Prayer Ministry in Services (Updated)
Getting involved in Prayer Ministry as a Group Leader
Our vision as a church is this: we want to invite people to encounter Jesus, we want to equip people to follow Jesus in every area of our lives, and we want to inspire people to transform the contexts we live in. Prayer ministry is a key way in which we can fulfil this vision.
We always invite Group Leaders to come and help with Prayer Ministry, and we’re so grateful to you for your help with this up to this point. Going forward, we would like to move to offering prayer ministry in a new way. From Sunday 5th November 2023, instead of praying one-to-one, everyone offering prayer ministry will do this together with another member of the team.
Why the change in model?
Jesus, of course, sent his disciples out in twos (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1), doubtless for mutual encouragement, accountability and learning. The Vineyard model of prayer, developed by John Wimber over forty years ago, originally involved pairs of people praying for those requesting prayer. Praying in pairs is good practice for accountability and safeguarding. We are returning to this model because it seems wise and helpful practice to us, contributing to mutual learning and fostering good practice in relation to safeguarding.
There are all kinds of benefits to praying as a pair: creation of more time and space for each partner to listen to God; opportunity for peer learning (seeing how your partner prays and exercises their spiritual gifts); mutual accountability; opportunity to review and reflect together afterwards; the potential for the person being prayed for to receive a double blessing; and likelihood of wider recruiting of new team members who find the prospect of praying in a pair less intimidating than praying solo.
We will need to be attentive to: the physical space available for prayer ministry; the volume of music so that all three people in the prayer encounter can hear; and not expanding the time taken to pray with any person. We will also want to make provision for any person particularly sensitive to sharing a very confidential issue.
How will it work?
Firstly, if you are able to do this, thank you so much for serving. Secondly, please only do this if you feel comfortable to pray and if you feel in a good place to do so at the end of a particular service - and remember that, if you yourself need to receive prayer ministry, that is the priority.
Mark Brickman oversees Prayer Ministry at St Aldates, together with volunteer team leaders at each service. The team leaders are Goran and Caroline Lennartsson and Walter and Ruth Bayer at the 10am and 12pm services, and Terry and Gwen MacMillan at the 4pm and 6pm services.
When the preacher of service leader invites the prayer ministry team forward, please come to the front of church - you can either come with your co-leader if you’d like to pray for people together, or, if you’re coming up on your own, please go to a team leader on either side of the stage, and they will pair you up with either prayer ministry team member, a staff member of another group leader. We’d love to encourage you to pray with other people as well as with your co-leader - this will help us to gain experience as a team and learn from each other.
A same-sex pair of prayer ministry team members will pray for a person of the same sex. A mixed-sex couple can pray for a person of either sex. Should there be any occasion when a team member prays singly due to lack of prayer partners, they should only pray for a person of the same sex. The exception is clergy who may sometimes need to pray for a person of either sex.
The following notes are a brief summary of some key practices outlined in a two-evening training for anyone who seeks to join the prayer ministry team. These evenings contain teaching on listening to God, ministering with authority, hearing confession, praying to release unforgiveness, for healing, and against spiritual oppression. If you would like to receive this training and become a regular member of the team, we would love to hear from you. Please email mark.brickman@staldates.org.uk
Before you pray
It is important that we have prepared ourselves spiritually to pray for other people - please come forward to pray with a prepared and spiritually clean heart. That might practically look like praying a prayer of confession to God before coming to pray for others.
You are part of a team. Don’t minster where you may feel out of your depth. You can always ask for help from your team leaders or another team member.
Listen to how the service leader directs prayer after the sermon. If the leader just asks the team to pray blessing over those coming forward, please confine yourselves to doing this.
During prayer
Each pair should aim to pray for at least two people in succession and briefly review the encounters with each other afterwards.
Be aware of the power dynamic of two of you praying for the person who has come forward requesting prayer. Go low. You are there to serve the person asking for prayer.
It is good if you both introduce yourselves but, after that, one of you should lead the prayer session, then swap when praying for the next person.
