There is a movement currently in American society toward an increasing emphasis on the value of small groups. Prayer groups being one expression of this movement are a complex phenomenon involving the influence of various factors. These factors contain social, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. In the ideal situation, these prayer groups would augment the teaching function of the traditional morning service. Prayer groups provide a unique environment where believers can meet together to encourage one another and minister to one another. This nurturing caring community then emboldens and encourages the members to turn their focus outward to meet the needs of those in the larger church family, in their local community, and in the whole world. Through group prayer Christians are given a unique opportunity to join with other Christians regardless of geography, time, or cultural boundaries to minister to one another and aid the spread of the gospel.
There is a phenomenon growing in American society in general and in the church specifically that is placing an increasing emphasis on small groups. This movement is finding expression in a variety of forms -- from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to Catholic Pentecostal prayer groups to home Bible studies in many evangelical churches.
People seem to be flocking to small groups for several reasons. The intimate contact with other people fosters the sense of belonging to a community where one is cared for (Wuthnow, 1994). Also, small group interaction accentuates the loving aspects of God. "The deity of small groups is a God of love, comfort, order, and security" (Wuthnow, 1994, p. 22). The standard answer usually offered to explain the growth in the number of people attending religious groups is that the established church is weak. People seek to know God, but only find shallow spirituality in the church. Thus, to satisfy their longing to get in touch with God, people form small groups. This suggestion is simply not true to the evidence, however. People are joining groups and groups are being made available because the churches are sponsoring them and encouraging their members to participate (Wuthnow, 1994). "The small group movement...appears to be brining us back together, answering one of the central needs of our era -- the need for an intimate and healing community" (Bird, 1994, p. 26).
With the profound influence that this "Small-Group Invasion" is having on the church, it is needful that Christians look more closely into it. In this paper I will examine the dynamics of prayer groups, and their functions.
When a group of Christians gathers together to pray, there is much more going on then meets the eye. Group prayer is a social phenomenon most obviously. Interaction takes place, norms form, and conflict erupts. Group prayer is also an emotional phenomenon. Believers encourage one another, bear one another's burdens, hold one another accountable, and pray for one another. Most important, group prayer is a spiritual phenomenon where saints minister to one another on an unseen spiritual plane, as well as, interacting with the entities in the spirit world--God, angels, demons, and the devil. A careful observer could note many more interactions playing themselves out in the arena of group prayer, and the processes noted above are hardly mutually exclusive. Often there is an interaction between more than one category making classification somewhat arbitrary.
The first social dynamic related to prayer groups includes the concept of a cognitive minority. Most people who take part in prayer groups affirm the following two values: that personal community with fellow believers is meaningful and that Christian beliefs are relevant for the world today. The problem is that society in general today doesn't unequivocally affirm a religious framework for interpreting reality. Therefore, people who hold to the above ideas are in a minority, and are plagued by the concomitant anxieties. When these people gather together to encourage one another and pray they are emboldened in their beliefs because they see that despite the fact that they are part of a cognitive minority there are still some people who hold the same beliefs as they do (McGuire, 1975). "[These groups] serve important social psychological functions for their members, particularly the maintenance of a dissonant definition of reality...[supporting] the plausibility of the religious worldview of this cognitive minority" (McGuire, 1975, p. 103).
Another social phenomenon taking place in prayer groups is the commitment mechanism. There are two primary aspects of commitment: 1) abandonment, that is, the renunciation of ties with one's former social system; 2) involvement, the drawing of the new member into the group (McGuire, 1977). In any group the commitment mechanisms must be public enough to declare to outsiders the new member's identification with the group, yet also hold subjective meaning for the neophyte. In the Catholic Pentecostal prayer groups that Dr. McGuire studied testimony or witnessing was an important commitment mechanism that incorporated all of the above aspects. Testimony is defined as either a spontaneous or a more formal recounting of events and sharing of insights that reveals God's power (McGuire, 1977). McGuire (1977) found that the sharing of a testimony in the group coupled with witnessing to a small group of friends or relatives was a powerful device that new members used to declare their identification with the group.
While the types and varieties of leadership for prayer groups are incredibly diverse there is one important principle -- successful prayer groups have a definite leader or leaders. Brombach (1979) argues that prayer groups should have a team of leaders because there is no single person who has all the gifts required to effectively lead, and this protects the group from being led astray by a single powerful leader. Often these groups claim to be led by the Holy Spirit, and this is true, but He is leading the group through selected individuals that He has gifted to fulfill that task. Gunstone (1986) recommends that the leaders should be "an unobtrusive leadership: suggestions about beginning and ending the time of prayer, attention to the needs of others, responsibility for the practical arrangements" (p. 571). A leader is also necessary to arbitrate disputes or to make important decisions (Gunstone, 1986).
