Using Social Media to Guide People in Prayer Throughout the Week
Many churches treat their social media platforms like a bulletin board.
Announcements go up when there is an event. A graphic might appear when registration opens for something. Sometimes a sermon link gets shared. Sometimes the page sits quiet for weeks.
While this approach has never been particularly effective, it’s also understandable - church leaders are busy, and social is just one more task on an already full list.
With that in mind, this post is meant to help you think more thoughtfully about your social channels without adding copious amounts of work to your plate.
Reality
Most churches only gather their congregation once a week for about an hour. That hour is full of meaningful things: worship, scripture, preaching, prayer, community. But most of that thoughtful preparation stays in that moment. The people go home and you start planning again for next Sunday.
Opportunity
Social media offers an opportunity to extend the spiritual development of the congregation throughout the week by repurposing the meaningful moments already present in your Sunday service. There are so many ways to do this, but this week, let’s focus on prayer.
The prayers offered on Sunday are often very pastoral and tuned to the needs, thoughts concerns, and celebrations of the congregation. You put a lot of time into preparing them and with a little extra intention, you can repurpose them to guide your congregations through the week.
Here are some ideas to get you started….
1. Share a Weekly Prayer List
One of the simplest approaches is to post a weekly list of prayer themes drawn from your Prayers of the People.
Focus on broader categories (don’t post names or specific people in your congregation).
Here are some suggestions:
Pray for those in our community who are grieving.
Pray for families navigating difficult decisions.
Pray for teachers and students in our schools.
Pray for those are waiting on test results.
Pray for small business owners in our neighbourhood.
Pray for those feeling lonely or disconnected.
Prayer for those with are recovering from illness
A short post like this gives people, along with a prompt of two gives people a simple structure for prayer during the week, and it connects their personal prayer life with the concerns of the church community.
2. Offer a Prayer Prompt for the Day
These can be short and reflective and can invite people to pause and pray wherever they are. Don’t overthink these and REUSE them every few weeks.
Here are a few examples to get you started
1. A Prayer of Gratitude
Wherever you are right now, pause for a moment.
Take a slow breath and thank God for three small things from your day so far (something ordinary, something unexpected, and someone who has encouraged you). Let gratitude shape the rest of your day.
2. A Prayer of Release
Take the next 30 seconds to pause.
Is there something weighing on you today — stress, frustration, or lingering anger?
Name it quietly before God and ask for the grace to release it into God’s care.
3. A Prayer for Seeing Others Well
Pause for a moment and look around you.
Think about the people you may encounter today
Coworkers, neighbours, strangers, family
Ask God to help you see each person through the eyes of Christ, with patience, compassion, kindness and grace.
4. A Prayer for Guidance
Before you move on with your day, take a brief pause.
Ask God for wisdom in the decisions you are carrying today, big and small.
Pray: “Lord, guide my thoughts, my words, and my actions today.”
5. A Prayer for Awareness of God’s Presence
Stop for a moment and take a slow breath.
Where have you noticed God’s presence today?
Thank God for being near and ask for eyes to recognize that presence throughout the rest of your day.
3. Pray Through The Scripture
Post the scripture from the previous Sunday with a few prayer prompts for people to revisit through the week.
Scripture:
“Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.” - Ephesians 4:32 CEB
Pause and pray:
Ask God to help you recognize someone today who may need kindness or patience.
Reflect on where forgiveness might be needed in your own life.
Pray that God would shape your heart to reflect Christ’s compassion.
This type of post helps people move beyond just remembering the sermon into actively engaging with it in their own life.
You could share the full passage or a short excerpt - whatever makes the most sense in your context with the goal of helping people linger with the text a little longer during the week.
4. Re-Post What You Already Wrote
One of the simplest things you can do is post the prayers you already wrote. Sometimes people miss parts of the prayer on Sunday morning. Sharing the prayer again online gives people the opportunity to return to it and reflect on it more slowly during the week.
Take a look at the prayers from a recent service (it doesn’t even have to be the most recent one) and consider whether they could be shared during the week.
Pair the text with a simple image of your church building, the neighbourhood around the church, seasonal landscape or something matching the context of the prayer itself. This “blog post” is less about the visuals of the social media posts (we’ll get there another week) and more about getting into the rhythm of posting spiritually rich content on social media.