Planning 24 hours of prayer: schedule, flow and tips

How many people do you need?

Strictly speaking 24 — one per hour. In practice it pays to plan with a few more: some hours are taken by two or three people together, and it is good to have back-up for the night. A group of 15 can cover 24 hours if a few are willing to take two hours.

Smaller groups need not miss out: 12 hours in a row, or a chain over several days with one whole day per person, is a strong sign too.

Where: at home or together?

Many 24-hour prayer events are decentralised: everyone prays during their hour wherever they are. That lowers the barrier enormously, especially at night. Others set up a prayer room at church that stays open round the clock. You can combine both — the prayer room by day, at home by night.

If you use a room, sort out keys, lights, heating and a list of emergency numbers beforehand.

Filling the night hours

The hours between 1 and 5 am are almost always the last gaps. A few approaches that work:

• Ask early risers and night owls directly instead of asking everyone
• Ask shift workers, students and young parents — they are often awake at night anyway
• Let two people share a night hour, half an hour each
• Post the open hours to the group again, specifically, shortly before

Ideas for your own prayer hour

Praying alone for an hour is unfamiliar to many. A simple frame helps, for example in four quarters:

• Arriving: silence, a psalm, thanks for what is good
• The main request of the watch: concretely and in your own words
• Wider intercession: church, city, country, the persecuted
• Listening and closing: silence, the Lord’s Prayer, a blessing for the next person

Sample schedule

Start on Friday at 6 pm with a prayer together, then someone else takes over each hour. On Saturday at 6 pm you meet again, share what you experienced and close together. A shared beginning and end give the 24 hours a frame, even if everyone prays on their own in between.

Organising it with 24pray

24pray splits the time span into hours automatically, shows everyone which are still open, and reminds each person before their hour by email or push. Praying along needs no account — a name is enough, the email address for the reminder is optional. When people join from different countries, the page also shows the times in their own time zone.