This series has has shown that prayer is not optional for our groups. Prayer partners and teams are essential ways to display the power of prayer in individual lives, in the group, and in our world.

There are many questions that need to be answered before launching prayer partners. These include the following and so many more: Are partners two or more people? When will partnership start and end? On what will they focus their praying? How frequently will they pray and in what venue.

In the book, It Begins with Prayer, after Dwayne McCrary asks how to partner up people in the group, he asks these 7 critical questions:

Are we asking them to pray with each other weekly or monthly? How will they decide on what day they will pray? Are we expecting them to meet face-to-face, by phone, by texting, or by some other means? How will we help them understand the need for building trust and keeping things confidential as much as possible? How will we explain the value of praying with a partner within the group? How do we deal with those who decide not to participate? What is the duration of the partnership—a year, six months, until Jesus comes back?

p. 26, It Begins with Prayer, by Dwayne McCrary

Prayer Partners

Your experience may differ from mine, and that’s fine. I have seen great benefits from prayer partners including only two people of the same gender who meet twice weekly: (1) by phone at a scheduled time and (2) during group time for 2-5 minutes. After checking on each other, they should check on (and write down) personal prayer concerns and then get down to the business of praying about those concerns and any others requested by the class or church. Of course prayer will continue beyond these times.

One of the reasons why I believe two prayer partners are better than 3+ is simply that there tends to be less talking and more prayer. Prayer should be the focus. In fact, another method is simply each person praying for their own personal requests rather than sharing them. This shares the requests during prayer with the other person. Those requests will need to be written down after prayer (so they can be remembered and lifted up in prayer).

I don’t want to diminish the importance of relationships and trust during prayer. In fact, they are essential in order to be honest and open in our requests and prayer. But at the same time, prayer is the focus. Ensure that prayer receives at least half of the time together.

Prayer Teams

In my mind, prayer teams are different than prayer partners. They would meet less frequently. They would have 3-7 members who focus on one or more specifically assigned/requested topics. The duration of the teams might be shorter or the assigned/requested topics might change. These could be cottage prayer meetings monthly or bimonthly.

Why did I narrow the team to a maximum of 7 members? In my experience, it is easy for a group to allow one or more members of a group of 8+ not to talk or pray. The larger groups don’t do this intentionally, but keeping teams smaller helps this to be less likely to take place.

Which Do I Choose?

Consider the differences between partners and teams. Review the questions above. Then I want to challenge you to enlist prayer partners or teams. Then watch as prayer empowers and changes the lives of group members, the class, and those for whom they pray!

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Darryl Wilson serves as the Sunday School & Discipleship Consultant for the Kentucky Baptist Convention. He is the author of Disciple-Making Encounters: Revolutionary Sunday School and the Sunday School Revolutionary blog.