Reformed churches teach that prayer is addressed to God alone, offered through Jesus Christ as the only Mediator, and helped by the Holy Spirit. It includes adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and petition for things agreeable to God’s will. The Lord’s Prayer is not merely an example to admire but the rule that shapes and corrects Christian praying. Both the continental and Westminster standards devote extended attention to it, walking through the address, the petitions, and the conclusion in turn.
Begin with Scripture
Scripture presents prayer as the speech of children to a Father who is able and ready to help, made possible by a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens and sympathizes with weakness. It teaches believers to bring every anxiety to God with thanksgiving, and it acknowledges that Christians do not know what to pray for as they ought—so the Spirit himself intercedes. When the disciples asked to be taught, Christ answered not with a technique but with a form of words. Reformed teaching therefore treats prayer as a gift and a duty together: commanded, enabled, and given its shape by God himself.
Different accents, one Reformed faith
Prayer as gratitude
The Heidelberg Catechism reaches prayer only after guilt and grace, and treats it as the chief part of thankfulness. It then asks what makes prayer acceptable and answers in three parts: that we call from the heart on the one true God who has revealed himself in his Word, that we know our need and humble ourselves before him, and that we rest on the firm foundation that he will hear us for Christ’s sake despite our unworthiness.
Prayer as regulated worship
The Westminster Confession treats prayer as one special part of religious worship, required by God of all men, and then states its bounds: it is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of people living or yet to live, but not for the dead. The Larger Catechism works the subject out at length—what it is to pray in Christ’s name, how the Spirit helps, for whom and for what and in what manner we are to pray.
The Lord’s Prayer as rule, not specimen
Both traditions treat the Lord’s Prayer as the special rule of direction rather than one prayer among many, and both walk through it clause by clause—the address, the six petitions, the conclusion. The Heidelberg Catechism spends fourteen questions on it and the Shorter Catechism ten. Where the whole Word of God directs Christian praying generally, this form directs it particularly.
Follow the source trail
Open the relevant sections in their full context. The labels below are navigation aids, not substitutes for the standards themselves.
Why prayer is necessary: the chief part of thankfulness.
Why is prayer necessary for Christians? Because it is the chief part of the thankfulness which God requires of us, and because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit only to such as earnestly and without ceasing beg them from him and render thanks unto him for them.Pastoral teaching catechismRead in context →Heidelberg Catechism Q. 117–119
What makes prayer acceptable, what God commands us to ask, and the Lord’s Prayer.
Pastoral teaching catechismRead in context →Heidelberg Catechism Q. 120–129The address, the six petitions, the conclusion, and the Amen.
Pastoral teaching catechismRead in context →Belgic Confession 26Access to the Father through Christ alone, our only Mediator and Advocate.
Confession and public defenseRead in context →The definition of prayer.
Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.Concise teaching catechismRead in context →Shorter Catechism Q. 99–107
The Lord’s Prayer as the special rule: preface, six petitions, conclusion.
Concise teaching catechismRead in context →Westminster Confession 21.3–4Prayer as a special part of religious worship, and its proper bounds.
III. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is by God required of all men: and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of His Spirit, according to His will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known tongue.Systematic ecclesial confessionRead in context →Larger Catechism Q. 178–185
What prayer is, praying in Christ’s name, the Spirit’s help, and for whom and how we pray.
Extended teaching catechismRead in context →Larger Catechism Q. 186–196The Lord’s Prayer as rule, its parts, and each petition in turn.
Extended teaching catechismRead in context →What this looks like in church life
Because prayer is commanded and shaped rather than improvised, Reformed worship ordinarily includes prayers of adoration, confession, illumination, intercession, and thanksgiving, and often the Lord’s Prayer itself. Ministers and elders pray with the sick and the troubled. Families and individuals are encouraged to pray daily, and catechetical instruction has historically ended here—teaching children the Lord’s Prayer petition by petition rather than leaving prayer to instinct. The confessions’ patient attention to it is itself pastoral: they assume Christians need to be taught to pray, and that this is no reflection on their faith.
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Return to the crosswalk →This independent crosswalk was prepared from the linked historic editions and reviewed for internal consistency. It has not been adopted or endorsed by the URCNA, OPC, or PCA. Report an error or suggest a clarification.