How to lead prayers of intercession during worship

I inherited this excellent advice from a paper that my predecessor, Revd Brian Robertson, circulated at St Paul's in 1999. If you lead intercessions, it's well worth re-visiting.

Leading Intercessions at St Paul’s

Intercessions should be a high point in a service. “We have the awesome task of holding open to the Father those parts of his creation which stand in need of renewal. Here great issues of Church, politics and human destiny are hammered out. Here people’s health and well being are being restored or maintained.” But so often …”Let us pray for the Church and for the world, and let us thank God for a short sleep.” is the most we can expect!

· Work on your own prayer life – public praying flows from private praying
· Start early. Ask God to show you what to pray about and how to pray about it.
· Think about the theme and texts of the service – you may want to reflect them in what and how you pray.
· Keep up to date! Check with the vicar or service leader if there are special people or situations that need prayer this week.
· Pray about the things the congregation cares about … but also stretch their horizons. And pray about the things that you care about – it will show in your prayers. But don’t forget, these are the “people’s prayers”, not your prayers that others are eavesdropping on.
· Decide on a “structure” for your prayers. Try different approaches, but don’t get too clever. Your task is to lead others in prayer, not to dazzle them with your originality.
· Be selective – prayers should last no more than 5 minutes. If you say about 100 words per prayer topic, then you have time for 4-5 topics only. A cardinal sin is to try to cover too much.
· Be specific, be concise, be honest. Try to use language vividly. But be yourself … pray in a way that is natural to you.
· If children are present, keep your prayers short and simple. Aim for prayers that an 8 year old would understand and relate to, but that an adult would not feel patronised by.
· By all means blend in a small element of confession, praise and thanksgiving with your prayers – but focus on intercession i.e. “asking prayers”. Other parts of the service major on the other types of prayer.
· Check where the prayers come in the order of service.
· Sit where you can easily get to the place where you will be praying
· Aim to be heard – people can’t say “Amen” to prayers they can’t hear (or don’t agree with!)
· Have a start and an end. No need for an anecdote. If you are starting with a scripture, make it just one verse (much more than that gets in the way). And pray, don’t preach!
· If you are using “responses” (Lord hear us …Lord, graciously hear us), tell the congregation what the responses will be. If they are not “stock” responses or very easy to remember, use the AV projector.
· Speak slowly and carefully. Give people time not only to hear what you say, but also to pray it for themselves. Pause between prayers. Cut rather than cram. Don’t be afraid to use silence, but make it clear what the purpose of the silence is … and make sure it lasts for the right amount of time.
· Get constructive feedback on the way you lead prayers. Don’t be afraid of criticism. Be a learner.
· Learn by listening to how others lead prayers. But don’t mimic them. Be yourself.
· Start to compile your own collection of favourite prayers. Some of the well worn ones of the past are a model of confident and concise praying, often couched in vivid and memorable language.
· Start to compile your own collection of favourite prayers. Some of the well worn prayers written by others are a model of confident and concise praying, often couched in vivid and memorable language.