Praying for others

How to start a prayer group, step by step

November 8, 2026 · 4 min read

How to start a prayer group at church, at home, at work or online, who to invite, what to do the first time, and how to keep praying between meetings.

To start a prayer group, ask two to six people who want to pray, pick a regular time and place, and keep the first meeting simple: share a few requests, then pray. Decide where the requests will live between meetings, so the group keeps praying all week. Everything else can grow from there.

How do you start a prayer group?

Start a prayer group in five steps: pray about who to ask, invite a few people personally, set a time you can keep, plan a simple first meeting, and pick one place to keep the group’s requests. A small group that meets faithfully does more good than a big one that fades after a month.

The early church prayed together from the start. After Jesus ascended, the disciples “with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14, ESV), and the new believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42, ESV).

1. Pray about who to ask

Ask God for the right people before you ask anyone. Think of people who already pray, people who have asked you to pray for them, and people who might want to pray but don’t know where to start. A prayer group doesn’t need experts. It needs people who will come back.

2. Invite a few people personally

A personal invitation works better than an announcement. Text or talk to each person: what the group is, when it meets, and that it’s simple. Something like “A few of us are going to pray together on Tuesday nights for 45 minutes. Would you join us?”

Three to six people is a good start. Two is enough (Matthew 18:20).

3. Pick a time and place you can keep

Choose a time you can keep for months, not just weeks. Common choices:

• At church: before or after a service, or a weeknight in a classroom. Ask your pastor or an elder first. They can help, and they’ll want to pray for you.
• In your home: a weeknight in the living room, with coffee and a short start time.
• At work: a lunch break once a week, in a meeting room, with permission.
• Online: a video call at the same time each week, which helps people who travel, have young kids, or live far apart.
• For women or men: the same steps work for a women’s or men’s prayer group. Some people share more freely with a few people like them.

4. Plan a simple first meeting

The first meeting sets the pattern, so keep it short and clear. A 45 minute meeting might look like this:

1. Welcome and a short reading (5 minutes). Read a psalm or a short passage on prayer, like Philippians 4:6-7.
2. Share requests (15 minutes). Each person shares one or two specific needs. Someone writes them down.
3. Pray (20 minutes). Pray for each request by name. People can pray out loud, a sentence or two, or silently.
4. Thanks and close (5 minutes). Thank God for what He has done, and agree on next week.

For what to share, see these small group prayer request ideas. For running the meeting itself, see how to lead a prayer group.

5. Keep the group’s requests in one place

A group prays well together and then forgets by Thursday. Decide where the requests will live, so everyone can keep praying between meetings and see when one is answered.

In The Pray App, a group holds everyone’s requests. Go to Manage, tap Start a group under Groups, and name it the way your group already does, like “Tuesday small group.” Paste the requests you wrote down and tap Split into requests. Each line becomes a request with the name of the person who asked, in their own words.

Paste the requests from your first meeting. Each line becomes its own request.

Tap Post, then Share invite to send the code to your group. People join with Join with a code, add their own requests with Ask for prayer, and up to 3 of the group’s requests come up each time they pray. Each request shows how many people prayed for it.

The group’s board shows every open request and how many people prayed.

See pray with your small group for every step.

How do you keep a prayer group going?

Prayer groups fade when meetings drift or requests go nowhere. A few habits help a group last:

• Start and end on time. People come back when they can count on the time.
• Keep sharing short. Prayer, not discussion, should take most of the meeting.
• Follow up. Ask about last week’s requests before sharing new ones.
• Celebrate answers. When God answers, thank Him together. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, ESV).
• Keep confidences. What’s shared in the group stays in the group.

The Pray App is free on the App Store, with no ads. See also the group prayer app post and how to pray for your church.