Why Not Corporate Prayer

In my previous article titled Why Corporate Prayer? I shared that Corporate Prayer is biblical and the value of Corporate Prayer. So, if Corporate Prayer is biblical and has value why is that most Christians do not participate in any form of Corporate Prayer? Here is a list of some of the reasons.

Do Not See Its Significance
There are Christians who believe there is nothing significant about Corporate Prayer. Why Corporate Prayer? gives in detail the value of Corporate Prayer.

Misinterpretation of Scripture

⁵ “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:5-6 NASB

There are Christians that interpret Matthew 6:5-6 as saying that you must pray in secret, going as far as saying you should not pray in public. However, it is clear Jesus was addressing the pride and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Due to the fact that Jesus and men of God in the Bible prayed publicly, and the followers of Christ prayed publicly with each other, it is clear it is not wrong or sinful to pray publicly in corporate prayer. Just make sure you are not being prideful in your prayers.

Fear
There are Christians who do not participate in Corporate Prayer because of fear. Fear of how they sound or fear of saying the wrong thing (praying wrong). The root of the fear is pride which is clearly sin. Also making decisions out of fear is clearly contrary to Scripture. If we are praying with a sincere heart, we are not going to pray ‘wrong’. Besides we are praying to God, not man.

The fear may be to pray out loud around others. If that is the case, they certainly could participate in Corporate Prayer, just pray silently.

 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

Lack of Faith
One of the roots of fear is lack of faith. Some Christians do not participate in Corporate Prayer because they do not have faith that God hears their prayers. The truth is all of us at times feel this way. If we let this mindset control us, we will not pray in public or private.

Refusal to Have Fellowship with Other Christians
There are some Christians so stuck on nonessential doctrine, so stuck on their denomination, so stuck on their church is the only good church they refuse to participate in Corporate Prayer with other Christians unless they ‘fit in their box’. Evidence of pride. (The hypocrisy is most of these types of Christians will not even participate in Corporate Prayer among their own group.)

Not Praying
Another reason why some Christian do not participate in Corporate Prayer is they do not have a personal prayer life.

Sin
If a person has blatant, ongoing, willful sin in their life they are most likely not going to participate in Corporate Prayer.

Legitimate Reasons
There are some legitimate reasons a person may not participate in Corporate Prayer. i.e., physical limitations, scheduling issues.

Summary
As can be seen there are very few legitimate reasons for a Christian to not participate in Corporate Prayer. So, ask yourself, why is it that I do not participate in Corporate Prayer? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you resolve what inhibits you to participate in Corporate Prayer.