An Urgent Call to Prayer - Part 2
I was in a carpet shop in Exeter when I first heard that a plane had smashed into the World Trade Center. I overheard a customer describing the incredible facts to a sales assistant and I assumed that they were talking about a recent film ... and, to be honest, not the kind of film that would particularly interest me. But after a moment the seriousness of their tone convinced me that this was for real. I sped home and gathered everyone around the television just in time to see the terrifying sight of the second plane crash into the Trade Center. A hellish image that will forever remain seared into our memories.
The past ten years have seen a horrible succession of violence - the carnage of 7/7; the wretched suicide bombings in so many countries and most especially Iraq; and then last month’s explosion of madness on the streets of many of our cities. Time and again we have been reminded that violence only lies just below the surface of everyday life on this planet.
It is always hard to reflect on violence and destruction. We would much rather reflect on something positive and cheerful. But we are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ in a violent world, and if we are to be faithful to our Master we need to have our eyes open to the harsh realities of life. And in doing so we quickly realize that the challenges are vastly beyond anything that we can handle. The policies of governments and international organizations may sometimes offer some help, but we are soon forced to recognize that we need wisdom well beyond our own.
There are unending illustrations of our own society’s deep need. Britain is broken in all sorts of ways, and the pastoral burdens which every local church bears are a continual reminder of the tragic dysfunctionality of huge numbers of families and individuals. The present financial crisis that is engulfing almost every corner of our society adds yet another layer of misery and anxiety to an already traumatized situation.
This catalogue of disaster is deeply depressing and I believe that it needs to drive us to prayer with a new urgency as we step into the Autumn. We need to come before God with a renewed sense of our absolute dependence on him, and with a refreshed desire to commit our whole selves to his service.
When I began as General Secretary five years ago I challenged the denomination to move forward in prayer and, if I’m honest, I assumed that that would be my key theme for the first year or so before moving on to another theme. I am increasingly convinced that encouraging prayer is my fundamental ministry because prayer lies at the heart of everything that we have and are. Prayer is not so much something that we do, but a way of life. In prayer we show our desire to work in partnership with God, throughout every day of our lives and not just on Sundays. I long to see a denomination that doesn’t merely believe that prayer is a priority - but lives it.
When we open our lives to God in prayer, I believe he increases our faith and our desire for more of him and for the extension of his kingdom. It leads to a holy discontent with the present situation, and a longing for more of his glory and power - a restless desire for our churches to become more expectant in worship, more effective in witness and more able to offer salt and light to our needy society. Too often we are staggeringly content with how things are at the moment. I recently heard someone speak of his time as a schools worker. His first day in the job took him to a Christian Union with 18 members. Everything was led by the students and he was really impressed. At the end of the meeting he spoke to the 16 year old leader of the CU and said how fantastic he thought it was. "What do you mean?" said the puzzled teenager, "That was rubbish.” He then looked at a surprised schools worker and challenged him, “Where's your faith? This school has got over 1,000 students and today we only had 18 people. How rubbish is that?" He wasn't content with the present situation and longed for more. A year later the room where the CU met was filled with over 120 students. I wonder what that student would say about many of our churches ... I will let you ponder.
ACTION PLAN
As I have spoken about prayer over the last five years I have been keen to encourage churches not merely to agree with me that they need to pray more, but to come up with a plan for moving forward in prayer. I have been cheered to see many churches take me at my word and I would love every church to do the same. There are three simple steps which I believe are important.
REFLECTING ON PRAYER AS A CHURCH – As Baptists we believe firmly in the fact that the Holy Spirit speaks through the whole Body of Christ, and not just a small group of leaders. That’s why the church members’ meeting is so important. I, therefore, believe that it is crucial that the church members are given good opportunity to reflect together on the prayer life of the church. We are so very good at talking about money and indeed most church meetings give an opportunity to talk about this at every meeting. This is not a wrong thing to do, but prayer is surely even more important.
I suspect that many churches would not be used to having a conversation about the prayer life of the church and it would need to be carefully guided to ensure that the focus is upon how to stimulate and encourage the ministry of prayer. There needs to be opportunity to reflect on the needs and targets for prayer for the coming months, and an opportunity to encourage one another with recent answers to prayer. Above all such a conversation would need to be characterized by honesty and a great deal of grace and humility.
RECOGNIZING PRAYER ENCOURAGERS – I am not precious about the title “prayer encourager” but I believe that every church needs to identify someone other than the minister who will have a leading responsibility for encouraging the prayer life of the fellowship. The minister, if there is one, will necessarily have a key role in prayer ministry but it is important for someone else to share in this vital ministry. Such a person, and many churches call them prayer secretaries or prayer co-ordinators, would not only have a special heart for prayer but also the skills to be able to organize special prayer occasions or to stimulate the development of prayer partnerships or other initiatives. This is a key role in the life of the fellowship and it would be important that the ministry was clearly identified and supported by the church.
DEVELOPING PRAYER OPPORTUNITIES – Every church prays, but at the same time every church needs to look at the ways in which it is developing its prayer opportunities. Let me reflect on a range of such opportunities:-
Worship Services – For the majority of people within most fellowships this is the one and only point of contact with the church, so the prayer that takes place in the services is crucial. It needs to be given good time so that it is neither hurried nor too superficial. There needs to be time to give thanks to God, to confess sin and to pray for the needs of the church, community and the world. Often prayers are greatly enhanced by being led by members of the congregation, and a variety of styles and content can be enormously nourishing. The worshipping life of the church extends far beyond the services of worship, but what happens in the services will often set the tone for the whole life of the church and it is vital that we only bring our best to God.
Prayer meetings – I love seeing the variety of prayer meetings that exist. Some are specific in their focus and devote themselves to a particular aspect of the church or community’s life, or to worldwide mission concerns. Some prayer meetings last half an hour and others last a number of days as churches commit themselves to pray through the night and day. Some take place in homes and others in churches or community buildings. At the end of the day, I am not at all bothered about the shape of prayer meetings or their timing. My concern is that they should happen, and it is often necessary for churches to explore a number of patterns of prayer meetings before finding the pattern that is most helpful.
Prayer rooms – It has been interesting to see the enormous mushrooming of prayer rooms and chapels in our church buildings. Many churches have now set aside a space within the buildings which is exclusively a place for prayer, and which is intentionally a quiet place where people can quietly meet with God. Some churches are able to make this place available throughout the week and that is obviously an enormous advantage.
Prayer partnerships – This can be done in a wide variety of ways. In one church in which I ministered, each part of the children’s and youth work had its own prayer partner who was supplied with a regular flow of news about the needs and opportunities of the group. This was a beautiful way of enabling older people to have a firm involvement in the life of the children’s and youth work. This kind of partnership could easily be extended to every aspect of the life of the church. And prayer partnerships between individuals in prayer cells or prayer triplets have often been found to be an exceptionally powerful way of stimulating the prayer life of a fellowship.
I don’t want anyone to be misled. Prayer is never easy. Prayer, like every form of communication, requires energy and careful thought. But prayer is also incredibly exciting because through it we are enabled to become partners with the God of the Universe. The problems which beset us are absolutely enormous. We need to face that fact and not pretend that the problems are not there or are somehow manageable. However, in partnership with our Great God, we need never be defeated by these awesome challenges.
I believe that all that I have written is important at any time, but I write these things in the firm belief that, for the sake of our broken society, our renewed commitment to prayer is absolutely urgent.
Courtesy: The Baptist Times
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