"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Acts 4:31

Nicky Gumbel describes prayer as “the most important activity of our lives”. Church leader and missions worker, Robert Speer, once said, “The evangelisation of the world depends first upon a revival of prayer.”

Everyone believes in the necessity of prayer but most of us find it hard and we need support. 

Here we hope you will find useful resources to help you change the world through prayer, especially in the context of the Alpha course.

Prayer for Your Alpha Course

Prayer on Alpha

Prayer Networks

Prayer & Fasting

Kingdom Come UK, 2012

Prayer for your Alpha course

Every year a thrilling invitation goes out to the nation to come and explore the really big issues of life on an Alpha course. Underpinning the national advertising campaign and making courses happen is an army of volunteers.

Just as the real power behind the advertising campaign is the army of volunteers, so the real power behind the success of the Alpha course is an army of prayer warriors who understand that behind the humorous talks, the pasta suppers and the cartoon illustrations, is a real spiritual battle for hearts and minds.

Here are some ideas gathered from across the UK and from our experiences at HTB whilst praying for Alpha. If you have any prayer ideas that you have used on an Alpha course, we would love to hear about it and share with others.

Alpha invitation prayer and worship meeting

September is marked in the annual Alpha calendar as a time to specifically engage in praying for our community and local Alpha courses. This is a great opportunity to join with other churches and organisations in your area in prayer and worship. 

Prayer meetings

“Again I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them."

Matthew 18:19

The first Christians knew that prayer meetings are exciting, and we don’t think anything has changed! On one occasion the room in which they were meeting shook with the power of their prayers. On another occasion Peter was miraculously rescued from prison by their prayers. Jesus had told them that when they came together in his name he would attend, and that when they agreed together in his name, he would hear their prayers and perform miracles. No wonder the instinct of the early church, whenever they faced trials, was simply to raise their voices together in prayer.

Our weekly prayer meeting at HTB Brompton Road runs from 7–8am on a Tuesday morning, and is the basic building block of our corporate prayer life as a church. One of our aims for these meetings is to ensure that they are never ever boring! We do this in four ways:

1. By breaking the hour down into short ‘bite-size’ sections
2. By deploying different models and styles of prayer throughout
3. By focusing on different issues: personal, local, national, global
4. By blending worship and space for prophetic input in with the prayers

The Alpha Prayer Guide explains six different models of prayer and includes an example prayer meeting agenda.

24-7 Prayer

24-7 Prayer is one of the most exciting and creative expressions of prayer at HTB. We arrange regular seasons of 24-7 (night and day) prayer in a specially decorated room on site. People sign to take an hour long shift in the prayer room, and we thereby fill days and even weeks with nonstop intercession and praise. One of these seasons always coincides with the Alpha initiative.

Every September, the congregation will be coming together to pray continuously for the Alpha Invitation and the autumn Alpha courses. Learn more about 24-7 Prayer.

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Prayer on Alpha

Many guests on the Alpha course have little or no experience in praying. The main thing is that everyone feels comfortable and not pressured into doing anything they are uncomfortable with. Here are a few tips that we have found useful.

Praying for Alpha course guests

As well as committing to the Alpha course and the weekend away, the hosts and helpers who facilitate the group discussions are also responsible for praying regularly for the guests in their group. They are best positioned to pray for the guests in their groups because they come to know the names and needs of each individual in a way that no-one else can. It is essential therefore that hosts and helpers really do pray regularly for their guests. There are at least three ways this can be done:

Daily – Encourage hosts and helpers to pray daily for the members of their group by name in their own personal devotional time. They may find it helpful to keep a list and make a few notes of anything the Lord shows them.

Before each session – The whole Alpha team should allow enough time to meet before the guests arrive for a briefing and prayer meeting. This is particularly important for the session ‘Does God Heal Today?’, as the team can wait on the Lord for words of knowledge, pictures and so on. These can then be read out after the talk and people who respond to them can be offered prayer.

Occasionally – It’s a great idea for hosts and helpers to occasionally meet together aside from Alpha, in order to pray for those in their small groups in an unhurried, less pressurised way.

Praying in the small group – Don't rush this! Be sensitive to where people are at spiritually, remember that praying out loud for the first time can be quite an intimidating experience. Pray a short, simple prayer. If you are going to open the session in prayer, say something like, "I have asked John to open in prayer", so that the other guests won't be afraid that the host might ask them to pray next without giving notice.

Prayer in Week 4: Why and How Do I Pray?

