Prayer and smallgroups

Last week Josh and I chewed over some of Col Marshall's ideas for prayer in small groups from his book 'Growth Groups' (which is a great book, btw). Here are some things we either liked, or came up with ourselves...

• Beyond the Minimum. Often prayer in a small group setting is little more than a quick note of thanks. Quick notes of thanks are good. But we can do more…
• Warriors / Wimps. Small groups are a great training ground for prayer, whether we utilise it or not. Col Marshall talks about training people to be prayer warriors or prayer wimps.
• Spontaneous, but when? When would you do spontaneous prayer in a small group setting? Perhaps when you've been discussing something heavy, and want to both honour the weightiness of the conversation *and* move things along to new territory. Pray there and then. Then move on.
• Focus. Work at setting the focus of prayer on God's kingdom, word, mission. Watch the balance of your prayers… is it all about your personal growth in godliness?
• Keep it Normal: normal voice, normal posture, simple, short.
• Partnerships. Find ways to encourage people to pray with one another outside the group, too. Prayer partnerships don't have to be just a 'while we're at smallgroup' thing.