All-Night Prayer

Definition and Meaning

All-night prayer refers to praying through the night, or to a prayer gathering held for that purpose. The Korean term cheorya (徹夜) is a Sino-Korean word meaning "to pass through the night," that is, to stay up all night. An individual may pray alone through the night, but in Korean churches the term most often refers to an "all-night prayer meeting" in which believers gather on a designated night at a church or a prayer retreat center.

Biblical and Historical Background

The following passages are commonly cited as a basis for all-night prayer:

• Jesus went out into a mountain and "continued all night in prayer to God" (Luke 6:12).
• On the night before His arrest, He told His disciples to watch and pray, in the prayer in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-41).
• When Peter was imprisoned, many gathered at the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, to pray (Acts 12:5, 12).
• Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God at midnight in prison (Acts 16:25).

In church history, the tradition of keeping watch in prayer on the night before a major feast dates back many centuries; the service held on the night before Easter is the most prominent example. Monastic tradition likewise included set hours of prayer observed during the night.

Practice in Korean Churches

In Korean churches, all-night prayer became established, alongside the early morning prayer meeting, as one expression of a faith culture that emphasizes prayer. Its typical form is the Friday all-night prayer meeting (geumyo cheorya). A common pattern consisted of praise and a sermon, followed by tongseong gido (corporate prayer in which many pray aloud simultaneously) and personal prayer continuing past midnight.

Pledged prayer, in which believers pray every night for a set period over a church or personal concern, meetings that continue through the night at prayer retreat centers, and the watch-night service held late at night at the end of the year also share the character of all-night prayer.

All-night prayer is not confined to any particular denomination; it has been practiced in many, including Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, and Baptist churches. It is known, however, to be especially vigorous in churches of the Pentecostal tradition, which emphasize prayer in tongues and fervent corporate prayer aloud, and in the prayer retreat center movement. In churches that emphasize liturgy (worship following a set order and prescribed prayers), such as Anglican churches, the practice continues in the form of night services tied to the church calendar, such as the Easter Vigil.

In recent years, the format of these gatherings has changed in light of the adoption of the five-day workweek and concerns about members' health and safety returning home. Instead of staying up all night, many churches now begin around 9 p.m. and conclude around midnight, and an increasing number are reported to have renamed the gathering the "Friday prayer meeting."