During this session guests are given a theology, model and practice for prayer. This relates primarily to personal prayer, which is a good starting point. As prayer establishes itself in people's lives, it should be possible to start praying together in the small group. You may find that the group is not ready to pray together until after the sessions on the Holy Spirit.

Here are some experiences of praying on the course from one of our Alpha Prayer Advisers:

"We were a small team, running Alpha in a small, rural church with about eight guests. We had two hosts and two helpers and a great task force. We met up before the course started to train and pray for the course.

Each week we prayed ahead of the session. We could not have done it without prayer. The leaders were able to make it every week, despite much need to travel during the course. All the team worked together wonderfully and we had a real sense that God was carrying us all through.

Encourage teams, however small, to pray and wait on the Lord for words or pictures ahead of the healing session. We did just this at the prayers before the session. One of the leaders had a word about an ear problem. We later shared that with the Alpha group, but nothing was said. At the end of the evening one of the helpers came up and said that she had been suffering with tinnitus for years but said nothing earlier as she thought the word could only be for one of the guests!

What an encouragement it was to her and to us all. It builds up expectation and faith for the future too. We were so pleased that we waited on the Lord for whatever He wished to say to us."

Rebecca Taylor, Warwickshire

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Prayer networks

Some people just aren’t able to attend weekly prayer meetings due to work or family commitments. When we surveyed the HTB congregations three years ago we discovered that many people wanted to grow in prayer and were keen to be given prayer requests too. What was particularly interesting was the discovery that the number of people expressing a hunger for prayer was more than four times higher than the number attending the weekly prayer meeting.

So how do you involve the people who are unable to attend prayer meetings in praying for your course? One way is to set up a Prayer Network. Three years ago at HTB we launched a prayer network called PrayerForce. The network is made up of people who have a heart for prayer and are committed to praying for everything which goes on at HTB and Alpha. To guide their prayers each month we send them a monthly calendar of upcoming events and regular confidential prayer alerts via email or text.

In return for their commitment to pray, we try to help them grow in their own prayer lives by arranging occasional quiet day retreats and teaching events. We also send out a newsletter that includes quotes, testimonies of answered prayer, and extracts from helpful books.

One of the great things about the PrayerForce model is that it can work in a very small church where there might be just three people with a heart for prayer, or in a large church where there may be many hundreds.

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Prayer and fasting

Twice a year (between our biannual ‘Vision Sunday’ and ‘Gift Sunday’), we call the church to a day of prayer and fasting. It is a way of coming together as a community to focus our prayers on the vision and ministries God has given us. The day begins with our regular Tuesday prayer meeting from 7–8am and concludes twelve hours later, from 7–8pm with a prayer concert led by Tim Hughes and Pete Greig. After this event, everyone is encouraged to go and break their fast in groups, perhaps in one of the nearby restaurants.

Fasting humbles us and brings us to an awareness of our need of God. It renews the sense of balance and priority in our walk with God. It heightens our spiritual sensitivity and clears the channels of communication with God. It hits at our deep-seated selfishness and strengthens our self control. Having a dedicated time of prayer and fasting is not a way of manipulating God into doing what you desire. Rather, it is simply forcing yourself to focus and rely on God for the strength, provision, and wisdom you need.

Why not hold a day of prayer and fasting in the lead up to your Alpha course? It’s a great way to bring your church together united in praying for your Alpha course and the guests who will attend.

Here are just a few other ideas that you could use to encourage people to pray throughout the course:

• Organise / become part of a prayer intercession group that prays on the same evening as the course

• Create a prayer timetable where people can pray wherever they are at certain times of the day

• Allocate weeks throughout the course when certain house groups pray for the course

• Encourage the youth group to pray creatively for the course

• Create prayer bookmarks / cards that people can take away

Always ensure that when praying for or requesting prayer for someone on the course that guest confidentiality and sensitivity is maintained.

If you are based in the UK and have any questions about prayer and Alpha, please feel free to contact one of our Alpha Prayer Advisers: 

• Sophie Chapman, Lincolnshire team 

• Isobel Mead, Monmouthshire team 

• Robert and Rebecca Taylor, Norfolk team  

• Kerry Taylor, London team 

• Jill Gower, Norfolk team 

Or contact your local Alpha Office for information about prayer in and for your nation.

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Kingdom Come: UK – four nations, one year of 24-7 prayer

In 2012, the UK are inviting all 7,000 Alpha churches running Alpha to come together for an unbroken year of prayer throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; filling the Olympic year with unprecedented intercession for the nation.

Join with us for an amazing year of prayer on Facebook and on Twitter! 

And sign up your church for a day or week of 24-7 prayer.

Contact us for more information

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