Wollen (1976) recounts his experiences of starting home Bible classes in his church. He discovered that the classes went much more smoothly and that people interacted more in those groups where the pastor was not present. He found that the presence of pastors in a small prayer group or bible study caused the other group members to defer to his authority based on his position in the church. In addition, the presence of the pastor hindered dialogue (two-way communication) and most of the interaction was only one-way (from the pastor to the people) much like it is in the formal church service (Wollen, 1976). Brombach touches on this theme, as well. He comments that people have a tendency to put the clergy into leadership positions in the prayer group simply on the basis of their position in the church. This should not disqualify a person from being a prayer group leader, but at the same time it shouldn't be the only reason for their being a leader in the group (Brombach, 1979).
In addition to establishing definite leadership, prayer groups establish other structures and create their own norms. Gunstone (1986) states that "[F]or all their spontaneity, prayer groups do in fact create their own structures in what they do and say...[and they] contain the same elements that make up a formal act of liturgical worship." The group members' experiences of corporate worship in church guide the structures that they create in the small group setting.
McGuire (1977) found that in the groups she studied there were very specific norms governing the sharing of testimonies, glossolalia, as well as who was permitted to participate in these activities.
An outgrowth of the leadership, structure, and norms that prayer groups form as they grow is conflict. With interaction taking place on such a personal level there is bound to be conflict eventually. It is not a matter of if, but a question of when.
Well-defined roles of leadership are imminently important to managing conflict when it erupts (Blattner, 1979; Gunstone, 1986). There are three important things to consider about leadership. First, there should be a clear understanding of who the leaders are in the group (Blattner, 1979). This establishes definite authority and helps order discussions of opposing view points. Second, leadership should be exercised in a planned, orderly manner; this is facilitated by regular meetings of the leaders to discuss the upcoming agenda (Blattner, 1979). Third, the leaders need to diligently maintain their relationships with one another because division among them increases the chances of division in the group.
Besides the many social influences on the course of the group there are also emotional dynamics. Hilt lists four emotionally related functions of the small prayer group. First, the small group allows for self-expression (Hilt, Unknown). Much more than the traditional church service small prayer groups allow a person to voice their ideas and opinions and for dialogue to take place between individuals (Wollen, 1976; Hilt, Unknown). Second, as people become more comfortable with the group they "become increasingly more honest with [themselves], others, and God" (Hilt, p. 4) by shedding their false pretenses. People relate with one another honestly. As a result of shedding one's mask, one is then in the position to minister to and be ministered to by the members of the group. Also, the loving acceptance that a person receives even after revealing their faults and confessing their sins paints a living picture of the unconditional grace and love of God.
James Hilt refers to the many "one another" functions of the church and points to the fact that these are difficult if not impossible to perform in the traditional Sunday morning church service. "[T]he interpersonal functions described in Scripture operate best in this context [of a small group], the result of which has been obvious growth in our lives and those of others" (Hilt, p. 2). Gunstone (1986) explains that the ministering to one another's needs through mutual encouragement and prayer support are a necessary part of the prayer group. Hebrews 10:24-25 states, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another,] and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Here we see that believers are to hold one another accountable and to exhort one another to live a life of love and good works. Galatians 6:2 teaches us to "[b]ear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." These functions, as well as the many "one another" commands are more readily fulfilled in a small group setting as opposed to the traditional Sunday morning service.
A third category of dynamics playing themselves out are the spiritual dynamics. These include the exercise of spiritual gifts, spiritual ministry of the saints to one another, and spiritual warfare.
Small group settings provide the same auspicious environment for the exercise of spiritual gifts as they do for the fulfillment of the "one another" commands. Hilt argues that the atmosphere of honest sharing created in the prayer group opens up a variety of opportunities for the Holy Spirit to minister to believers through believers. Exercising one's spiritual gifts also enhances the quality of interpersonal interaction taking place. "As a result of exercising our spiritual gifts and profiting from those of others, fresh power comes to live for Christ!" (Hilt, p. 5). It is impossible for many of the gifts (such as exhortation, mercy, helps, wisdom, teaching) to be displayed by anyone but the pastor in the average morning service that is why prayer groups are so important in this respect.
