Is it wrong to read a prayer in worship services?<\/p>\n\t
“Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Many of the passages of the Bible are prayers, such as Jesus’ prayer (John 17), Hannah’s prayer (I Samuel 2), Solomon’s prayer (I Kings 8:22ff), and many of the Psalms are both songs and prayers. Therefore, it is not wrong to read a prayer during worship.<\/p>\n\t
Question:<\/h2>\n
Thank you for this. One gentleman at our congregation writes his prayers down and one person believes he is wrong to read them. I see no problem with it and wanted to be able to have a reasonable conversation with her about it.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
Prayers are to be from the heart and sincere. Whether they are verbal or written, this remains the same. When we teach young men to lead prayers, a common question is how do I remember all the people that need prayers? Not everyone is used to speaking in front of a group of people. You can easily lose your train of thought when you are nervous. What we tell them to do is jot down the things that you want to pray about so that if you get stuck, you have something to look at and remind you. If a person wants to write out his prayers in full, that is fine.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Is it wrong to read a prayer in worship services? Answer: “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (I Timothy 4:13). Many of the passages of the Bible are prayers, such as Jesus’ prayer (John 17), Hannah’s prayer (I Samuel 2), Solomon’s prayer (I Kings 8:22ff),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1510,853,84],"class_list":["post-31582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prayers","tag-reading","tag-worship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":66225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-proper-for-a-church-to-pray-together-silently\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":0},"title":"Is it proper for a church to pray together silently?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brother Jeffery, Thanks for always answering questions. They've been helpful to me and the people around me. I want to ask you a question about the orderliness of prayer in the church. Can the church pray such that a time is given during worship, such as 10\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-prayers-be-offered-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":1},"title":"How should prayers be offered in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where I need help is with prayers. Is it scriptural to pray saying \"In Jesus' name\" several times in between the prayer before concluding? Does it not count as vain repetitions? Is it scriptural to raise prayer points while everyone prays until the person leading will ask everyone to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27378,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-group-prayer-biblical\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":2},"title":"Is group prayer biblical?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I attend a couple of churches of Christ, both of which practice group prayer. If we are so concerned with serving God strictly with biblical authority (e.g. no music in worship, etc.) then surely there must be some explicit mention of group prayer in the New Testament. Could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8604,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-head-covering-needed-for-all-prayers-or-only-during-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":3},"title":"Is a head covering needed for all prayers or only during worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is a head covering needed any time a prayer is said (i.e. before dinner, around the house, baseball game, Bible class, etc.) or just during a worship service? Answer: \"But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18591,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-pray-individual-prayers-together-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":4},"title":"Can we pray individual prayers together in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Jeffrey, Please, I want to know from Scriptures about mass prayer in New Testament worship.\u00a0Can we pray together, when we come together, but each one prays his or her own prayer? Thank you. Answer: Worship as a church is distinct from individual worship. In a church service, everything\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-head-covering-be-worn-while-singing\/","url_meta":{"origin":31582,"position":5},"title":"Should a head covering be worn while singing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding the head covering. My current practice is to cover my head whenever praying, in or out of the worship. And I generally wear it throughout the worship period. But I do not normally cover it for singing outside of the worship. 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