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Summary
- A closing prayer for Bible study thanks God for his word, asks for help to live what was read, prays for the group’s needs and asks God to keep everyone safe until they meet again.
- The heart of it is James’s call to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
- A closing prayer can be three sentences long, and one person can pray it for the whole group.
- Scripture gives blessings to end with: Numbers 6:24-26, the grace of 2 Corinthians 13:14, Romans 15:13, Hebrews 13:20-21 and Jude 24-25; a cell group can say the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 over one another as a farewell.
- The Lord’s Prayer is a common ending; Catholics usually stop at “deliver us from evil”.
- A small group or cell group closes the same way, with more time for members’ prayer requests.
- Nine longer prayers cover the study itself, the group, and going out, from spiritual enlightenment to safety on the way home.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture in the King James Version (public domain), from BibleGateway: Numbers 6:24-26; Matthew 6:9-13 (cited); Romans 15:13; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 13:20-21; James 1:22; Jude 24-25.
- The Order of Mass, Roman Missal, Third Edition (English translation, 2011), the Lord’s Prayer, in the Mass texts booklet compiled by Felix Just, S.J.
- Tianrong small-group discipleship ministry, Small-group leader’s handbook, Lesson 7: the order of a small-group meeting (2025).
- ChristianPure, Praying Out Loud (course page).
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