Prayers

Praying in church: Same or opposite sex?

by Mark E Crossley
12/27/18
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In the media at the moment there is so much debate about gender neutral, gender fluid however as far as I am concerned there is nothing biblical that states that if prayer is offered in church this should be either with the same or opposite sex but is down to how each denomination decides this should operate in practice.  Does everyone agree with this? 

The general consensus is that these days it is more common and traditional when praying for others this is the same sex but should this be the way this should be in 2018/2019 moving forward? 

Should there be a national debate on this subject as well as within local church leadership meetings creating better policies and procedures around this issue and if the rules should be more relaxed, rather than the gender of the person it should be if you feel comfortable with a person to ask you to pray for them instead? 

Should churches put policies around this matter more and more on their websites so people know what the correct protocol is rather than this is decided when prayer training is given to those in this ministry? 

Prayer is mentioned depending upon which source you look at up to 650 times so it is an important issue but nothing specifically in the context of adult prayer ministry in church services. 

Couples who are married pray together so what difference if it is only offering prayer, it is not a sexual or a dating encounter it is a spiritual experience encountering God so surely God can use any gender to minister to another person so perhaps the rules should be more flexible unless credible explanations can be given as to why this cannot be possible, again if this is about male or female issues again if couples are dating these matters are discussed, in clinical professional settings then this is not always the same sex, quite often it can be a combination so perhaps there should be more discussions around this matter, it is who you feel comfortable with rather than the actual gender of the person. 

What are other people’s thoughts on this matter?