Prayer should be one of the strongest ministries in a church. Scripture repeatedly tells believers to pray for one another, and a pastor should encourage his people to bring needs before God.

James 5:16 says:

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.”

There is nothing wrong with Christians knowing that another believer needs prayer. The danger comes when the sharing of a prayer request becomes more important than the praying.

Many churches have what is commonly called a prayer chain. One person receives a request, passes it to another person, who passes it to another, and eventually many people know about the situation. The intention may be good, but every pastor needs to recognize the danger that comes with it. A prayer chain can very easily become a gossip chain.

A request may begin simply: “Please pray for this couple. They are having some difficulties.” By the time that request has passed through several people, someone may have added what she heard about the marriage, another person may mention something one of the children said, and someone else may offer an opinion about who is at fault. Eventually details are circulating that were never part of the original prayer request, some may not be true, and others may be private matters that never needed to be shared.

Calling something a prayer request does not make gossip acceptable.

Proverbs 11:13 says:

“One who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets, but one who is trustworthy conceals a matter.”

A pastor has a responsibility to protect the people entrusted to his care. That includes protecting them from having their private struggles unnecessarily spread throughout the church. People should be able to approach their pastor for prayer without wondering whether their problem will become the subject of conversations all over town by the following morning.

This does not mean pastors should discourage people from praying for one another. Quite the opposite. The church in Acts prayed together when Peter was imprisoned.

Acts 12:5 says:

“So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made to God intensely by the church.”

Corporate prayer is thoroughly biblical. What Scripture does not require is that every person know every detail about another person’s circumstances before he can pray.

God already knows the details.

Sometimes a church needs to know nothing more than, “Please pray for Jim and his family. They are facing a difficult situation.” That is enough. Believers can pray for wisdom, strength, comfort, protection, and God’s will without knowing every private detail.

Pastors should teach their churches that information shared for prayer remains information shared for prayer. It is not an invitation to investigate, speculate, give opinions, or pass along additional information.

First Timothy 5:13 warns about becoming “gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.” That warning should make us careful even when our intentions appear spiritual. Gossip does not suddenly become holy because someone finishes the conversation by saying, “We need to pray about that.”

This is one reason I would be cautious about encouraging a traditional prayer chain. The pastor may have very little control over what happens once information begins traveling from person to person. Even good people can misunderstand what they heard, forget part of the story, add an assumption, or pass along something that was never meant to be shared.

A safer practice is for the church to have a clear way for prayer requests to be submitted and shared. Before details are distributed, someone responsible should know whether the person involved has given permission for them to be shared. Only the information necessary for prayer should be given. If the person says, “Please do not tell anyone what is happening, but please ask the church to pray for me,” then the church can pray without being told the details.

There are also situations that should never become general prayer requests. Serious marital problems, accusations of wrongdoing, medical information, financial trouble, a person’s struggle with sin, or matters involving children may require great discretion. Some situations belong only with the pastor, appropriate church leaders, family members, professionals, or civil authorities when necessary.

The pastor also needs to set the example. If someone tells him something in confidence, he should not turn around and disguise the information as a prayer request. Saying, “I probably should not tell you this, but you need to know how to pray,” does not make revealing a confidence right.

There will be exceptions. If someone is in danger, if abuse is occurring, if a crime has been committed, or if another person may be harmed, confidentiality cannot be used as an excuse to ignore necessary action. Protecting a confidence does not mean concealing something that must properly be reported or addressed.

But most prayer requests are not emergencies. They are people trusting other Christians with tender parts of their lives.

Pastor, encourage your people to pray. Teach them to pray often and seriously. Pray publicly. Pray privately. Pray for one another. Ask God to make your church a praying church.

But do not assume that a prayer chain is necessary for a praying church.

It may be wiser to control how prayer requests are shared, protect unnecessary details, require permission before private information is distributed, and remind people that knowing more does not make their prayers more powerful.

The goal is not to know everybody’s business.

The goal is to bring one another before God.