If you’ve ever tried to motivate your Bible study group to pray for lost people, you know it can feel a bit like trying to get a cat to take a bath. Everyone agrees it’s important, but actually doing it—consistently, intentionally, and with heart—can be another story. The good news is that leading your group into this kind of prayer rhythm isn’t complicated. It just requires clarity, modeling, and a little creativity. Here are three ways to guide your group toward praying faithfully for those who don’t yet know Christ.

1. Make It Personal, Not Abstract

People rarely pray passionately for vague categories. “The lost” is a theological term, not a person. But “my neighbor who just lost his job” or “my cousin who’s searching for meaning” or “the barista who always remembers my order” — those are real people with real stories.

Your role as a group leader is to help your group move from generalities to names. Invite them to identify one or two individuals God has placed in their lives. Encourage them to share (briefly!) who these people are and why they’re on their hearts. When group members speak names aloud, something shifts. The mission becomes relational, not theoretical.

Think of it like GPS. If you type “somewhere north of here,” your phone won’t know what to do with that. But give it a specific address, and suddenly it springs into action—calculating routes, estimating arrival times, and warning you about that one pothole that could swallow a small car. Prayer works similarly. Specificity activates intentionality.

When your group prays for real people with real names, their hearts engage more deeply. And over time, they begin to see opportunities to love, serve, and share Christ with those individuals.

2. Model the Kind of Prayer You Want Them to Pray

People learn to pray by hearing others pray. If you want your group to pray for lost people with compassion, urgency, and hope, then let them hear you pray that way.

This doesn’t mean you need to deliver a mini-sermon disguised as a prayer. Keep it simple. Pray for God to soften hearts, open doors, create conversations, and draw people to Himself. Pray with confidence in God’s power and tenderness toward those who don’t yet know Him.

When you model this consistently, your group will naturally follow your lead. Over time, the tone of the group’s prayers will shift. What starts as “Lord, be with the lost” becomes “Lord, give Sarah courage to talk with her coworker this week” or “Lord, help Marcus’s brother see Your goodness through his family.”

Your prayers set the temperature of the room. If you pray warmly and specifically, your group will warm up too.

3. Build Rhythms That Keep the Mission in Front of Them

Even the most well-intentioned groups drift without structure. That’s why creating simple, repeatable rhythms can help keep evangelistic prayer at the center of your gatherings.

Here are a few ideas:

• Start each meeting by praying for one person someone in the group is trying to reach.
• Create a shared list (digital or physical) of names the group is praying for.
• Celebrate small wins—a spiritual conversation, an act of kindness, a step of courage.
• Set monthly reminders to revisit the list and update it.

These rhythms don’t need to be elaborate. In fact, the simpler they are, the more likely your group will stick with them. The goal isn’t to create a program—it’s to cultivate a culture.

When prayer for lost people becomes a normal part of your group’s life, something beautiful happens: hearts soften, boldness grows, and the group begins to see themselves as participants in God’s mission, not spectators.

Leading your group to pray for lost people isn’t about pressure or guilt. It’s about helping them see the joy, privilege, and eternal significance of interceding for those who need Christ. With a little intentionality—and maybe a dash of humor—you can guide your group into a deeper, more mission-minded prayer life.