CONFERENCE EVENTS
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PRAYER FOR YOUR CHURCH
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Lord, I lift up my elders (church board) to You. Help us respect and honor them as they direct the affairs of our church. May they wholeheartedly give their attention to prayer and ministry of the Word. Keep them above reproach, devoted to their families, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable and able to teach. May they be gentle and honest as they deal with people. (1Tim. 5:17; Acts 6:4; 1 Tim. 3:1-2; Titus 1:7)
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Home  November 2007 It Seems to Me . . .
. . . every upside has a downside. The prayer movement's upside is that
it is a genuine movement. It has resulted in a new awareness of the
primary role of prayer in our personal lives and our corporate
expressions.
It has birthed new resources galore: new books on
significant aspects of prayer every month; a quality national magazine
devoted entirely to praying; 10, 30, 40 day prayer guides; T-shirts
with pithy thoughts on why we need to pray; even software programs to
remind us to pray. There are initiatives from National to Global Days
of Prayer that challenge us to pray for the leaders of our nation and
the nations of the world. Networks, such as CPLN, collate ideas for
those who lead prayer (If you haven't surfed our site recently you'll
be very surprised at how much practical material is available for you).
Conferences, seminars, workshops, retreats, summits . . .
With such a fantastic upside, can there be any downside?
Sadly, yes, if there is more movement than actual praying. If our
pastors are preaching to us about prayer more than they are praying
with us. If prayer coordinators are more focused on the task of
designing brochures or decorating prayer rooms than they are convening
times and places of praying. If our leaders (youth and children,
committee and council, staff and appointed) continue to see prayer as a
sermon topic or a team that meets monthly to plan events.
It is never inappropriate to ask, "Is the main thing still the main
thing?" Is prayer in our church still about everyone actually praying?
Is prayer expected throughout the week at the family table? The office
cubicle? The school desk? The backyard fence? Is praying less about the
format we follow than the One we follow?
It seems to me, as leaders in the prayer movement, when we call the
church to prayer we must make sure it results in, well, prayer . . .
Pastor Phil
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