FAQs

What is PrayerLoft?

PrayerLoft is an online tool that makes it easy to manage your prayer ministry and connect with those in need of prayer. PrayerLoft gives you the ability to quickly review and post submitted prayer requests in real time, easing the burden on staff and volunteers and empowering your congregation to pray for each other anytime, anywhere. An “I Prayed” button displayed by each request notifies the person in need of prayer when someone prays for them, letting them know they’re not alone and providing tangible encouragement and hope to your congregation and community.

With no coding required, you can set your PrayerLoft site up in seconds and expand the reach of your prayer ministry by fostering a culture of prayer.

Who is PrayerLoft for?

PrayerLoft was designed for churches; however, PrayerLoft can be used by any type of Christian ministry with a need to collect and display prayer requests. We’ve designed the system so that it’s simple to use and can be easily managed by a staff member or a volunteer prayer coordinator.

Do I have to know how to code to use PrayerLoft?

Not at all! When you sign up for PrayerLoft, you will provide basic contact information and choose a name for your PrayerLoft site. Using that information, we will automatically create your site and push it live – zero programming required.

Once you’re signed up, you will be sent a link to log in to your site where you can choose from themes to customize the look of your site and give others permission to edit and approve requests. This is very intuitive and requires no technical knowledge.

Who has permission to review and approve prayer requests/praise reports?

PrayerLoft allows for two levels of users: administrators and moderators. Administrators are usually members of church staff or the person in charge of prayer. Administrators can control site settings and grant permissions to moderators. Moderators are staff or volunteers who need to be able to see, edit, and approve requests.

How will I know when someone has submitted a prayer request or praise report?

Administrators and moderators will be notified via email when a request comes in, and they can approve the request directly in the email. They can also log in to their account to view a list of requests/reports, including those pending approval.

How long does a prayer request/praise report stay live on my PrayerLoft site?

Prayers automatically expire after 21 days, but this timeframe can be customized in site settings. Specific requests can be set to expire sooner or later if there is a time-driven prayer request like a surgery. 

Can I control how prayer requests/praise reports are displayed on my PrayerLoft site?

Prayer requests and praise reports are displayed on the site in random order with those that have not been prayed for displayed at the top. This helps ensure all requests get seen and prayed for.

Administrators and moderators can edit the text of a request for language, inappropriate topics, etc. before it is displayed.

Users can choose to remain anonymous when submitting their prayer requests and praise reports. If they select this option, their request will be displayed but their name will not.

What if I need to edit or delete a prayer request/praise report?

Administrators and moderators can easily edit the text of a prayer request or praise report before or after it’s approved and posted to the public prayer wall. They can also delete a prayer request/praise report if it’s no longer relevant.

How does someone know they’ve been prayed for?

An “I Prayed” button is displayed next to each prayer request (an “I Rejoiced” button for praise reports). Whenever this button is clicked, the person submitting the request receives an email notification letting them know someone has prayed for them or rejoiced with them.

What is the difference between a prayer request and praise report?

A prayer request is when someone is requesting prayer for a need and a praise report is when someone is sharing how God has answered a prayer. When a user goes to submit a request, they will have the option to choose between submitting a prayer request or praise report. Once approved, prayer requests will be displayed on the prayer wall as “prayer request” and will have an “I Prayed” button next to them. Praise reports will be marked as “praise report” and have an “I Rejoiced” button next to them.

From an admin perspective, both types of submissions are reviewed and approved the same way. People submitting prayer requests and praise reports will get email notifications when someone prays for them or rejoices with them.

Is an account required to use PrayerLoft?

An account is not required to submit prayer requests or praise reports. Administrators and moderators will need to create an account to edit/approve requests – though once an account is created, requests can be approved via email without logging in.

Can a user edit or delete a prayer request/praise report after it’s submitted?

No, once a prayer request is submitted, a user cannot make any changes. This would require them to create an account to submit a request, and we want there to be as few barriers as possible to requesting prayer.

However, users commonly will submit a new request or praise report with updates on their original request, and administrators can edit or delete requests if they are aware of updates.

Will my PrayerLoft site be custom to my church?

Yes! When you set up your site, you will choose a name for your site that is unique to your church (for example: firstbaptist.prayerloft.com). Your PrayerLoft site will display your church’s name, and you can choose from dozens of themes that allow you to choose different colors, etc. for your site. This can all be done without any web programming or technical knowledge.

If you’d like to customize your site even more, you also have full access to the CSS for your site. A web designer can go in and add your church’s logo, custom colors, and other branding elements.

How do I get the members of my church to use PrayerLoft?

All your church members need to begin using PrayerLoft is a link to your PrayerLoft site! From there, they can submit requests and pray for requests on the prayer wall.

If you have a prayer page on your church’s website, it’s easy to replace this page with a link to your PrayerLoft site (or to add a link if you don’t have a prayer page). This makes your prayer site easily accessible from your church’s website.

It is also very helpful if the church promotes your prayer site through its existing announcement channels. This might mean announcing it from stage, including it in the bulletin, sending it out in your email newsletter, and/or posting about it on social media. Engagement will grow as more people hear about your PrayerLoft site and understand that they can use it to pray anytime, anywhere and to let others know they’ve been prayed for.

What type of reporting is available to staff or prayer team members?

PrayerLoft site administrators can see contact information for each submitted request, allowing you to personally follow up with those who have requested prayer if you would like to.

Logged in users, you can also see how many times a request has been prayed for. You can also pull a report of trending keyword data from the requests submitted to your site. This gives you insight into some of the common challenges people in your church are facing, which can inform collective prayer, sermon topics, and more.

What is the billing schedule after my 30-day free trial?

After your 30-day free trial is up, you will receive an invoice to set up your subscription and continue using your site. This invoice will prompt you to enter your payment information, and from then on you will be automatically billed each month until you cancel.

What payment types are accepted?

All major credit cards and ACH payments are accepted.

What happens if I cancel in the middle of the month?

PrayerLoft does not require any commitments, and you can cancel anytime. When you cancel, your PrayerLoft site will stay live for the rest of the month, at which point your site will be deactivated and you will not be charged again.

What happens to my site if I cancel? Can it be reactivated?

If you cancel your PrayerLoft subscription, your site will be inactivated, but your site will be stored on our server for 30 days. If you return to PrayerLoft within 30 days, you can reactivate your site.

If you return after 30 days, you will need to go back through the set-up process. Keep in mind that your preferred domain name might no longer be available.

If you decide to return to PrayerLoft, please give us a call. For security reasons, we limit the amount of data that we store, but we will always try to help you restore as much of your site’s information as possible, even if it’s been longer than 30 days. Please note that the 30-day free trial is not applicable to returning customers.

Still have questions? Contact us today or start a free trial to see how it works for yourself.