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Summary
- Four one-line opening prayers suit almost any church gathering, and longer prayers cover a business meeting, a divided meeting, a prayer meeting, Bible study, volunteers, missions and thanksgiving.
- The first church council, in Acts 15, met after “much disputing” and announced its decision with “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (Acts 15:28).
- The 1928 Book of Common Prayer’s “Prayer to be used at the Meetings of Convention” asks God to save a church council “from all error, ignorance, pride, and prejudice.”
- The 1888 Catholic Manual of Prayers has a prayer “for the preservation of concord in a congregation.”
- A prayer meeting often runs from an opening prayer and reading through shared requests and open prayer to the Lord’s Prayer; Acts 1:14 and 12:5, 12 describe the first ones.
- The Advent collect “Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning” suits the start of a Bible study.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 119:18; Matthew 18:19–20; Acts 1:14; 12:5, 12; 15:7, 12, 28; Romans 12:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Peter 4:10). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Prayers, “A Prayer to be used at the Meetings of Convention,” pp. 35–36; Collects, “Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words which we have heard this day,” p. 49; The Second Sunday in Advent, The Collect, p. 92. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Occasional Prayers, “For the Preservation of Concord in a Congregation,” p. 166. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
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