Manchester House of PrayerTeaching Notes

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Prayer Leading Training

The harp and bowl model has 4 different prayer meeting formats. At MHOP we have tended to combine the 2 main ones, Worship in the Word and Intercession. Whilst there is a key role for the prayer leader to play in a Worship in the Word set I want to focus on the role of the prayer leader in an intercession set, which has typically been the second hour of our meetings.

It’s the prayer leaders responsibility in an intercession set to introduce the theme which we will be antiphonalising. As we want to base our prayers on biblical prayers so it’s the responsibility as the prayer leader to choose an apostolic prayer to work from remembering that the whole point of using the apostolic prayers to to create unity in the room and enable everyone to connect with the heart of the prayer.

Start by telling everyone what you’re praying for and out of which passage,

“Praying for the church in Manchester from Ephesians 1:17”

read the passage and then pray for a few minutes.

After a few minutes of praying the prayer leader then isolates a key phrase from apostolic prayer. Isolating a phrase is simply taking the key part of the apostolic prayer, just a phrase from it, and highlighting it to the room. We do this by saying something like,

“...so in the name of Jesus, would you release your spirit of wisdom and revelation on the church in Manchester”

Isolating a phrase is done for two reasons.

1) to focus the room on the area key theme of the prayer

2) to indicate to the worship team which theme to develop in their singing.

From this point the singers will develop the theme with short sung phrases. In the case that we don’t have more than one singer, so in that case they will either sing round the prayer and develop it on their own or sing a chorus from the prayer.

During the time that the singers are antiphonalising around the prayer then the prayer leader can continue to contribute with short 5-10 second prayers as they flow with the prophetic singers. Don’t be afraid to speak over the top of someone singing, they will either continue or defer to you.

The prayer leader can also highlight a phrase from the singing also. For example, if the singer sings “pour out your spirit on Manchester” the prayer leader can simple repeat “pour of your spirit on Manchester” as the Holy Spirit leads.

At first this all may feel a little bit unusual but once you have done it a few times you begin to see the freedom and spontaneous flow of the Spirit it gives you as you engage in the sung development of a phrase.

The worship leader or chorus leader will lead the room in a chorus and then at this point usually you will hand over to another person to pray on the mic or the worship leader will take us back into a time of worship.

MHOP Teaching Notes: Prayer Leading Training - Michael Ball 2

Manchester House of PrayerMHOP.org.uk

When the chorus leader finishes a chorus they will finish with a name of God, like “Oh God” or “Jesus”. This highlights that they are finished singing the chorus and signals to the prayer leader to move to the next section.

If the Lord was really blessing a prayer though you may want to go into a second sentence. This is simply done by the prayer leader continuing to pray about the same topic, using the same prayer but a different theme within the prayer. After praying for a few minutes you then isolate the new phrase, for example

“in the name of Jesus, that the church in Manchester may know what is the hope of His calling”

That is the basic principle of prayer leading within the model.

It enables the greatest amount of unity and spontaneity and allows the prayer leader, the singers and worship team and the room to operate as a team in the ministry rather than just one person praying.

The last thing to tell you about before we actually practically all have a go at this is rapid fire prayer. Rapid fire prayer is a great way of giving the most people access to pray on the mic in the least threatening way possible.

The pray leader will call rapid fire prayer and invite intercessors (that all of us!!) to come and pray on the mic short 10-15 second prayers about a particular focus. The prayer leader will then open the prayer cycle with a 1 - 3 minute prayer that establishes the focus. The singers will then sing a chorus and then the intercessors will pray one after the other. The mic is always passed back to the prayer leader between intercessors. At any point the chorus leader may want to lead a chorus around a particular prayer. They will signal to the prayer leader who will simply hold the mic to himself and wait until the chorus is finished.

It is also important to consider mic discipline. Some people are experienced using a mic and have no problems with it and for others it is a real battle just to hold it let alone speak into it. We use the mic so that we can all join in one heart in the intercession.

We ask that you don’t sing into the mic as the volume levels are all wrong and you would drown out the singers. We also ask that you don’t shout. Shouting does not denote anointing and the louder you are doesn’t mean the more the Holy Spirit is moving on a prayer. Just speak confidently, with as much emotion and emphasis as you want, exalting Jesus is our aim.

MHOP Teaching Notes: Prayer Leading Training - Michael Ball 3

Manchester House of PrayerMHOP.org.uk