Praying together is vital.
Jesus tells us that where two or three believers agree together about anything in his name, God will grant their requests (Matthew 18:19-20). Indeed, he is there with them as they pray. That is powerful.
We Canadian Christians say we believe in prayer. But, most of the time, what we mean is that we believe in praying alone.
Praying alone is important, but author John Franklin says in his book And the Place was Shaken that most of Jesus' comments about prayer in the original Greek are about praying together - not individually. The early church also emphasized praying together (see, for example, Acts 1:41, 2:42, 4:23-31, 13:1-3).
The history of great moves of God testifies to the power of united prayer. Sometimes, as in the case of the revival in the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in the 1940s, God can bring about massive spiritual and social transformation with only a few people praying together over many years.
Indian evangelist K.P. Yohanan wrote in a Christianity Today article some years ago about how surprised he was to visit major American churches and find how few people participated in group prayer. In India, he said, most Christians turned out for prayer meetings. And the result is that the church is growing rapidly there and elsewhere where people pray in Asia.
After describing a revival he saw in the Kenyan city of Mombasa, John Franklin wrote:
"The greatest works of God come by corporate prayer, and we will not see the power of God in sufficient measure to transform the world around us until we pray together."
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