Ideas For an All Night Women's Prayer Meeting
All night women's prayer gatherings have been a part of church life for many years. They may happen monthly, or only once a year, but such gatherings offer a time and place for women to gather, fellowship, and pray.This last Friday was our first all night women's prayer meeting at Father's House in a few years. Some of us used to meet overnight on a regular basis, but our lives got busy and the overnight prayer events got put on the back burner. We're now moving them front and center.
Ideas for planning a women's prayer event
Plan your gathering enough in advance so women have time to arrange childcare and meals for their families while they are gone.Include the who, what, why, where, and when in your announcements. We chose a Friday night from 10:00 p.m. to Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. Women were encouraged to come for part the evening or spend the night.Choose a prayer focus for the evening, such as praying for your community, your church family, a specific missions outreach, or a nation or people group. Our prayer focus was to support a team of women from Father's House ministering the same weekend with Because Justice Matters in San Francisco.
Women's prayer stations
At this gathering we set up seven stations, or prayer areas. Throughout the night we encouraged the women to participate in the different prayer areas. Worship music played in the back ground. Every hour or so we would gather together for a devotional or to share what the Lord was showing us. It was a good time to compare notes.Our first station was a gathering area for group prayer, discussion, and a computer side-show of our prayer focus for the evening—prayer support for our women's team ministering in San Francisco. If you are focusing on a community or nation, you might want to place a map of the area at one of your prayer stations.
We also set up a communion station where women could take communion and pray alone or with another.
A snack and fellowship area is a must when women gather together. We kept the snacks very simple.
We provided open spaces where women could take part in expressive worship and prayer.
A creative area for artistic prayer brought some amazing results of the unseen translated into the seen.
We also provided a sleeping area for those who wanted to nap during the night. (Sometimes you just gotta admit you aren't 30 years old anymore!)
Our last station was an intimate area where women could pray in small groups or one on one.
About half the women slipped away between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but the rest stayed, prayed, or even slept as needed through the night.Only eternity will tell the results of this prayer meeting, but I know our women's team ministering in San Francisco appreciated the prayer support. For us who stayed home to pray—it was a night to remember as we grew closer to Jesus and each other.What has been your experience with all night prayer meetings, and what ideas can you share with us?(For more creative group prayer ideas, pick up my book, Intercessors, God's End-time Vanguard: How to Pray Effectively for the Things That Matter Most.)Growing with you, Susan"Jesus likes it when we share." -Adelaide, age 3: Pass this along to everybody and their brother. OK, maybe not everybody's brother, but you know . . . all of your friends would be nice. (You can use the cute little share buttons below.)Related posts:Yes, Prayer Changes Things!How to Pray Your Child HOMEFive Tips For Learning How to Pray EffectivelySponsor: