Leading a Campus Prayer Group
Getting Started
Pray
Before you plan you need to pray. Pray for God’s Plan for your campus and your Campus Prayer Group.
Partner
Pray for other students to join your leadership team. Organize your team according to the needs of your group and the abilities of your team.
Permission
Get permission from a teacher to meet in their room at the day and time you have determined. Then, ask your school administration/principal for permission to meet as a Campus Group.
Promote
Ask permission from your principal to put up posters. Contact your friends through Text, Facebook and Twitter. Personal invitation is the best!
Prepare
Prepare for your Campus Prayer Group
Legal Rights
Check here for information about your legal rights as a student.
Preparing Yourself
If you want to start a prayer group then I assume you spend some time yourself in prayer to God.
Your greatest preparation for your Prayer Group may be your own prayer time with God.
How and what you pray about in your own prayer time may be a starting point for how to pray in your Prayer Group.
PREPARE
Preparing for a Prayer Group
How do you start?
- Focus – Share a scripture or a prayer focus.
- Praise/Request – Share praise reports and prayer request (be careful to include intercession for others).
- Pray – This is the major portion of your time. Limit time spent on Praise/Request so that you actually pray.
Prepared Prayer Ideas
Praying-for-the-Struggle-of-Suicide
Creative Prayer Ideas
Use One of these ideas or combine several for a Prayer Station Day.
Blessings & Burdens
On a white board, chalk board or poster board list Blessings on one side and Burdens on the other from your group. Pray for in thanks for for each others Blessings. Then Pray for each others Burdens. Numbers 6:24-26, Matthew 5:11, Ephesians 1:3, James 1:12 and II Corinthians 2:8-9.
Forgotten
Gather a few “old clothes” or items from home or with permission from “Lost and Found” at your campus. Explain to the students that these items were lost and have been forgotten and no one searches for them. Pray for students that are lost spiritually on your campus. Use Matthew 9:36-38 – Pray for laborers – pray that YOU would be that laborer.
Listening
Sit on the floor and/or spread out in your room to have a personal time of listening to God. This may be difficult for some. Have Bible so they can heard from His Word. The emphasis is on listening for God. Gather at the end and have students share about their time. Psalm 46:10 & Psalm 62:5-8
Thanksgiving
Use chalkboard, butcher paper or poster board to write or draw what you are thankful for. Spend some time praying and thanking God for all of these. I Thessalonians 5:18, Psalm 107:1, Philippians 4:6, Psalm 105:1 & Colossians 3:15
Salt of the Earth
Salt makes things taste better. Salt preserves things. Salt makes things more interesting. Using the scripture below briefly discuss how you can be salt to your campus, to other students. Pass a salt shaker around and ask students to put some salt in their hand and taste it. Then pray about how you can that salt that preserves and makes others want to taste and see that the Lord is good. Matthew 5:13 & Psalm 34:8
Newspaper
Bring a newspaper and pray over people, events, and nations so that God’s name may be honored. I Timothy 2:1
World
Learn how you can pray for specific needs of countries around the world using Operation World Website
Ways to Pray
Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4) is a model prayer that Jesus use to teach His disciples to pray. It can be prayed verse by verse. Each verse can be a focus or topic that can be prayed through and expounded upon by your group.
Intercessory Prayer
Praying God’s heart for your friends, fellow students, family and the world.
Conversational Prayer
Just like it says, this is having a conversation with each other and God at the same time. Instead of each person praying in turn, as many people as want to can pray as each topic is brought it up. This is very spontaneous and spirit-led prayer.
Prayer Partners
If you have people that are reluctant to pray in a group they may feel more free to pray with just one other person. It’s an easy way to do conversational prayer, praying for one another and doing intercessory prayer.
Prayer Walking
Some people think and pray best when they are in moving. This kind of prayer helps you to pray with insight on site. For some it takes so getting used to praying with your eyes open, yet as you move through your hallways or around the exterior of your campus you will get ideas on how to specifically pray. If you pray before school you could ask teachers how you can pray for them. You can also pray for each classroom and the students that will be in that room that day as well as lockers which represent students in your school. I Thessalonians 5:17 and I Timothy 2:1
Praying Scripture
Praying the scriptures is a great way to pray for His Kingdom Come and His Will Be Done. Praying scripture helps us to lay aside our agendas and open us up to God’s Words. The Psalms is the prayer book of the scripture. Paul’s prayer for the church: Ephesians 1:15-21, Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 1:3-6,9 and Jesus’ prayer for the church in John 17.
Online Resources for Prayer Groups?
The Coaching Center provides many creative ideas for prayer and prayer groups on your campus: gocampus.org