My hope is this article will demonstrate that corporate Christian prayer is biblical and powerful and that regular corporate prayer is a necessity of a healthy Christian life. In my experience, most teaching on prayer emphasizes one’s individual “prayer life” rather than gathering to pray together. I believe “working out” prayer together will motivate and impassion personal prayer. Corporate prayer is biblical and powerful! Try it!
Why corporate prayer?
Before getting into the biblical basis for corporate prayer, I want to touch on a few reasons I believe God desires corporate prayer, which are tied to basic truths about God and Christianity.
1) Corporate prayer reflects the trinitarian nature of God. God is a trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit in total unity. Prayer is how we communicate with God to cultivate relationship and love with Him. God is love and God is community. God is corporate. God is collective. God is one. When we come together to pray in agreement we reflect and glorify the very trinitarian nature of God!
2) We need to pray together because Christianity is a community thing. God designed us to be inter-dependent, like the various parts and systems of a body (I Corinthians 12). We need each other! In my experience, the atmosphere of corporate prayer helps me pray more and better than I do by myself! It helps keep me accountable and motivated. As we gather regularly to pray, some days one person will be more excited and can help encourage those who feel less enthusiastic. This allows the overall “water level” of prayer to be higher than if we were to pray alone.
What about private prayer or the secret place?
My basic definition of prayer is communication with God. One of God’s identities for His people is that we are His bride. Husbands and wives must communicate to facilitate relationship, and we must pray to have a relationship with God. Anyone who is married knows that communication between spouses comes in all forms. We communicate in public settings, in small group settings, in private face-to-face conversation, through text messages, and through body language. As we grow together we may even be able to finish our spouses’ sentences before they finish their thought! The context of our communication (prayer) with God will vary as well. There are examples of Jesus praying alone and Peter praying alone (Acts 10:9). Our private prayer lives are vital and so special. However, there is also overwhelming biblical evidence of God’s people seeking Him while gathered together.
One of the greatest arguments against corporate prayer is the verse below. So let’s start there!
Matthew 6:6 – But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
There is historical evidence showing that the “secret place” Jesus refers to was not a place for individual prayer but a place of private corporate prayer. Daniel Henderson expounds on this in his book Fresh Encounters. It was common in those days to have a “closet” attached to a bedroom that was a private meeting room. The modern day equivalent would probably be a conference room. This was the “secret place” Jesus referred to. He was not discouraging corporate prayer. It is also worth noting that there is difference between corporate prayer and public prayer. Corporate prayer can (and probably should be) be a private gathering that is not open to the public. Private corporate prayer provides an atmosphere to pray freely with others. I do not think Jesus is opposed to public prayers, but I do think public prayers should be stated carefully with unbelievers in mind. So to be clear, the secret place may not be private personal prayer but private corporate prayer.
Jesus teaching on the Lord’s Prayer that immediately follows (Matthew 6:9-13) gives further confirmation that Jesus is discussing corporate prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is a corporate prayer! It begins with “Our Father” not “My Father.”
Jesus’ Teaching on Corporate Prayer
The idea of the secret place being a private, corporate prayer gathering seems consistent with Jesus’ other teachings on prayer.
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:19-20
Here Jesus is actually emphasizing the power of agreement in prayer. His promise to be “in the midst” of those gathered in His name indicates a manifestation of His presence in corporate prayer meetings. Sounds good to me!
Jesus’ statement really reflects a larger biblical theme on the power of unity and agreement (Deuteronomy 32:30, Ecclesiastes 4:12), which lines up with the early Church’s emphasis on walking out their faith in community, even gathering daily (Acts 2:46). Very rarely do you find the Bible emphasizing an individualistic faith that is so commonly promoted in the United States. Faith in Christ must be a personal decision, but a biblical life of faith is a communal endeavor.
Another section of teaching on prayer from Jesus is Luke 11. This text also mentions the Lord’s Prayer (v.2-4), again using plural language of “our Father”. This corporate foundation colors the rest of the teaching on prayer in this passage (v. 5-13).
Three times Jesus quotes Isaiah’s prophecy “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46). Jesus’ “house” is His church – His collective body. We are going to be marked by prayer -a house, a family, a people that prays together!
Corporate Prayer in Acts
The apostles and early followers of Jesus evidently understood Jesus’ desire was for them to be praying together regularly. Corporate prayer is a major theme in the book of Acts.
- Acts 1:14 – After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles first activity was gathering to pray until Pentecost
- Acts 2:42 – Prayer continued to be one of the primary activities at church gatherings after Pentecost
- Acts 3:1 – The Jewish believers continued to go to the temple to pray together to Yahweh (see also Acts 22:17)
- Acts 4:23-31 – The church gathers to pray in response to persecution and is baptized in fresh power and boldness to minister to others
- Acts 6:4 – The apostles found themselves distracted by feeding the poor, delegated responsibility and committed to return to praying together as one of the primary components of church leadership
- Acts 12:5, 12 – The church united in a home to offer collective “constant prayer” for Peter
- Acts 13:1-3 – The church gathered to minister to God in Antioch and God spoke in the corporate gathering (hearing is part of communication/prayer)
- Acts 16:13, 16 – There was a common corporate gathering place of prayer near the river
- Acts 16:25-34 – Paul and Silas pray in agreement and it releases the power of God
- Acts 20:36, 21:5 – Paul gathers with the church at Ephesus and Tyre to pray
Nearly every reference to prayer in the book of Acts is related to the Church praying together! Jesus commanded us to pray together. We see a clear example throughout Acts that the early Church obeyed Christ by gathering regularly to pray.
Corporate Prayer in the New Testament Epistles
There are numerous references to prayer in the epistles’ which you may research yourself. In these passages, it is not clear as to whether the writers assumed individual or corporate prayer. The only exception I found is a reference to praying in the spirit which is clearly in the context of how to conduct a corporate gathering (I Corinthians 14:15).
I would imagine most American Christians interpret Bible passages about prayer in an individualistic way by default. I know I do! However, in light of the rest of Scripture, the paradigm of corporate prayer should affect how we read the exhortations about prayer in the epistles of the New Testament. Reading these passages with the thought of corporate prayer can drastically affect how you interpret and respond!
Corporate Prayer in the Old Testament
In this article I have only looked at New Testament references. However, the Jewish culture was one based on community and doing things together. This included their prayer lives. A brief Old Testament search or study finds numerous references to the people of God gathering together to seek God in prayer and fasting. The same God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament, and I believe the Old Testament passages on prayer are further confirmation of God’s desire for His people to encounter Him, communicate with Him and hear from Him in a corporate setting for His glory.
On a practical level, I want to challenge you to attend or start a weekly gathering dedicated primarily to prayer! Try it!