We have all been in churches where prayer, while present, has neither purpose nor power. Unfortunately, in many churches it resembles prayer before meals—a formality that everyone respects but few truly benefit from. It is reduced to the most convenient way to smoothly transition from one element of the service to the next. «Let’s all close our eyes and bow our heads,» and while someone prays, the worship group quietly changes on stage.
Prayer became just a warm-up for the main event, the Sunday sermon. But back in the 19th century, pastor E. M. Bounds rightly observed:
«"Talking to people about God is a big deal, but talking to God about people is even bigger.".
With that in mind, at Cornerstone Church, where I serve as pastor, prayer is of great importance. We don’t want our members and visitors to just listen to God through songs or sermons from the stage. It’s easy to feel like a mere spectator—and that’s not the purpose of corporate worship. Our goal is for our worship to be personal and engaging. We want everyone to have the opportunity to enter into a personal dialogue with God, and prayer is an important way for us to do that.
Everyone knows that we should pray in church. But how we pray is what really matters. That's why we use corporate prayer as a way to teach our church how to approach God.
Through this spiritual practice, we hope to achieve three things.
First, we want to debunk common misconceptions about prayer.
Secondly, we strive to pray for something that many of us often neglect, for example, for government.
And third, we want to show that meaningful prayer doesn't have to be long. A lot can be done in five minutes.
In short, we have learned not to assume that people automatically know how to pray. That is why we purposefully include the so-called «big four» in our joint gatherings.
ADORATION
Worship lays the foundation for our encounter with God. We want to remind everyone in the congregation that it is a great honor to approach God. Most of us are so used to prayer that we approach it with levity. But at the very beginning of the service, we strive to prevent this.
Instead, we want to focus on the greatness of God’s character—who He is and what He has done in Christ for us, the unworthy. It is because of Jesus’ great sacrifice that we can approach God with boldness and courage (boldness). However, prayers of worship also remind us that this should be done with deep reverence and humility.
CONFESSION
If worship is genuine, confession becomes a natural response of the soul—a logical next step. As we contemplate God’s holiness, our own sinfulness is revealed to us, and this leads us to confession.
We hope that as we listen to someone in our church family confess a sin, each of us can think, «Me too.» We tend to minimize our own sin, but communal confession inspires us to search our own hearts and uncover previously overlooked sins. This should not lead to despair, but to dependence on God and joy, for it is in such moments that we are especially reminded of God’s faithfulness and goodness (1 John 1:9).
Confession, done properly, is worshipful. But because it forces us to look into the dark corners of our own hearts, we often avoid it—and thereby miss out on the joy that God seeks to give. Of course, the prayer of confession should be sincere and filled with regret, but it should always end with joy, as David did in Psalm 32:
«"Blessed is he whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity, and in whom there is no guile.".
GRATITUDE
We all acknowledge God’s omnipotence. But if we are not careful, this recognition can weaken our desire to worship Him with heartfelt gratitude.
In this broken world, there are enough things we long for God to fix. Yet as Christians, we know that gratitude is often the best medicine for complaining. During our Sunday meetings, we make sure to take time to thank God for who He is and what He does. After all, a crushed and broken spirit can be a serious obstacle to receiving God’s words of grace (Ex. 6:9).
So in our prayers of thanksgiving, we want to remind each other of the need to be grateful—sometimes we just need someone to help us look in the right direction. We want to be aware of the evil and suffering that exists in this world, but not so much that we stop seeing God’s goodness. We want to be, as the apostle Paul says, «as sorrowful but always rejoicing» (2 Cor. 6:10).
REQUEST
While prayers of worship, confession, and thanksgiving are offered by the members of the church, we as pastors have chosen to take on the prayer of petition. We want to expand the horizons of what our church and members as a whole can ask God for.
People usually have a rather narrow idea of communication with God. For most, prayer is simply a way to ask the Lord for something. We seek to change this idea through the other types of prayer that have already been discussed.
At the same time, I have noticed that even in their requests, people ask too limitedly. We want to make it clear: it is normal to ask God for healing for a sick person, it is normal to repeat the same requests, and it is normal to ask without obligatory phrases like: "if it be your will." Of course, we, like Jesus in the Lord's Prayer, seek first and foremost the fulfillment of God's will.
But unfortunately, many of us doubt God’s ability and desire to do great things in our lives. As a church, we want to show the greatness of Jesus by asking for great things in His name! And the beauty is that sometimes God says «NO»—and then we have the opportunity to grow together, trusting Him in the process. And sometimes God says «YES»—far beyond anything we could have asked or even imagined—and then our faith is strengthened.
We want church worship to be corporate, not individual. We want men and women to serve together in worship as Scripture supports. We want different people in God’s people to approach Him in different ways—and everyone has a place in it.
All of this is possible precisely because corporate prayer is a key part of our Sunday worship. Our church members, as well as visitors, can identify with those who pray out loud and remember that real, meaningful prayer can take many forms and take up very little time. Through prayers of worship, confession, thanksgiving, and petition, we are able to display the emotional fullness that should be part of a living relationship with God.
TO CONCLUSION
When you talk to a waiter at a restaurant, you are simply voicing your wishes. When you are in the presence of someone you admire, you are mostly showering with compliments. Both examples demonstrate superficial relationships. But God desires deep relationships with His people—and the deeper those relationships, the richer the communication will be.
