THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERSONAL AND CORPORATE PRAYER
When we are called upon to lead corporate prayer, our task is more specific and more limited in scope than personal prayer or the time we spend praying alone. There is a difference between corporate prayer and personal prayer. What is the difference? Personal prayer is when you are alone with God. It is the kind of prayer that, as Jesus said, is done “in secret” (Matthew 6:6).
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6:6)
Just before these verses, in verse 5 of this same chapter, Jesus begins by saying that when we pray in public, our motive must not be for the people around us to hear how eloquently we pray. Because if we do that, we have already received our reward, since others have admired us (Matthew 6:5). Instead, Jesus encourages us to pray in private. In verse 6 He tells us to go into our “room” and to “close the door” behind us. This means getting past every distraction that would draw us away or break our concentration. When we are alone with God, this should be a place of solitude where we are alone with Him. In this personal prayer we can share everything with God. In this prayer, which is a conversation with God, we can pray about any subject and any question, pour out our heart to Him, and lay bare our soul before Him. He knows us, and we can spend hours on end with Him, speaking to Him in detail about everything that stirs us.
This is personal prayer, but there is also corporate prayer. When we gather at church for prayer, we have not come for personal prayer, or so that those who take part in the prayer meeting may pray only for themselves. There is a danger here, and it is this: you come to a prayer meeting and you lead the prayer as though you were alone, in your own private room. It should not be so. You may pray a personal prayer during corporate prayer when you are praying quietly within yourself, but not when you are leading the prayer aloud. Because when we are gathered together, our focus must be on the shared aspects of prayer. When the whole assembly is joined into one during the service, we must think not only of ourselves but of everyone at once.
When we try to apply the principles set down in Scripture to the life of the church today, we must immediately be on our guard — alert, sharpening our attention — and clarify certain things that are extremely important for corporate prayer.
PRAYING ON BEHALF OF EVERYONE
First, the language of this kind of prayer is “we,” not “I.” Corporate prayer must be spoken in the plural. When you pray on behalf of everyone, you must say, “Lord, forgive our sins, bless us,” and not, “Lord, forgive my sins, bless me.” Corporate prayer must include everyone, every single person in the assembly. Although the corporate prayer is spoken by one, he must be aware that he is the voice of the assembly. He is not to act as a “private individual” or a separate person who just now happens to be praying alongside other people instead of in his secret room. Many corporate prayers fail at exactly this point. A person who leads prayer in this way still needs to mature and to learn to distinguish between the prayer that devotedly and directly expresses personal needs and desires, and the prayer that seeks to express the longings and fears of all the members of the assembly, whom the one praying aims to represent before God as their spokesman.
When you lead corporate prayer, you must be aware: “I am not praying only for my personal needs aloud in front of everyone. I am praying on behalf of everyone.” In this prayer, when you turn to God, you must try to embrace everyone. Pray in such a way that every single person present may join with you in spirit, may support you in what you are saying — may be able to say “Amen!” to what you say. A strong corporate prayer is a prayer that is spoken in the plural — on behalf of everyone.
BOTH SIMPLE AND DEEP
Second, the language of prayer must be at once simple and deep. Identifying with everyone means that there is a lowest common denominator in corporate prayer, which makes it as meaningful and fitting as possible, or directly relevant to every single person in the assembly. The people in the assembly are different, so when you pray on behalf of everyone, you must say something that is valid for each of those present. The emphasis falls on simplicity and directness or plainness in approaching God, and on the use of language, expressions, and concepts that reflect the spiritual experience of everyone in the assembly. Corporate prayer must give voice to the fears, longings, and yearnings of all who are present.
Some pray with prayers that are too lofty, taking it for granted that the rest are bound to understand them. Prayers that assume a thorough knowledge of biblical metaphors or theological doctrines on the part of the assembly will never reach most of the people, and they will hear nothing of what is being said.
Another danger is that the one leading the prayer takes account only of his own spiritual maturity. Such a person can easily leave the assembly behind him, or, worse still, make people feel as though they will never be able to attain the degree of spirituality that the leader so plainly displays. A prayer that uses complicated or esoteric language, a manner of speaking meant only for the initiated, makes people feel confused and threatened.
We must be careful to avoid the other extreme as well — prayer that is too simplistic. Such a “kindergarten prayer” will be awkward for most people. The loftiness or dignity of prayer must not be sacrificed for the sake of simplicity; and simplicity must not be reduced to the language of a kindergarten child.
Good corporate prayer is prayer in which a person, with simple words, prays on behalf of everyone, speaking to the Lord not about superficial things but about serious and profound ones. For this to happen, you must have depth in your relationship with God in your personal prayer. We must stress that we cannot rely on corporate prayer alone for the fullness of our spiritual life. A personal relationship with God is built in your personal time, in your personal prayer to God. A deep personal spiritual life increases the effectiveness of corporate prayer.
