Topic Suggestion/Request:
What is the propriety (or lack thereof) regarding women praying in a group made up of both men and women. I do not mean during church. I mean in a small Bible study and fellowship group that includes topical discussion, singing hymns, and prayer-requests in which various participants will take turns praying on a single request. In this setting, is it improper for a woman to prayer aloud with men present? Is it improper for men to listen/say amen to such a prayer?
This occasionally takes place in the small home study groups hosted by members of the non-denominational church I currently attend. As a former Jehovah’s Witness, this practice is very foreign and unsettling to me. JWs strongly abide by a rule that women do not pray in the presence of any believing man who is already qualified for public prayer (i.e. he is believer in good standing). They will only allow a woman to pray in front of a man (as a last resort) if he is not a baptized believer (JW) or if he is under church discipline, and even then she must wear a head covering to pray.