Leadership Formation

Steps to building strong Charismatic Prayer Groups

A Catholic Charismatic Prayer Meeting has certain characteristics . A prayer meeting should contain a good balance of elements if it is going to encourage openness to prayer, gifts of the Spirit, participation by those attending, personal spiritual growth and growth of the community.

1. A Prayer Group must have Vision

If a Prayer Group is part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR), its vision must be in accordance to the worldwide CCR adapted to the local country ( refer to Vision/mission statement of Peninsular CCR in Core team guidelines ).

God also has a unique plan for each prayer group :

God shows a group an area of need or an area where His Kingdom needs to be built up

God shows the group what He is waiting to do to meet this need.

God shows the group where it fits into His plans to meet the need

It is always best to discern the vision for the group over a weekend retreat, where all participants of the group are present. If not, then at least the leadership and those who have a major responsibility should be present.

2. Stable Leadership

A strong group is characteri s ed by good, committed leadership. L eadership is team ministry through a core group.

A good leader is a "visionary" always having the best interests of the group at heart. A good leader follows Jesus and leads the members to Jesus ... a shepherd who "tends" sheep and lambs under his or her care. (Jn 21:15-17, Ex 31:1-6).

3. Committed Participation

Keeping commitments is the key to maturity.

Being present at every group meeting expresses the person's commitment to the group.

4. Exercise of the Spiritual Gifts

Exercise of the spiritual gifts is what makes a prayer group "Charismatic". A strong prayer group is characterised by the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes groups tend to lose their charismatic flavour and end up becoming pious associations. Periodically leaders need to get back to basics and pray for a New Pentecost in their groups.

5. Powerful Worship

One of the important roles of a prayer group is to teach people how to worship. Worship very simply is acknowledging Jesus as Lord and bringing every area of my life under His Lordship, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus in his dialogue with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4: ) said that the Father is seeking people who can worship in spirit and truth.

6. Wisdom

A strong prayer group handles disputes or problems maturely . Through difficult situations the Lord teaches us important lessons that we can apply to similar situations that may arise in the future.

7. Unity with Other Groups

A major danger with any group is to close in on itself, and begin to get exclusive. A strong group is open to learn and to being taught.

No group can be perfect but we need to, with the Grace of God and the Power of the Holy Spirit, move towards what THE L ORD WANTS US TO BE.