The Problem Of Corporate Prayer

This article is by  Mark Jones and first appeared on Reformation21.

People do what they want to do. Regrettably, when it comes to Christians, they seem to not want to pray together at prayer meetings.

As a pastor, I’m concerned how many Christians have such energy for the things of the world – we will drive across town for our kids to get to piano lessons or take them to a sports practice – but we seem to have very little energy for the things of God. Each day we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Christ (Lk. 9:23). Each day we must seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33). But why is it that once a month or once a week we find it so difficult to meet together to pray corporately? For all the gospel-centered talk about this and that, as well as the many books that are “gospel-centered,” why has corporate prayer fallen on hard times (even harder times than the evening service)? What are we doing that is more important than praying together?

I very much appreciated Paul Levy’s post on corporate prayer meetings. The Scriptures seem to me to be very clear on the nature and necessity of corporate prayer meetings:

“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14).

“When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying” (Acts 12:12).

Church history also gives us many good examples (e.g., Calvin in Geneva). So why are corporate prayer meetings so pitifully attended or not even offered by churches today?

There’s probably a number of reasons, such as:

Read the rest at: The Death of Prayer Meetings