Customer Reviews

Together in Prayer: Coming to God in Community

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was able to get through this entire book in one sitting before I went to bed, the book is super easy to read and flows very naturally from chapter to chapter. The author gives good examples and references from scripture.

I bought this as a resource for my church which is going through a "season of prayer" and my prayer class found the contents of this book very helpful.

Andrew has led group prayer in both church and parachurch settings, so he knows of what he writes. His book is extremely practical and will help your group to pray more effectively together. Get away from the bland prayers about Aunt Ethel's hip surgery!

I was very impressed by this book. It is well written and accessible. I read this over a week because I wanted to absorb the teachings in each chapter and make my own notes. The author sets a Scriptural context for all his discussions of prayer. I especially appreciated his insights for 'corporate prayer' - praying in groups - and have tried to model this at my church. I strongly recommend Together in Prayer as both a personal and ministry resource.

Together in Prayer: Coming to God in Community by Andrew Wheeler is a great primer that explains what praying in community looks like. The book could probably be summed up in one sentence - pray to God, not to each other. If you want a good overview of everything this book has to offer, read the last chapter of the book. The appendix also has a neat assessment to determine how "prayer-friendly" your group is.

Wheeler is very systematic in unpacking what it looks like to pray in community - explaining both tips that will enhance group prayer as well as prayer practices that will actually hinder it. For example, he explains how we oftentimes direct our prayers at each other, instead of God by instructing, exhorting, sermonizing, counseling, and informing each other through our prayers. Here's an example, "Father, may people who are far from you come to our church today. They need to hear your Word and realize their need for you, rather than pursuing their own selfish desires. They need to repent and receive Jesus as their Savior, to save them from a Christless eternity. Their lives need your touch; may they stop making excuses and come to meet you today." Compare that prayer, which is directed more towards people than to God, with the following prayer. "Lord, please bring to our church today people who are far from you. Free them from anything thay may be keeping them from knowing you. Break down any barriers that are in their way, and draw them by your grace."

Wheeler also heavily emphasizes the idea of flow and properly informing individuals of what the prayer time is going to look like, instead of assuming that everyone will just join in. For example, he advises the following: that we select an individual to open and close the prayer time, that we encourage individuals to pray shorter sentence prayers, instead of longer prayers, that we reassure people that it's okay to pray more than one time.

Consequently, Wheeler doesn't naively offer a one-size-fits-all approach to prayer, but he, self-admittedly, wrote the book from a western approach to community prayer. For me, I grew up in a Korean church all the way until high school, and community prayer looked a bit different than what Wheeler explains in his book. In Korean churches, community prayer is more of a time of prayer where we would all be given a topic, and then approach God individually with that topic in a shared space. Or we would even spend time praying with one another, but the idea of sitting in a circle and listening to each other pray isn't the norm.

All in all, I give this book four stars out of five.

This book is a must to read. It clearly presents the purpose of prayer and to whom I'm talking to. Andrew's book highlights my prayer weaknesses and encourages me to move on. It's a well documented book supported by Scripture. It's easy to read. I don't have a problem following what the author is saying. Families, individuals, small groups, and all others, will reap the benefits by reading this book and surely, improve their own prayer life. To be without "Together In Prayer" is like missing a valuable treasure.

Prayer is an important part of the growth of any Christian. Small groups or community groups are a significant part of the discipleship strategy within most churches. Unfortunately, prayer within small groups is not usually given the attention that it needs.

Prayer, more than most spiritual disciplines is something that is caught more than taught. Most people learn to pray either as small children at bed time or by listening to pastors or other church leaders pray in large group setting. Neither of these two styles of prayer lends itself a small group setting well.

Andrew Wheeler, a prayer leader at Willow Creek Church, has the most useful (and frankly only) book on small group prayer I have read. Many parts of it can be adapted to learn about prayer in other settings as well. The end of the book has some thoughts about how prayer in other settings influences our prayer in small group settings.

I first read this book soon after it was first published. It was then several years before I was in a regular small group. I am re-reading this book to because my wife and I have recently started a new small group and I am increasingly convinced that we need to model prayer that is focused on building community, caring for the people of the group, and inclusive of everyone that is in the group.

If you are a small group leader, I would highly recommend reading this book. One of the best parts of the book is that he frequently uses examples of prayers (both positive and negative) and then talks about why he thinks those prayers would be helpful or problematic within small group prayer times. It is important to remember that setting matters. A prayer that is appropriate by yourself, might not be appropriate from the stage during a worship service or in a small group setting.

There are a number of suggestions that are both useful and practical. The most important, is that expectations are important. Many people come to small groups with very different expectations. While that is true about everything, it is very true about prayer. So the leader's job is to set expectations. Tell everyone exactly what you want them to do, give boundaries, set time and participation expectations and ask what people want to do. Nothing is more uncomfortable than not knowing what is expected. Another suggestion that is repeated from a couple different tacks is that prayer should be talking to God. If you need to say something about a prayer, or to a person, then it is best to stop praying and address the person, then go back to praying or say it before or after the prayer.

Prayer is in large part an acknowledgement that we are not the ones in charge. So it may be even more important, that in our western, middle class, self-sufficient churches that prayer gets the attention that it needs.