Is your church a praying church?
In yesterday’s post, we looked at an article arguing that Bible study was an integral part of any healthy Christian church. Hopefully your church already incorporates Bible study into its worship and congregational life—in sermons, in Sunday school, in Bible study groups, etc. But there’s another practice that is both a means by which your church can become more effective, and a basic reason for a church’s existence in the first place: communal prayer.
The Bible Prayer Fellowship is a ministry centered around (you guessed it) prayer, and one thing they’re especially passionate about is getting congregations to come together and pray as a community of Christ-followers.
So… what’s the big deal about community prayer? Why not just have everybody pray individually, on their own, in their own homes? That’s the big question tackled in Oliver Price’s article Who Needs Prayer Meetings?
“I never cease to be amazed at the church’s neglect of true, heartfelt, corporate prayer.” says George Verwer, director of Operation Mobilization. After visiting thousands of churches around the world, Verwer concludes that most churches essentially have no prayer meeting. Some have canceled midweek services for lack of interest. Others have shifted to Bible study or activities, allowing only a brief five or ten minutes for prayer.
Yet a few are attempting to overcome the general neglect of corporate prayer with encouraging results. They see signs that the praying associated with the early church may be revived. What can we do to help?
First, we need a fresh understanding of the purpose of corporate prayer, its priority in the church, and the moral and spiritual power it provides. Prayer meeting can be one of the most satisfying and attractive meetings in the church.
Price goes on to explain why prayer and prayer meetings are absolutely critical to the health of any church community—community prayer brings a congregation together, it’s tied to evangelism, and it inspires a bold spirit. Once you’ve read through that introduction, take a look at these follow-up articles that explore the how’s and why’s of church prayer meetings:
- Why Pray Together?—a thorough survey of Bible verses that tell us how and why a church should be praying together.
- A Church Praying for Revival—the story of one church and its experience praying together for revival.
- When Jesus Comes Into Your Prayer Group—a short reflection by Oliver Price about the presence of Christ in our prayer meetings.
Not convinced yet? There are a lot more articles about the power and importance of prayer at the Bible Prayer Fellowship website. Read through some of these and ask yourself if your church is practicing Biblical, community prayer.
