Praying for one another was pioneered by the apostles (Ja 5:16, 2 Cor 9:14, Col 4:3, 2 Thes 1:11, 2 Thes 3:1) and remained to be an important spiritual exercise among the believers. Needless to say, a vast variety of methods have been developed throughout history and a number of them are still being used today, some are more efficient than others. The main goal, however, is the same: to be such a community where people of faith pray for one another meaningfully and responsibly.

In my life, I have experienced two major methods of praying for one another and both seem to be insufficient. The first method is widely employed in the Russian Pentecostal churches: those who desire a prayer of the church write their request on a piece of paper and pass it to the front. Towards the end of the service, a minister reads all of the prayer requests and the church prays.
This becomes less meaningful in the larger churches: the church that I was a part of had a Sunday gathering of up to one thousand people and by the end of the service, a few dozens of prayer requests piled up; by the time all of them were read, the people could barely remember who and what to pray for. I usually prayed, “Lord, you heard all of those requests, please have mercy on the people that wrote them and answer their needs.”

However, that is not the troubling part, for this method works well with smaller churches, and larger churches can reform it somehow, if they want to. The component that diminishes the meaningfulness of such prayer is a frequent anonymity on the part of those who ask for prayer. Popular conclusions of the prayer requesting notes are: “I believe in the prayer for the church. Your brother in Christ”; “All my hope is in God. Your sister.” Some enter a some kind of humility contest by concluding with “the least of your brothers/sisters in Christ.”

While I do believe in the prayer of church, and in putting hope in God, and that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and that it may be a good idea to consider oneself the least of the saints, this still deeply troubles me. It is not possible to pray for one another meaningfully without any interaction between the one who prays and the one who is being prayed for. How can I pray meaningfully when I don’t even know who I am praying for? (This also can be said about sending prayer requests online, to ministries, radio stations, etc.) I understand why people want to remain anonymous; it can dangerous to share your needs with a public of a thousand people. But let’s remember that when James tell us to pray for one another, in the same sentence he tells us to confess our sins to one another. Prayer for one another must be between individuals who dare to trust each other and be responsible for one another.

The second method is often being used by American megachurches. After worship time, the pastor asks to turn around, find two or three people nearby, and pray for each other. In this case, there is face to face interaction, but an awkward one. There are no relationships between those who pray, and that diminishes the meaning of the prayer. (I think I made up a prayer request a few times to avoid the awkwardness of the situation.)

When Christians pray for one another, they must pray responsibly. This means that when I pray for my brother or sister, God may call me to be the answer to that prayer, and I must be open to that call; otherwise, my prayer is hypocritical. To pray responsibly, we must pray meaningfully, and to pray meaningfully, we must pray responsibly.

Often people broadcast their prayer requests via texts, facebook, twitter, Christian radio stations, and what not, as if the bigger number of people pray for them, the more chances they have to receive an answer. However, the number of prayer warriors is a secondary issue, the primary question is how meaningful and responsible are the prayers.

I do not mean to imply that there are no room for the methods mentioned above; I am not saying that sending prayer requests to ministries and radio stations are completely vain. I am saying that those methods are insufficient, and should not be used as primary methods of praying for one another, because praying responsibly and meaningfully requires people to be in a proper church community where they meaningfully engage with one another.