strengthen your prayer life
- Pray in advance for the pastor, musicians, staff, and those who will be in attendance
During the service
1. Meet by 10:15 in the prayer room. Ensure that the speaker system or the electronic notepad are turned on so you can follow along with the service. Talk with your prayer partner and pray aloud your prayers together. Take turns praying over specific people and circumstances that the church might be going through.
2. Before the service starts, you might find it helpful to stand in the doors at the front of the sanctuary to pray as people are coming in and being seated – be specific about families and needs for each person that you observe as they are finding their pew. Perhaps even pray about conversations that they may be having with others in the sanctuary. Some have found it helpful to snap a quick photo of the congregation once everyone has sat down so you can pray for them throughout the service as you look at the photo.
3. We will identify songs a week in advance of each service. We post them on the Four Mile website in the WYNTK section. It’s always helpful if you can listen to the songs ahead of the service and even pray some of the lyrics over the congregation. You can find lyrics online by typing “lyrics and then the name of the song” in a search engine.
4. Pray alongside prayers that are being prayed during the service by the elders and pastors. That is a time to align the prayers of this team with the prayers of the congregation. Likewise, as announcements are presented by the videos or elders, please pray for the different events and opportunities that the church can engage with over the coming days.
5. Follow along with the sermon and pray specifically about people and the church during the sermon. For example, if a point is made about the church needing to take up their cross and follow Jesus daily, feel free to pray that John Smith in the second row would be convicted by the Holy Spirit in that moment to set aside an idol in his life and replace it with whatever the Holy Spirit has placed on his heart. If you happen to see people particularly engaged or emotional during a point in the sermon or during one of the songs, be sure to pray for that person specifically.
6. Prayers during response time are especially impactful. Pray lyrics, points from the message, or focus areas for response time over each person that you saw come in. Baptisms and communion are another important response time activity that require focused prayer. This is also a great time to pray for the message – that the Holy Spirit would convict people of the points from Scripture that were made during the sermon.
7. Pray as people are leaving church as specifically as you can. Some have found it helpful to leave the prayer room as soon as the service is over and go to the pavilion and pray for people as you see them leave the building and head to their cars.
8. Feel free to move about throughout the prayer time however the Spirit leads you so that you can pray as specifically as possible.