Praying while leading worship can feel quite intimidating. You know you should pray. You know there are moments in the service when prayer makes sense. But then the microphone is in your hand and suddenly you start to overthink it. What should you pray for? When should you pray? Will people judge you if you pray like that?
Prayer is a very awesome thing. Speaking directly to the Creator is awesome. Some may argue that ‘practicing’ at it is wrong, as if that makes it too stiff. As if practicing prayer takes away from the spiritual aspect. We disagree. ‘Practice’ really just means becoming familiar with something until it’s second nature. That’s a great thing to strive for with prayer. It isn’t always easy speaking with God (we aren’t exactly on His level), especially when you’re leading others in it.
View prayer as something you can get better at; more comfortable and familiar with. Eventually you won’t need any help. Until then, here are a few principles to help.
Your Private Prayer Life Matters
One of the best ways to become more comfortable praying publicly is to develop a healthy prayer life privately.
The things you practice in private eventually find their way into your public ministry. Spending regular time talking with God builds your prayer vocabulary. Over time, you’ll become more comfortable expressing things to God, and that naturally gives you more confidence when you pray in front of others.
One simple way to develop that vocabulary is to pray through the Psalms. Don’t just read them. Pray them out loud. Let the language of Scripture teach you different ways to praise God, ask for help, confess, give thanks, and respond to who He is.
Pray for What’s Coming Next
A common mistake is praying a generic prayer simply because it feels like it’s time to pray. Remember, prayer is awesome. It should never be done just to fill some time.
At the same time, there’s never a wrong time to pray if it is done authentically. A great way to prayer authentically within church is by looking at what’s coming next in the service. If you’re opening the service, pray for the gathering and the people who are there. If you’re leading into an offering, pray specifically about giving and God’s purposes for it. If the sermon is coming next, pray for your pastor, for clarity, and for the congregation to hear and understand God’s Word.
The same principle works throughout the worship set. What’s coming next? Let that shape what you pray.
Write Your Prayers Down
There is nothing unspiritual about preparing a prayer ahead of time.
If you’re nervous about praying publicly, write your prayer out word for word. Preparing it gives you an opportunity to organize your thoughts instead of standing in front of the congregation with a blank mind. It’s the same principle as preparing a speaking transition. Preparation doesn’t make prayer less authentic. It can actually help you focus on what you’re trying to communicate.
God made us all different. Some are great at stream of conscious speaking, others are great at organizing beforehand. However He made you, lean on those strengths.
Look for More Places to Pray
Prayer doesn’t have to happen only at the beginning or end of a worship set. You can pray after a song in response to a truth you’ve just sung. You can pray before a song about the specific truth you’re about to sing. You can even pause during a song and use a musical transition to lead the congregation in prayer.
One especially powerful option is to turn the words of a worship song into a congregational prayer. Instead of simply singing the lyrics, invite your church to pray them together. Suddenly, the congregation isn’t just watching the worship team lead a song. They’re collectively expressing a prayer to God. That can turn an ordinary moment in a worship set into something truly powerful.
There are plenty of other ways to incorporate prayer into a worship service, and you’ll discover those yourself the more you practice at it. Keep the basics in mind: pray privately, prepare intentionally, pray specifically, and look for opportunities to lead your congregation into prayer.