Respect the person’s dignity, as you would want for yourself, and maintain confidentiality. Don’t repeat anything that a person has shared with you with anyone else, except in cases where a person reports potential danger to their self or to a vulnerable person. In this case, tell the person that you must report this to the leader of the prayer ministry team and our adult Parish Safeguarding Officer. Our safeguarding team can be reached at safeguarding@staldates.org.uk
Always ask permission if you may lay a hand on the person’s shoulder. At the same time, you don’t have to pray by laying on a hand. Use your discernment.
Listen to God. Prayer ministry is founded in following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We are not there to advise, to problem-solve, or to seek to counsel the person.
Remember to pray with your eyes open. Keep regular eye contact with your prayer partner, as well as observing the person being prayed for.
If your prayer partner is praying aloud, pray silently or wait on God for His leading. There is real opportunity to seek the Holy Spirit as we wait quietly while our prayer partner prays.
Don’t both feel the need to pray if God is not prompting you. It is fine if just one person prays in a prayer encounter, or if one person prays for a shorter time than the other.
Be aware of time. Expect to pray with more than one person. Prayer ministry after services is not about extended prayer ministry or inner healing prayer - this is can be arranged through the Pastoral Care page of the website to occur in a less time-pressured space.
If you have a prophetic gift or receive words of knowledge, feel free to pray prophetically or offer words of knowledge. Speak words of life and encouragement over the person. However, frame any word offered as provisional and for the discernment of the person receiving it. Never prophesy about births, marriages or deaths.
Avoid any pressure to perform. We can ask God to shed His light on the situation, especially if it is a complex one. We should not feel that we need to have all the answers.
Remember that it can be very helpful to invite the person to pray themselves and then to add your prayer afterwards. This is good practice if you want to avoid being too directive.
Do not instruct a person to discontinue medication for any condition, and in particular anxiety or depression. At most, advise further consultation with their GP.
We never pray about same-sex attraction issues or gender identity issues at the end of services. Introduce a person to a member of clergy to organize a longer pastoral meeting as these are matters of great sensitivity that require dedicated pastoral attention.
Diocesan guidelines for clergy state that only specific trained ministers authorised by the bishop should exercise a ministry of deliverance. We do not pray for deliverance at the ends of our Sunday services.
For anyone transgender, a male team member should pray for a woman who has now claimed the identity of a man, and likewise female for female. We meet people at their point of need in a way sensitive to their request. Prayer ministry is a place of welcome.
Some psychiatric states can present as involving demonic issues when they actually don’t. A Christian suffering from these ailments may speak of hearing voices that they attribute to demonic spirits when the cause is psychiatric. Any such cases can be referred to a member of clergy for a pastoral meeting. If a person ever manifests alarming signs, ask a team leader or a member to come and help you.
After prayer
At the end of your time ministering, ask the person if there’s been any change. If necessary, help them to process their prayer experience.
Consider inviting the person to keep receiving after you have finished praying for them and, if you need to, move on together to ministering to another person.
Before praying for another person, check in briefly with your prayer partner. At the end of the service, check in with each other - it may be appropriate to briefly pray for one another.
Offer discipleship and spiritual health tips. Advise a medical check-up if appropriate. Getting a medical check-up can often be wise in case there is a physical basis to a person’s issue. This should be a pre-requisite if a person is suffering from acute anxiety or depression.
You may want to invite a person to seek pastoral support from their Group Leaders or via the Pastoral Care page on the website.
If they apply via the latter, they will receive an initial assessment and recommendation for either a) further listening and prayer with a member of the Pastoral Team, b) extended prayer ministry, or c) a referral to an outside counsellor or specialist.
Encourage anyone not in a Group to join one. Emphasise that formation and healing happen best in Christian community.
Give new Christians a New Christian Pack (available by the stage or in the Welcome Area) and offer advice regarding reading, prayer, Alpha and community.
Thank you so much for praying for people and serving the work of God at St Aldates in this way - we massively appreciate you. If you have any questions, please contact mark.brickman@staldates.org.uk