These prayers are written for small groups, the Bible study around a kitchen table, the cell group that meets on Wednesday night, the circle of friends who gather to read Scripture and pray for one another. You can pray them before a meeting begins, as a closing prayer when the group is ready to leave, or whenever the group has gathered a list of needs and wants to bring them before God. Read them aloud exactly as written, or use them as a starting point and speak in your own words.
Prayers for Small Groups
Lord, thank you for drawing us together. We did not find each other by accident, and we are grateful that you put us in one room, around one table, with one shared desire to know you better. Be present in this gathering. Quiet the rush of the week in each of us so that we can listen. Give us honest hearts, so that we speak truthfully about where we are and do not hide behind polite answers. Keep us from talking more than we listen, and from listening only to hear our own thoughts answered.
We bring you the people in this circle and the people they love. Some of us are carrying grief this week, some are carrying worry about work or money, some are tired in ways that sleep does not fix. Some are waiting on news we are afraid to hear. Meet each one where they are. Hold the ones who cannot find words, and steady the ones whose words come out too fast. Where there is conflict between us, give us the humility to ask forgiveness and the courage to offer it. Help us remember that we are not a club of people who have it figured out, but a family that needs you as much as the next person.
Let what we study and discuss take root beyond this evening. Make us people who follow through on the small promises we make to one another, who send the text, bring the meal, and remember the prayer request long after the meeting is over. Send us out from this table more loving, more patient, and more ready to serve the people outside these walls. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, we are gathered in your presence. Settle us, open our ears, and make us honest with you and with one another. Hold the people in this group who are hurting, and the ones we are praying for who are not here tonight. Give us a love that is patient and specific, and help us leave this room more like you than when we came in. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
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This verse is the reason a small group can pray with confidence. Read it slowly before the meeting begins and remind the group that the gathering itself matters to Jesus, even when only two or three are present.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up.
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Pray this passage over the friendships in your group, thanking God for the way companions lift one another up. Ask him to help each person be the one who reaches out when someone else falls behind.
Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
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Use this verse to ask for emotional attentiveness in the group. Pray that you would rejoice fully with those who have good news and sit quietly with those who are grieving, without rushing to fix things.
Galatians 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
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Pray this verse as a request for practical help. Ask God to show each person in the group a specific burden they could help carry this week, whether that is a ride, a phone call, or a casserole.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
(WEB)
Let this passage shape your prayer for the group’s future. Ask God to keep you showing up for one another, encouraging each other toward love and good works, and not drifting away when life gets busy.
How to Pray This Prayer
Many small groups find it helpful to pray near the end of the meeting, once the discussion has settled and people have shared what is on their hearts. Keep a notebook or a shared note on your phone so that requests can be written down and revisited the following week. If the group is larger, ask one person to pray the opening and another the closing, so that the prayer belongs to everyone rather than falling on the same voice every time.
If you are praying alone for your group, sit with the list of names in front of you and pray through them one by one. A cup of coffee in your hands and a quiet chair in the early morning works well for many people. You might also invite someone outside the group to pray the same words for you, since a small group grows stronger when its members are being prayed for from beyond the circle as well as within it.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord who gathers two or three in his name keep this group close to his heart. May he strengthen every person who came tonight, guard the hearts that are heavy, and give each one a reason to return. May the love you show one another be a small, faithful reflection of the love he has shown you.
