The prayer meeting
A gathering whose only business is praying together, usually mid-week.
A gathering, often midweek, given chiefly to shared prayer, where members voice requests and pray aloud in turn, frequently alongside Bible study. Rooted in Puritan, Methodist and revivalist practice, prayer meetings remain a fixture of Baptist, Pentecostal and evangelical church life, extended between meetings by prayer chains and prayer lists that circulate urgent needs through the congregation.
The prayer meeting is a gathering with no other agenda. Requests are shared and then prayed for, often by several people in turn, and the tone is closer to a conversation than to a service.
It is historically important out of proportion to its size: revivals and missionary movements have repeatedly started in them, and traditions that value them cite that history explicitly.
Attendance is usually much smaller than Sunday worship, and this is a standing complaint in the traditions that hold them.
Does it have a text?
No text. What is said is extemporaneous, and what is prayed for comes from whoever is in the room that evening.
When it comes up
Other forms of prayer in Protestant Christianity
- Extemporaneous prayer — Prayer composed in the moment, in the speaker's own words.
- Liturgical prayer and the Daily Office — Set prayers and set hours, kept by the traditions that retained them.
- The pastoral prayer — The long prayer offered on behalf of a whole congregation during worship.
- Grace at meals and household devotion — Prayer at the table, and the habit of family prayer at home.
- Charismatic and Pentecostal prayer — Prayer expecting the immediate activity of the Spirit, including prayer in tongues.
This page describes a practice. It does not tell you how to perform it, or whether you should. Practice varies by region, community and household far more than a page like this can carry, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed anything here. The full dossier names its sources.
Content last changed 15 October 2026. Dates come from this page’s own revision history, not from the last time the site was deployed.