Most families have a running grocery list that they add to throughout the week. Then they go to the store, get what they need, and start a new list.

What if, along with a grocery list, your family also had a running prayer list? What if anyone in your home could add prayer requests to this list anytime they want? What if you gathered your family a few times a week, put the family prayer list on the table, and then prayed together?

Scripture gives many examples of private, individual prayer (Matthew 6:6; Luke 5:16; Daniel 6:10; Matthew 26:36; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12).  

However, we also see many examples of joint, corporate prayer (Nehemiah 9:1-3; Joel 1:14; Acts 1:14, 2:42, 12:5, 13:3; James 5:16).

These joint prayers—these stories of men, women, and children coming together in prayer—are just some of the verses that remind us of the opportunity we have for Family Prayer.

As families pray together, they share their hearts with one another. They share their burdens, their anxious thoughts, their concerns, their fears, and their needs. They confess their sins and they share their praises.

Throughout the Bible, we find prayers of confession, prayers of praise, prayers of supplication, and prayers of intercession. This Family Prayer List is a resource to encourage prayers of intercession as you and your family lift up one another and those outside your home. It’s a resource to help us be others-focused in our prayer life and to help us enjoy joint, family prayer.

The Family Prayer List is a resource that you can download and print out as you encourage your home in family prayer. There is space for you all to share prayer requests, allowing you to lift up one another, other relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, church members, and missionaries. As Paul wrote:

“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1).  

The Family Prayer List also includes a space to share praises, for as you pray for the same people week after week, you will want to take time to talk about the answered prayers you see throughout the year.  

Let us lead our families to pray together. Let us lead our families to intercede for those we know, gather regularly to share requests, and grow a prayer list longer than our weekly grocery list.  

Download the Family Prayer List here

Dr. Jonathan Williams, Ph.D. (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder and executive director of Gospel Family Ministries. This ministry focuses on strengthening family ministry in the local church and cultivating family worship in the Christian home. Jonathan is the author of “A Practical Theology of Family Worship” and “Gospel Family.” He also teaches as an adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX, and is the managing editor of the Southwestern D6 Family Ministry Journal. Previously, Jonathan served for 10 years as the senior pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church of more than 50 nations. He lives and writes in Texas with his wife and three children.