Carmelina Read: Pray out loud

There are lots of reasons why people find it hard to pray out loud in small groups. Maybe English isn’t their first language, or they’ve never prayed out loud before. It could be that they’ve just become a Christian and don’t know what to say. Some people are shy, or they worry about what people will think of them if their prayers are short or they stumble over their words. Other people have grown up in a church culture where prayer is a private activity.

So how do we help them overcome their worries and pray out loud in our small Bible study groups? Before we jump in with some ideas (which I’ll get to in a couple of subsequent posts), it’s worth thinking about why we want people to pray out loud. Why can’t we just pray at home or in silence? Here are a few reasons why corporate prayer is beneficial and worth pursuing in our small groups.... Keep reading

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Carmelina Read: Pray out loud: practical tips

I have been involved in small groups and small group ministry on and off since the 1980s. People do have a hard time praying out loud in small groups. Carmelina Read in both articles offers a number of excellent suggestions for helping small group participants to pray out loud. For those struggling with praying out loud I also recommend Rosalind Rinker's Prayer: Conversing with God (Zondervan: 1986).