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Are there people in your group who do not wish to participate in prayer time? How do you handle that?
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I am not aware of anyone that doesn’t want to pray
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Yes we have had people in our group that did not want to pray. Mostly because they had never prayed before in a group setting and they felt like they either were not qualified or they were overwhelmed because of anxiety or they had no confidence. And as we’ve handled that in the past we encourage them to participate and pray about it and give them support and ask them each week if they would like to start the prayer time. Usually we find that they come around at some point or another.
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If I was the leader of a group and I had certain individuals that did not prefer to participate from time to time, especially when it came to prayer, then I would have to revisit the rules of the group and meet with that person face to face and remind them of the group objectives and explain to them that prayer is essential to the success of the group and prayer must be carried out by all participants. Afterwards, I would be willing to listen to the individual’s response to my request.
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If there is someone who does not wish to pray, whether at all or out loud, you should not pressure them to do so. This only serves to ostracize them. You should respect their wishes and pray for them instead, but not directly with them. Also try to put them at ease about it by not making a big deal of it and make sure to not make them feel different or “less” for not participating. They often will choose to do so given a little bit of time to acclimate. Additionally, some people are merely shy and we all do not share the same beliefs regarding prayer. To some prayer is a very private thing and that is okay.
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All of the members of my group do participate in prayer, but they do not agree with each other on how to enjoy our fellowship. We handle it by asking what their ideas are.