Prayer Triplets is simply another way of saying praying in groups of three. The idea has been around for a long time and seems to have developed momentum prior to evangelical outreaches such as the Billy Graham crusades. I read Prayer Triplets : praying for a spiritual awakening (Anzea, 1988) as a result of my own church becoming involved in prayer triplets. Much of the book is about prayer in general and the author, Brian Mills covers all the basics. The benefits of praying in a group of threes are particularly discussed and examples from the Bible of three people praying together are highlighted.
The distinctive focus of a prayer triplet is each person in the triplet nominates three people who need to discover Christ as Saviour and Lord. The group generally meets weekly and prays for these nine people. Mostly the group meets for 12 to 18 months before it needs to be revamped. The hope is the group would also pray for other needs and other people as situations arise. It has been found that one of the unplanned benefits of praying in a small group is often spiritual growth takes place amongst the members.
The book is encouraging as it is filled with stories of answered prayers. Mills also discusses occasions where there seems to be no answers to pray and occasions where situations actually become worse after people started praying. While this is not a riveting book it does contain lots of useful information.