The Highest Priority
It didn’t take me too long as a young pastor to learn that while I might have some thoughts about what the direction of the local church should be and what its priorities should be, so does almost everyone else who attends the church.
In no particular order, I’ve been told by church members and attenders that the following should be the top priority for the churches I’ve pastored; Missions; Outreach; Church Growth; Youth; Children; Worship; Preaching; Membership; Baptism; Altar Calls; Revival; Spiritual Gifts; End Times Teaching; Ministry to the Poor; Visitation; Being more Traditional; Being more Contemporary; Community Involvement; Small Groups; Sunday School; Sunday Night Services; Speaking in Tongues; Prophetic Words; Spiritual Warfare; Healing; a particular Bible Translation; Commitment; Holiness…and those are just off the top of my head.
They’re all important in the life of a church, to differing degrees and in different situations. They can all lead to abuses and misuses. They can all be misunderstood in some way.
But none of them are as transformational.....
----or have such a wide-ranging overall effect
----or are as accessible to everyone
----or help us grow in intimacy with the Father
----or accelerate us in becoming more like Jesus
As…
Prayer.
Charles Spurgeon, probably the best-known and most influential Baptist preacher in history, once said, “We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.”
There is much I could write and quote about prayer. But here are a few simple observations.
These are not judgments; they are observations on our church after three and a half months. I would note that after 3 decades in pastoral ministry, I can confidently say that these observations are true of most churches in America.
----The number of people who wanted to ask me questions and be involved in the decision about whether or not to call me as pastor is far greater than the number of people who come to prayer meeting.
---- The number of people who talk to me about concerns and thoughts on our church is far greater than the number of people who come to prayer meeting.
---- Getting a quorum for a congregational meeting can be difficult. But getting the same number of people for prayer meeting is, to this point, impossible.
As I stated above, these observations are meant to be just that - observations. They are not judgments. I think they need to cause us to simply ask ourselves why corporate prayer is not a greater priority for us when it is such a priority within the pages of Scripture.
I’d like to invite you to come to prayer meeting this week. We meet in the FBC Fellowship Hall at 7:00PM on Wednesday evenings.
We are spending time each week studying prayer in the life of Jesus and of the early church. We share prayer requests. And then we pray for one another and for our church and community.
Come join us!