In Scripture believers ministered to one another spiritually through prayer in a number of ways. They prayed for one another that they might grow in the understanding and discernment of God's truth, that they would be pure in their walk before God, and that they would be strengthened and emboldened as they declared the gospel and were used by God (Phillipians 1:9-11; Ephesians 3:14-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). As believers pray for one another and hear about each other's victories they are a source of encouragement and joy to each other (2 Corinthians 1:9-11). Through prayer believers join together with other believer around the world to proclaim the gospel. "Without prayer backing, a missionary's ministry will suffer" (Wood, 1994, p. 369). In 1994, thousands of believers joined together around the world to pray for the world and to proclaim salvation through Christ. "The net effect [of March for Jesus] was to minimize the boundaries of time, geography, and culture, generating a global and public prayer event focused on beseeching God to usher in worldwide spiritual renewal" (Tapia, 1994, p. 85). This revolutionary event was made possible due to recent technological developments such as the fax, but the transcendence of these boundaries would be meaningless if the God being prayed to didn't transcend those boundaries as well. God's transcendent omnipotence and omnipresence make it possible for Christians to minister side by side through prayer.
Believers are further admonished in Scripture to be "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints -- and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak" (Ephesians 6:18-20). While taking part in others' proclamation of the gospel believers also combat the devil through prayer.
Some prayer groups place more emphasis on spiritual warfare than others. Currently, many are making extensive use of a technique called "spiritual mapping," a process of discerning the location of concentrated spiritual evil, researching the city's history, and then waiting for intuitive impressions or visions that reveal the city's spiritual condition (Tapia, 1994). Groups that emphasize this type of spiritual war speak in terms of conflict. They perceive difficulties such as marital problems, division among leaders, unexpected illness, and many other problems as "satanic attacks" (Tapia, 1994).
Many scholars believe that the biblical foundation for the practice of spiritual mapping is spurious. One professor at Talbot School of Theology believes that spiritual warfare is biblical concerning casting out demons, but that spiritual mapping "nowhere is modeled or taught explicitly or implicitly in the Old or New Testament nor throughout church history" (Tapia, 1994, p. 86). There is some form of spiritual warfare that Christians engage in when they pray (cf. Ephesians 6:18-20), but it isn't necessarily as confronting as the proponents of spiritual mapping believe it to be.
If prayer groups only ever look inwardly they will eventually become stagnant lacking in any real dynamic activity. The practical value of prayer groups is that they can serve as launch pads for outreach (Gunstone, 1986). This outreach occurs in two primary forms: evangelism and meeting the various needs of those outside the group.
Hilt explains that prayer groups can be a strategic place for evangelism to take place. Many unbelievers actively avoid attending churches yet the setting of a prayer group is much more familiar, informal, and comfortable. These people already are aware that an informal meeting at someone's home is a place where they can relax and voice their ideas (Hilt). Once in the group they will see the true dynamics of a growing Christian community where people are lovingly accepted unconditionally and where people are aware of one another's needs. Seeing this practical outworking of faith lends credence to the Christian's words concerning his or her faith.
The second outreach function of the church is to meet the needs of those outside the group around them. "As we grow emotionally, socially, and spiritually and discovery and use our spiritual gifts, we are better equipped to serve those apart from the group. The group acts as a solid base launching us into new orbits of adventure for Christ" (Hilt, p. 6). The prayer group becomes a station where believers gather together to regroup, support one another, and encourage one another before they go back out into the world to do the work of God. Wollen (1976) found that as his church implemented prayer groups they became the natural forum to voice concerns and needs of those outside the group (either in the larger church family or outside the church altogether) so that the members could devise a way to meet those needs. A very efficient system developed of presenting needs and volunteers meeting those needs (Wollen, 1976). In order for the prayer group to be aware of outside needs, however, the members of the group need to be conversant in the affairs of the community and of the world at large, especially if the group is endeavoring to pray for missionaries in different parts of the world (Wood, 1994). "If people are to intercede they will need to know what they are interceding for" (Wood, 1994, p. 369).
The power of the small group is that it provides the forum where believers can be equipped to go out into the world ministering. "When God is at work in the local church creating the spirit of community, it's sometimes a source of real amazement to the unchurched and skeptical" (Wollen, 1976, p. 47).
Prayer groups are an amazingly complex phenomenon. There are spiritual dynamics, social dynamics, and emotional dynamics influencing the group and interacting with one another. While there are the dangers of a group becoming too inward-focused, or just a gossip session, this should not cause one to overlook the many merits of the small group setting. These small prayer groups offer believers a place to interact with one another, to exercise their spiritual gifts, and to prepare to go into the world in ministry. With a proper outward focus prayer groups can take part in ministry not only within their own church, or in their own community, but in the whole world.
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