You can pray anywhere. In the car, at the kitchen sink, in a hospital waiting room at 2 a.m. You don’t need a special building or anyone’s permission. Because of what Jesus has done, Scripture says you can come to God with confidence (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Jesus prayed alone often. Mark tells us that “rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). If Jesus needed time alone with the Father, so do we.
He also kept people close. When He chose the twelve, Mark gives the first reason: “so that they might be with him” (Mark 3:14). Preaching and sending are in the same verse, but being with Him comes first. He trained them around tables, on boats, and on long walks.
You can meet with God on your own. Growing up in the faith is a different matter. That happens with other people.
What a Disciple Is
In the first century, a disciple didn’t only study a teacher’s words. A disciple stayed close, watched how the teacher lived, and learned to live the same way. Paul wrote, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
A disciple is someone who follows Jesus by obeying His teachings and lifestyle. You can learn His teachings from a book. His lifestyle is harder to learn that way. You pick it up by watching someone who lives it, and by letting someone see how you live.
A faith kept entirely private misses that. You won’t see your own blind spots. You won’t have anyone asking whether you did what you said you’d do. The people around you won’t get to watch you forgive someone or trust God through a hard season, and that is often how they learn to do it themselves.
Scripture Assumes Other People
Look for “one another” in the New Testament and you’ll find it again and again. Love one another. Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Paul tells the church in Colossae to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). You can’t obey any of those by yourself.
Hebrews says it outright: “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Meeting together is one of the ways God keeps His people from drifting.
Proverbs puts it in one line: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). Sharpening needs contact. Someone has to be close enough to push back.
Reading the Bible Together
Daily time in Scripture on your own is one of the best habits a believer can build. Proverbs 2 describes seeking wisdom “like silver” and searching for it “as for hidden treasures” (Proverbs 2:4). Most of that searching happens in personal time with God’s Word.
Reading with a few other people adds what you can’t supply yourself. A friend catches a detail you read past. A newer believer asks the question everyone else was too embarrassed to ask. An older believer tells you how a passage held them up the year their marriage fell apart, and you read it differently after that.
A group also gives you follow-up. One question does most of the work: “What is God saying to you, and what are you going to do about it?” Answer it out loud, and someone will ask you about it next week.
You don’t need a seminary degree to lead that kind of conversation. You need an open Bible, a few willing people, and the humility to say, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”
Praying Together
Jesus prayed alone, and He prayed with His friends. In Gethsemane He brought Peter, James, and John with Him and asked them to stay near (Matthew 26:36-38).
Praying with others teaches you to pray. Many new believers learn more by hearing a mature friend talk honestly to God than from any book on prayer. It also shares a load. James tells believers to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
You’ll often hear Matthew 18:20 quoted here: “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” In context, Jesus is talking about restoring a brother who has sinned. The verse promises His presence with believers seeking His will together. It doesn’t mean God listens less when you pray alone. He hears you in both places.
From Learner to Teacher
Given time, the person being discipled starts discipling someone else.
Paul wrote to Timothy: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). That one sentence covers four generations: Paul, Timothy, the faithful men, and the others they would teach.
The same pattern can run through your life. Someone helped you follow Jesus. There is probably a friend in your life fighting a temptation, a coworker grieving a parent, or a neighbor with honest questions about God. Walking with them is how you pass on what you were given.
Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). That kind of love only shows up when believers are together.
How to Start
If your faith has been mostly private, start small.
- Keep your time alone with God. Build on it rather than replacing it.
- Find two or three people. Ask a few you trust to meet regularly to read Scripture and pray. A small group that meets consistently is enough.
- Set a rhythm. Meet weekly or every other week for a defined season. A clear start and end date makes it easier for people to say yes.
- Go first. If you’re leading, share your own struggles before you ask anyone else to share theirs.
- Keep asking the question. “What is God saying to you, and what are you going to do about it?” Ask it every time you meet.
Your time alone with God matters. Keep it. Then ask a few people to follow Jesus with you.
- About the author: Jordan Trotman is the Operations Assistant at Ordinary Movement, a nondenominational ministry that helps ordinary believers lead small discipleship groups that multiply. He builds the systems that support OM’s leaders and churches.