How to Start Your Own Internet Prayer Group

Prayer does work, and many times this has been proven true in my life. When I first got online after having been a non-practicing Christian for several years, I was immediately drawn to online prayer teams and lists. Not only did I consider myself to be blessed by praying for others, but I was touched by the number of people willing to pray for someone whom they had never even met. I was especially inspired by the examples of people on a few Anglican lists that I'd gotten involved with that maintained regular prayer lists. For several years now, in addition to operating my own prayer list, I've volunteered with another prayer ministry.

Getting your own Internet-based prayer group is easier than you might think. The most common way is to have an e-mail list of prayer requests. Other options include a website with prayer requests or a forum. If you're blessed with a large number of volunteers, you can even delegate certain tasks to certain members. All of these different methods have their own pro's and con's.

An e-mail list is fairly easy to set up and maintain. It's possible to add the people who want to join your group to a special list in your address book and e-mail them requests, utilizing the BCC feature on your e-mail to protect their privacy. However, this opens the door for possible spam complaints, so your best option is to use a free list service, such as Yahoo Groups. A list service allows your members to subscribe or unsubscribe themselves. You might want to consider whether or not you want your members to be able to have discussions on your list. Please keep in mind that allowing discussion can put off some members who are just interested in prayer requests. Most list servers allow members the option of choosing whether to receive individual posts or a daily digest.

Websites are also a good way to get prayer requests out to others. Unless your site has restricted access, this eliminates the need to get members to join. An e-mail link or form placed prominently on the page will allow people to send requests that you can post to the page. Of these two options, a form is preferred since a lot of people don't have mail enabled in their browsers. Since the site will be visible to anyone on the Internet, consider cutting out any personal information that may have been supplied in the e-mail.

Forums aren't widely used for prayer groups, but are easy to set up. Most software requires posters to register for an account, so this might hinder some people from deciding to send requests. This may be a good option for allowing existing members of your group to interact with each other.

If your group brings in a number of members, you may be able to have them volunteer to perform certain tasks. Some could initially respond to and follow-up on prayer requests, while others might provide advice or answer questions. The prayer ministry I volunteer with, Answers 2 Prayer has volunteers with special tasks.

Once you've gotten your prayer group set up, let others know about it. When you respond to a person who's requested prayer, ask them if they'd like your group to pray for them. Most people will appreciate and invite the prayers of others. Let your clergy, church secretary, or other person in charge know that they can pass prayer requests along to you. Include a link to your prayer group in an e-mail or message board signature.

When you receive prayer requests, a meaningful response is always helpful. Rather than a "canned" response, you might want to tell them how you're praying, share a prayer, or suggest Scriptures for them to pray. People are more likely to stay in touch and update if your response is more personalized. It's helpful to save requests and follow-up after a few weeks. Many people submit their requests to multiple groups and might not remember to contact you.

Once your prayer group is well-known and receiving many requests, you might want to consider whether you want to become a registered non-profit. While you can accept donations for your group or to assist people in need without charity status, donations will be considered taxable income. If you should decide to provide assistance to people in need, consider how you'll screen out possible scammers. One option is to pay the needy person's bills yourself from donations.
Other options that a prayer group may want to consider include resources to help other Christians on their spiritual journey, such as Bible studies.

If you've decided to start a prayer group, you will be blessed for your efforts.