I came across an article Bishop Willimon wrote following a workshop with Tom Bandy. During the workshop a layperson asked, “What do you do when you want your church to grow but your pastor just won’t lead in evangelism?”
Bishop Willimon wrote, “I thought Bandy would respond to the question with, ‘you need a different pastor,’ or ‘you and the Board get together and insist that your pastor get busy.’ Bandy said none of that. He responded, ‘If you want to change your church or your pastor, you need to go deeper spiritually, you will need to pray more and go deeper in Scripture.’”
Prayer certainly played a vital role in the New Testament Church. The Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples as they were in a prayer meeting (Acts 2). Then as Luke describes the church that was born at Pentecost he wrote, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42; NRSV)
As you read on in the book of Acts, you see that prayer played a vital roll in the growth of the Church. One of the things that I see in Acts is that they often prayed together. Mission to the “ends of the earth” was birthed in the prayer of the church at Antioch. They did not just have their private devotionals. Long before we gave names to prayer movements like Prayer Vigils and Prayer Walks, they were practicing such prayer experiences.
Bishop Willimon, in the above mentioned article, made this application: “Lord help us if we think we can be faithful to Christ and achieve our priorities as a church on our own. Nothing Jesus commands us to do, does he command us to do by ourselves. This is Christ’s Church, not ours. Christ’s mission, not our program…Come to think of it, I’ve never see a church move from maintenance to ministry, from decline to growth, from the chaplain to the church members, to a mission mover to the word where someone in leadership had not experienced a new dimension of spiritual depth. It’s a God thing.”
Could it be that opportunities like this Saturday’s Prayer Walk are really vital to the Church? I believe so. Just as the early Church was empowered through prayer, Gardendale-Mt. Vernon finds it real power in prayer. As we come together in prayer, the Holy Spirit moves, just as He moved in the New Testament Church.
This weekend will be IMPACT 2011 (February 4-6). This will be a great opportunity to learn what God is doing through our mission partners and to hear God’s call to become a witness in words and deeds. On Sunday, February 6, you will have the opportunity to make a commitment of time, gifts and prayer to advance the mission of Christ. Be in prayer for God’s direction in your commitment.
As always, your responses to these Reflections are welcome. You can email me at rguess@gmvumc.org.
