Group Study Plan

Prayer and journaling are daily and personal activities, but you can greatly enhance your experience by meeting weekly with a group of prayer partners. Making this prayer journey together produces extra benefits of greater spiritual growth, understanding, accountability, and encouragement.

Because no one best way exists to conduct a Whispers of Hope group, I am suggesting some principles and options for a group study plan. Choose the approach and type of structure that will help you and your group members build a faithful prayer life. You will need to clarify two basic issues. First, what level of accountability will the group practice? Second, will the group’s focus be on prayer, or will you combine prayer with review of the material for the week?

The Issue of Accountability

The accountability of a group helps members maintain their commitment to a growing devotional life. The very fact that the group meets can help many of us develop faithfulness and spend time with Christ. I strongly believe in a system of accountability. I need sisters who will pointedly ask me about my commitments and my devotional life.

You will have people who struggle with consistency in their prayer lives. We have a much easier time getting out of bed and bending the knee if we know we will be asked to give an account of our faithfulness. I encourage your group to talk frankly at the first meeting and settle on the degree of accountability members will expect from one another. The group can encourage each member to develop the discipline of daily prayer by practicing one of the levels of accountability described below.

Group Accountability: Accountability can be a regular function of the group meeting. Every member knows that as a regular part of the meeting she will briefly report her successes and struggles with having a quiet time, prayer, and journal experience daily.

Accountability Partners: To increase the level of accountability, divide the group into pairs. Each person will have an accountability partner. As a regular part of each weekly meeting, plan a time for accountability partners to report to each other their faithfulness and struggles with a regular prayer time.

Accountability partners plus a daily phone call: For the most powerful level of accountability, divide into pairs with the understanding that partners will call each other daily. In addition to confirming their quiet times, partners can pray together over the phone. In group sessions partners can pray together, or you may have a group accountability report as in the first suggestion above.

Leading a Whispers of Hope Group

First, last, and always—pray for your group and your leadership. God may guide you to lead the group in some way totally different from my recommendations. You can use some or all of these recommendations in your group. Concentrate on two areas: be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what He is leading the group to do, and be sensitive to the needs of your group. What would help group members develop a strong relationship with Christ?

Whispers of Hope is a daily prayer journal. My purpose in writing has been to help women develop more effective prayer lives. Decide if your group will emphasize prayer or prayer and study. Simply getting together without a clearly-determined group purpose invites trouble. My experience with groups suggests that you need to determine the focus of the group.

If you have a group of disciplined prayer warriors, consider prayer as the single purpose of your group. Such a group will get together to spend the time praying. The focus will not be on study or review. In fact, you will want to avoid taking away from time spent in prayer. Your group will simply meet and pray. Beware of distractions that draw you away from prayer. Don’t spend the time talking about prayer . . . PRAY!

If you want more suggestions for a group with the primary purpose of prayer, read In God’s Presence, by T. W. Hunt and Claude King (ISBN 0-7673-0001-7). If you opt for a pure prayer group, you can largely disregard my suggestions for a study format. If you will combine prayer and study, choose from among the following approaches:

A Content-Centered Group:Lead the group to discuss some of the ways God has spoken to members this week through the meditations and journaling. Each day’s meditation deals with a different theme. Without rereading the meditations in the group, review the theme of each day. You can quickly remind yourself of the theme by reading the first and last few lines of most lessons. Spend a few minutes discussing each meditation. Ask questions such as:

• In what way does this message challenge your thinking or behavior?

• How does this issue impact your relationship with Christ?

• What do you need to do in response to this message?

You may find that your group will automatically have plenty to talk about for the meeting time. Seek to keep the focus on what they are learning and on what God is doing in their lives.

A Format-Centered Group: Focus each week on a different aspect of the P.R.A.I.S.E. format: P(raise), R(epent), A(cknowledging His authority), I(ntercession), S(upplication), and E(quipping).

You can formulate group discussion questions for each area or use standard questions like the following. In subsequent weeks, substitute repenting of sin, acknowledging His authority, etc. for praise:

1. What impact has praise had on your relationship to God this week?

2. When did praise first become a regular part of your relationship to God?

3. Describe your most significant experience with praise.

4. In what ways do you need to grow in praising God?

5. What benefits do you experience from regularly praising God?

An Application-Centered Group: This approach focuses on applying to life the week’s study and prayer with special emphasis on becoming equipped for ministry and service. Explain to members that during group sessions each of you will share how God has been equipping you during the week. As in the content-centered group, briefly review the theme for each day, but review them with an emphasis on the last of the journal sections. Ask:

1. How is God using this concept, principle, or truth to equip you to live a more Christ-honoring life?

2. How is He using this idea to equip you for more effective service?

3. In this area of life, what do you need to be what Christ intends?

As you participate in a group, I pray that you will develop a deeper love, trust, and obedience relationship with Christ. May you grow in understanding, but, more importantly, may you fall more and more deeply in love with our Savior. One day may we each reach the place where we would sacrifice anything rather than miss our time with Him.