DIRECTED TO GOD, NOT TO PEOPLE
Third, corporate prayer must always be directed or addressed to God, and not to people. Although this is somewhat self-evident, it is unfortunately quite often forgotten. Sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, the one leading corporate prayer begins to “use” the prayer in order to send “warnings and admonitions” to the assembly, or to convey certain knowledge or information. This changes the character of the prayer from vertical — directed toward God — into horizontal — directed toward people. Such a person begins to recount in detail long episodes from God’s Word, as though God did not know what He Himself had written in it. But the one leading the corporate prayer does this not so that God may hear it, but so that he himself and the people around him may hear it — delighting in his own storytelling abilities. When this happens, prayer is being misused. Yes, we must pray on the basis of God’s Word. But our use of the Word in corporate prayer must be concrete and specific, and not go on at great length like some who begin with Genesis and end with Revelation.
In another case the one leading begins to pray for someone in the assembly, laying out in detail the sins that person has committed, so that he may hear them and repent of them. To use prayer in order to preach through it to people is an abuse of prayer. It is cowardly and wrong to rebuke or reproach someone, as though you were a pastor, through the language of prayer. This destroys the authentic spirit of worship, turning corporate prayer into a repetition of the announcements for the coming week, or into a bulletin of family activities, even if those activities do have to do with the church family.
In smaller prayer groups there is room for mentioning certain people by name and their specific needs in detail. But there is a limit to what can be done effectively in corporate prayer, where the understanding is that the whole church is standing before the face of God.
THE ORDER OF TOPICS IN CORPORATE PRAYER
Corporate prayer should be ordered and coherent. Although there are no precisely fixed rules or guidelines, it is good, when we lead corporate prayer, to follow a certain order. The order that we follow is drawn from a series of corporate prayers recorded in the Bible — prayers such as those of Moses, of David, of Solomon, of Jesus, and of the apostles.
PRAISE
First, prayer begins with the praise of God, of His character and person. We praise God for what He has done, and we worship Him for who He is as a person. When we approach God, we must do so with praise. In this first reflection on God and His greatness, true communion is born with the God who is worthy of praise.
REPENTANCE
Second, in the light of God’s holiness and righteousness, those who praise Him acknowledge and confess their need of His forgiveness and mercy. When we approach God, we must do so not only with praise but also with repentance. Repentance includes confession of our sins. Such an act, because God is merciful and kind, will be met by Him with the assurance of forgiveness and release from our sins.
THANKSGIVING
Third, the theme of thanksgiving takes up the next phase in the order of prayer. The worshiper who has repented and been forgiven will want to express his thankfulness to God for all His goodness. We thank God for having created us and for sustaining us in existence. But above all we are thankful to Him for the redemption and new life that He gives us in Christ. Thanks for the ordinary mercies of God in our life, thanks for health, for protection, and for the supply of our bodily and temporal needs, will be part of this thematic thanksgiving.
INTERCESSION
Intercession is a prayer of mediation, in which the one praying is placed as a mediator and priest before God with respect to the needs of others. Examples of intercession in the Bible are Abraham (Genesis 18:22-23), Daniel (Daniel 9:3-19), and Ezra (Ezra 9:6-15). Paul uses the style of a benediction-prayer in his letters, and his prayers are essentially intercessory (Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Philippians 1:3-11; Colossians 1:9-13). The longest and most theologically grounded intercessory prayer for deliverance is Christ’s prayer for the church (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; John 17:1-26). The idea of intercessory prayer is “to ask for something” on behalf of others in need — the sick, the grieving, the persecuted, the hungry and the homeless, the elderly, and even our enemies.
SURRENDER
True prayer includes the surrender of the worshiper to the God whom he calls upon. A rabbinic prayer describes the relationship between prayer and God’s purpose for our life in a paradoxical way: “Lord, help me to do Your will as if it were my own, so that You may do my will as if it were Your own.” The ultimate aim of prayer is to seek God’s highest intentions for our life and to receive His mercy, so that we may carry out His will with all our strength. Prayer “succeeds” when it overflows from repentance and intercession into dedication and devotion. It fails when it is treated as a recital of our needs and an attempt to compel God to fulfill them.
This order of topics in corporate prayer contains a development, built on the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer. It follows the main points of Christian doctrine: creation, the fall, redemption, illumination, and union with God in Christ. We begin with God in His glory and mercy and we end with the doing of His will in us and through us in our daily life. Holding to praise, repentance, thanksgiving, intercession, and surrender as the order of topics that we pray about when we lead corporate prayer will help us to lead prayer in a way that is good and edifying for everyone.