Welcome To Our Zoom Meetings

We recently released a guide which we sent to those who have signed up for our online prayer meetings, giving an introduction for newcomers and laying out some principles and practicalities for everyone involved.

You can read what we sent out below. If you'd like to join us for our Zoom meetings in future, fill in our join-up form if you're not a member (mentioning Zoom meetings in the comment box), or get in touch with us if you're a member!

Welcome

Thank you for signing up for our national Zoom prayer meetings. We are excited that you’ve decided to join us, and we pray you will be richly blessed as you participate! Our desire is that the Lord will use you mightily in our midst for everyone’s blessing and His glory, furthering His kingdom purposes on the earth through united prayer.

Praying online is quite a unique experience; the number of people praying is usually larger than when we meet in person at prayer days or conferences, and there isn’t quite the same immediacy as when we are together in person. There are also some technical limitations (as well as advantages), and we have to try and navigate these effectively. We hope the pointers in this guide will give you an idea of what to expect, and an effective lead-in to what can be a tricky environment at first but – once you get the hang of it – a real blessing!

We currently meet monthly, and people join us from across the UK, with up to 100 people typically taking part. We usually begin with a short time of worship or a devotional thought, followed by an introduction of the main prayer topic, then we get stuck into prayer. Because we don’t have a huge amount of time we often take up only one key topic in prayer, although we seek to be flexible and Spirit-led with the whole structure.

Introductory principles of corporate intercession

1. Listening for the Spirit’s leading through each other

The early church prayed with one mind and heart, literally ‘breathing together’ (Acts 2v1). The Lord can use any member of a group to bring revelation directly, but more often than not He moves and directs us together as we listen to one another’s prayers and can say ‘Amen’ to them (1 Cor 14v16). As we hear one another’s hearts, and detect that which is birthed by the Spirit, we may identify a theme emerging, and can then focus our prayers on that theme.

2. Staying focussed in one area

There is an instinctive desire in so many of us to do what Lance Lambert called ‘girdle the earth’ – that is, we become scattered, praying about anything and everything under the sun, or about a whole range of issues within a prayer topic. We know God loves clarity and order rather than confusion (1 Cor 14vv33,40), so our task is to spread out a matter before the Lord, see where He might lead us, and then not get distracted from it. We need depth rather than breadth, and to do business with God over what is on His heart rather than ours. Repeating and focusing on a particular point might seem boring to us – but in some instances this is precisely what the Lord wants to hear (Luke 11v5-13; Luke 18v1-5)!

3. Keeping brief and to the point

We need to be succinct to pray effectively and show consideration for others. God already knows what is on our hearts, and we are commanded not to make long prayers like the Pharisees (Matthew 6v7-8). He is looking for a simple and earnest ‘heart cry’, rather than a long-winded approach that dilutes the ‘nub’ of what He has placed in our hearts and any fervency which had built up. We also need to make space for all our brothers and sisters who want to pray too, and who the Lord wants to hear (1 Cor 14v30).

4. Praying on behalf of the group

Prayer like this is a team sport, and we should use collective pronouns like ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ wherever possible, because we’re seeking to pray together, as one. As we do this though, we should consider whether others might be in agreement with what we are praying on their behalf. The ‘amens’ after our prayer are often a helpful (though not foolproof) guide to whether they did agree or not! By extension, we should never make a declaration or seek to bind the enemy as an individual, because any such action needs to be taken together once the group (and particularly the leaders) have reached the collective feeling that God is directing in that way.

5. Joining in!

The Lord wants to hear every one of us, and we are part of a body for a reason. No one is lesser or greater than another on account of how long they have been a Christian, their training, maturity or experience (1 Cor 12v14-25). Our short, hesitant prayers, even those that feel clumsy or poorly worded, may well bless others and the Lord Himself more than we could ever imagine. Such prayers may achieve more in the heavenlies than those deemed more eloquent, and we should be confident before the Lord rather than fearful towards men.

The role of our leaders

Like the conductor of an orchestra, God wants to lead us all in harmony to produce a wonderful sound and fragrant offering. We believe those that lead or chair the meeting are like the baton in His hand. Those leading the prayer time – usually the Co-Directors if in a big group all together, or perhaps other nominated individuals in various break-out rooms – will try and help the collective whole to reach the place the Lord desires. Our prayer leaders will:

Lead. They may add comments or directions into the stream of prayer that help us all hit the proverbial ‘bullseye’ and stay in the middle of the Holy Spirit’s will. Occasionally they might gently ask someone who has been praying for a while to draw the prayer to close, or ask people who have already prayed to hold back. If that involves you, please don’t be offended – the leaders are doing their best to make space for everyone to pray.

Make space for silence. Our leaders are not afraid of silence, and believe none of us should be! They may try and make space to listen for what the Holy Spirit is saying, which might involve times of quiet. The Lord may be wanting them to make space for a scripture, a song, a prophecy, or a tongue and its interpretation.

Measure everything by the Word. Like good Bereans, we need to ensure that what people pray and do as part of the meeting is in line with scripture.

Help others join in. There may be those who are less confident in praying out in the midst of a group. Leaders might gently encourage such intercessors to do so, and make space for them.

Look to others for feedback. To help discern how to direct the meeting as it progresses, the leaders will communicate with each other, and sometimes with other individuals or even the whole group. They also welcome feedback being sent after the meeting from individuals who felt the Lord impress something on them.

Lead by example. Leaders will try to pray in a way which might help others latch onto where the Lord is leading. You may find it helpful to follow their lead as they seek to do this.

Technical tips and practical pointers

Raising your ‘Zoom hand’. For those who find ‘getting in’ difficult when many people are praying one after the other, it can sometimes be helpful to use Zoom’s ‘raise hand’ function. This allows the leaders to identify those who are trying to pray, and interject to fit them in at an appropriate time. It’s not necessarily a guarantee of space to pray because, as with all large meetings, it’s a dynamic environment and the prayer ‘stream’ can change direction or bring about a pause. If you have been waiting a while to pray and then start to feel that your prayer no longer fits with the direction of the prayers, you can ‘lower’ your hand.

Messaging. We tend to disable the ‘message all’ option, because we believe it can be a distraction from what is going on in prayer, but you can still send direct messages to leaders and they will try to take those into account.

Break-out rooms. Having previously tried break-out rooms extensively, we now tend to stay together as one big meeting because we believe coming to a united place with the Lord is easier that way, but we may use break-out rooms from time to time.

Muting. The leaders may mute all participants in order to speak to the whole group, particularly during introductions, to help maintain focus and prevent background noise from people’s devices. We’ll then ask you to unmute yourselves one by one as you pray. If you remain unmuted after praying, please do your best to avoid making noise during others’ prayers, other than a hearty ‘Amen” where appropriate at the end!

Simultaneous prayer. There may be a time when the leaders ask everyone to unmute themselves and pray out loud simultaneously. This may feel like a strange experience at first, but it’s very biblical and also very liberating, allowing us to be united and to all be heard. Do get stuck in!

We hope this short guide is helpful. If you still have any questions, please do send us an email and we'll do our best to answer them.

Yours in Christ’s service,

Josh MacDonald and Ashley Thompson

IFB Co-Directors