Last week I sent this letter out to a small band of faithful prayer warriors who pray for our worship services and ministries every Sunday in the church office…
“Yesterday I was speaking with one of the widows in our congregation about her role in the church family. I told her how much it meant to me to know that she regularly prays for the pastoral staff. I also told her that I know it sounds very “pastoral” to say that, kind of like a missionary telling you that they need your money for support, but they need your prayers more. Most of us think ‘sure, now how much do you want me to write the check for?’ But I’ve also been a missionary, and I can honestly say that most missionaries actually mean that. Prayer works, and it is powerful! But that isn’t why we pray. We pray because God has invited us to pray and has promised to be listening and acting on our behalf. We pray not because it is pragmatic, but because it is purposeful, and because it comes at the invitation of a great King. Our prayers are an offering to God; they are a form of worship.
C.H. Spurgeon was once asked why God had visited the Metropolitan Tabernacle (the name of the church he pastored in London, which had a seating capacity of 10,000 but could not hold the growing church) with so much growth and excitement in a city where church attendance was dwindling rapidly in the mid 1800’s. His response was that the boiler room, in the basement of the church, not only kept the building warm in the chilly London mornings, but it was also the location where the Sunday morning prayer team met, a team that began praying early each Sunday and did not stop until the services were over (they rotated people so some could worship while others prayed). It was the boiler room, he said, where God stoked the fires of revival through the ministry of the church. I couldn’t agree more.
The work you do and the ministry you perform every Sunday at LifePoint is vital, and yet it goes virtually without notice by the congregation at large. That’s probably why God uses it so effectively. There really isn’t any way to become prideful about praying in a quiet corner of the church offices while everyone else is scurrying about on Sunday mornings doing “important” things. And yet your prayers are effective, and they bring about great things in the life of the church (James 5:16-18).
So, I thank you for quietly going about your task of showing up on your particular Sunday and praying for the worship services, the children’s and youth classes, and the other ministries that take place at LifePoint not only on Sundays, but throughout the week. It is vital, and it is greatly appreciated!”
We need financial support to run the church; we need effective and compelling preaching; we need hands-on ministry and caring; we need evangelism and training and teaching, along with countless other services in order to be the church God has called us to be. But our greatest need has always been and will always be people on their knees before Almighty God asking him to pour out his blessings upon our little church. It pleases me to see 150 or so people gathering together for Re-Mix on 5th Sunday evenings for prayer. It excites me to see people willing to pray through a service on Sunday mornings. I love seeing our church family grow in the area of prayer. But nothing pleases me more than to hear our widows/widowers tell me “I can’t do much anymore, but I can still pray.” They are doing the most important and most neglected work of the church, and LifePoint would be nothing without it.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym