The Church and chorus prayers: How Scriptural

*PROVE ALL THINGS*

_Lesson 5_

The Church and chorus prayers: How Scriptural?

_By Kola Ajibola_

*Introduction*

The Bible is so clear on the church and issues about prayers. However, just like every other thing from God, men have polluted, bastardised, and corrupted, congregational prayers have not been spared. Most things the religious people do now in the name of religion leave people flabbergasted and leave the serious Bible students in sorrow and heartaches. 

The social changes in every sphere of life have also affected the church. Miller noted that “the church has not eluded the clutches of the social circumstances. The influence of these cultural currents is being strongly felt. In fact, hurricane-force winds of changes are pounding down the body of Christ” (Miller, 1996, p. 11). Because of the noticeable departure from the original template given by the Holy Spirit as regards congregational prayers, this write-up is to explain whether or not the practice of chorus prayers in the church today is scriptural. 

This write-up will not address everything observed to have been done wrongly by the religionists and denominationalists and members of Lord’s church. This write-up is divided into the following sub-headings: the definition, example of church prayers by Christians in the first century, and why the congregational prayers cannot be seen as chorus prayers.

*The Definition*

The word translated as “church” in the Bible is from the Greek word “έκκλησία” (ecclesia), and means “the called out.” Thus, all those who have heard the gospel of Christ and obeyed the gospel of Christ are the body of people who have been called out from the world by the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14), by obedience thereto (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-3). 

The church is therefore not a denomination, for there is just one fold (John 10:16; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:4; 1:22-23) and it is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). By that, the church should obey Christ in all things to remain His bride. Any assembly that violates any instruction of God cannot be of God! To know more about the church, kindly read the book of Acts and the epistles.

Prayer is one of the practices ordered in the Bible for Christians and the church as an act of worship. On the first Pentecost day after the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven (Acts 1:9-11; 2:1), the twelve apostles were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4, 16-19), when they received the power (Acts 1:8) per the promise of Jesus Christ (John 14:26; 16:13; Acts 2:33), Peter preached the gospel in its fullness for the first time, and about three thousand obeyed the gospel and were baptised (Acts 2:38-41). 

They were described as “they that gladly received this word were baptised… and they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:41-42). Prayer is part of worship.

What about “chorus prayers?” We understand the chorus prayers as a situation when two or more people offer prayers privately (in the house as a family unit) or publicly (as a community, or religious organisation) and simultaneously at the same time, in the same place, under the direction of a prayer leader or not with prayer point(s) or not. 

It is a collective practice and effort in asking things from God when individual people present in a meeting or occasion lift up their voices to God in prayer.

*How Did Early Christian Pray?*

In the Bible, we read of how prayers are offered individually on different occasions, and how prayers were offered collectively. The focus of this write-up is collective prayers and the question is “Do chorus prayers in congregational worship according to the Bible?” 

To answer this, let us read from the scriptures what the practice of the first century Christian was. Kindly turn your attention to Acts 4:23-31; 12:12; and Acts 21:5. We shall use Acts 4:23-31 as our guide. 

The Greek word translated “accord” is oμοθνμαδόν (homothumadon). According to Strong, oμοθνμαδόν (homothumadon) means unanimously, with one accord (mind) and is used in the Acts 1:14; 2:1, 46; 4:24; 5:12; 7:57; 8:6; 12:20; 15:25; 18:12; 19:29; Philippians 2:2 (Strong, 1990). It means with one mind, unity of mind, with one purpose, with unanimous consent, of one accord. One lexicon says oμοθνμαδόν (homothumadon) means “to be of one soul.” It speaks of an action agreed upon unanimously (with one impulse) or by common consent.

There is no agreement among Bible scholars on how the church prayed and recorded in Acts 4:23-31. For example, while commenting on Acts 4:24, Reese (2008) raised some probing questions without any attempts to provide a clue or answer to them. 

“Lifting up the voice to God, here, means they prayed to Him. It is a public prayer and an audible prayer. *But how is it that they all prayed together? Did they repeat the words after him who prayed aloud? Did they sing the second Psalm (from which the words come)? Did one lead and the others join mentally, or by the responses of “Amen”? Was there a general form of prayer already in use in the church?”* (Reese, 2008, p. 187). 

Reese (2008) left readers wondering about the puzzles he created without being assertive. His commentary seems to have been taken from Boles’ (1974). Because in Boles's (1974) commentary on Acts, he shared the same sentiment but with a conclusion that he didn’t know how the early church prayed in this passage. 

