there are almost no examples of corporate prayer in the entire Old Testament.3 Even the Psalms, intended for temple worship, generally speak in the first person singular. Prayer in the Old Testament is nearly always through a human mediator. But when Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:11–12, his prayer is corporate: “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” So with the arrival of the church in the book of Acts, corporate prayer explodes onto the scene.