According to Boles (1974), “they all prayed to God; they were united in the prayer. Did one lead and the others repeat aloud the petition after him? Was there a general form of prayer already known to all? Or did one lead and the others joined mentally or by responses with “Amen”? We do not know just how they proceeded; we only know that “with one accord” they addressed God” (Boles, 1974, p. 72). 

The submission of Boles and Reese did not support the idea of chorus prayers neither did they go against it. This probably shows that they are confused about what the spirit of the text says to what they practices or they wanted to sound “politically correct”. Meanwhile, whatever may be the concern, it is more honourable to search for the truth, knowing which will set one free (John 8:32).

Meanwhile, David Roper (1995), provided some help when he wrote that, “ ‘they lifted their voices,’ probably the usual procedure was followed: one person voicing the sentiment of all, with the rest adding their” amens” (Roper, 1995).  Someone had commented that, “with one accord they lifted up their voice to God” does not mean that they all prayed at once” (Guzik, 2018). 

*Why congregational prayers are NOT chorus prayers*

We submit that the congregational prayers recorded in Acts 4:23-31 and other passages of the New Testament were not chorus prayers because:

1. *The word “VOICE” is singular and not plural*  – Acts 4:24 says “they lifted up their *VOICE* …” not their VOICES. The voice is in singular and not in the plural. It should be noted that some Bible translations used “voices” (Acts 4:24, NASB, NIV). This, however, does not negate the point being made. It has been noted that this is an indication that they did not pray individually, speaking at the same time. Rather, “one person prayed and all agreed with that one so that they were really praying with one voice” (Guzik, 2018). 

2. *Of unity of purpose*  – They lifted up their voice to God shows that they have unity of purpose. This is not the case in chorus prayer. When a prayer point is raised by the moderator, all others begin to pray but for different things expressing different thoughts, and this amounts to confusion. Where chorus prayer is held, it is always chaotic, disorderly, because “a number of people talking at the same time in a boisterous way with outward demonstrations are evidence that the Holy Spirit is not leading, for God is not God of disorder” (Guzik, 2018; 1 Corinthians 14:33, 40).

3. *Of unity of accord* – The Bible says “with one accord” they lifted up their voice (singular), this cannot be achieved with all of them speaking at the same time on the top of their voices. There wasn’t any group (or anyone) saying, we should pray for this and not for that. They were all in one accord which is not possible and achievable in chorus prayers.

4. *Their prayers would not have been recorded as it were* – Suppose they prayed in chorus, then it would have been pretty difficult for the record of the prayer to be documented, for the writer will be confused and may not know what to write. 

5. *God is not God of Confusion but ORDER!*  Since God is the author of all sacred writings (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21), and He being God of order (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40), ordered that “if anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret … for you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be exhorted…for God is not God of confusion …” (1 Corinthians 14:26 – 33).

From the foregoing, one can safely conclude that chorus prayer is not scriptural, it is chaotic, disorderly, and not of faith! Hence, we call on those who believe in it to reconsider their positions in the light of the scriptures and repent of their deeds by being satisfied with the provisions of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Writ. Our God is God of order!

*Conclusion*

Clearly, the Bible shows that the church prays when they meet together but their prayers were never in chorus. However, they prayed in unison, with one mind, unanimously, in order, and in line with the word of God. For us to also have our prayers answered today, we need to follow their examples: they first became who God want them to be - Christians (those who heard the gospel of Christ, repented of their sins, confessed their faith in Christ, and washed away their sins in water baptism by immersion, they were the obedient children of God, the family of God, the church of Christ). We must follow their examples as written in the New Testament, prayers inclusive.

*References*

Boles, H. L. (1974). _A commentary on Acts of the Apostles_. Gospel Advocate Company.

Guzik, D. (2018). _Acts Chapter 4_. Acts 4 - Peter and John Face the Sanhedrin. www.enduringword.com/bible-commentary/acts-4/amp/

Miller, D. (1996). _Piloting the Strait._ Sain Publications.

Reese, G. L. (2008). _New Testament History: Acts._ Scripture Exposition Books.

Roper, D. (1995). Do’s and Don’ts for dealing with the Devil (4:15-31). In E. Cloer (Ed.), _Truth for Today: A printed Preacher School_ (pp. 26–31). Truth for Today.

Strong, J. (1990). _The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible_. Thomas Nelson.

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Kola Ajibola is a gospel Preacher working with the church of Christ, Kobape, Ogo-Oluwa, Osogbo, Nigeria. 

He can be reached on +2348056048209