6 minute read
Just One
by Ed & Loretta Williamson
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God is calling Th e Evangelical Methodist Church to a two-year Sacred Assembly of Prayer. Th e goal is a Pentecost that thrusts us into harvest, a Pentecost that empowers us to experience godly repentance of our sins, sins of spiritual complacency, sins of turning a deaf ear and nonconformity to the Spirit’s admonishments, sins that hinder our reaching our communities for Christ with new ministries. Th e Kingdom of God is expanding by millions around the globe, yet in our communities people continue to live lives of increasing wickedness and immorality. Jesus says the problem is not in the street or with the harvest, but in the church. “Th e harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest fi eld” (Matthew 9:37-38). Every local church needs just one person who becomes desperate in his or her prayers for revival and outreach.
Isaiah 59:1 states, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.” Th e problem is not with God, the problem is us! God is ready to pierce the darkness of our communities but our satisfaction with a powerless church life makes that impossible. God is saying, “Change my circumstances so I can bless you and remove the darkness that keeps the church from spiritual health and missional focus.”
Isaiah writes in the same chapter, “Th e Lord looked and was displeased...He saw that there was no one... to intercede....” God completed His salvation for us in and through Jesus Christ. Th e result is that a man can have a perfect love for God and for the people around him. He can be delivered from self-centered living. How appalling it must be to Him when there is no one in the local church willing to intercede for the people!
September 23, 2007 was the 150th anniversary of the Fulton Street Revival, sometimes called the Wall Street Revival or Layman’s Noontime Prayer revival. Th is lay-led revival began with just one person, one man with a burden to pray. Th is noontime corporate prayer went from 1857-1860, and is estimated to have resulted in over one million conversions across the nation. Th e population of the USA was 35 million in 1860.
Th e Fulton Street prayer revival began in1857 in the North Dutch Reformed Church, just a few blocks from ground zero in New York City. Th is prayer meeting extended from one local church into many denominations across the country and around the world. Jeremiah C. Lanphier was hired as a lay missionary in connection with the North Dutch Reformed Church. He felt it would be profi table to challenge “men engaged in active business to devote a portion of the time usually given to rest and refreshment at mid-day to devotional purposes.” So Wednesday, from noon to one o’clock, was set aside in a building on Fulton Street to give “merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers and businessmen generally an opportunity to stop and call upon God amid the daily perplexities incident to their respective vocations.”
Th e fi rst person to join Lanphier was a half-hour late; several others came even later. Five denominations were represented. Prayer and praise were off ered. Th e following week, twenty attended, the third week, forty. By the fourth week, they decided to hold a meeting every workday. Within months, meetings were being held throughout the city; the movement soon spread to cities from coast to coast.
One of the lessons from the historic 150th anniversary of the Noon Time Prayer Revival is never to despise small beginnings. No local church in the country is too small for God to begin a fresh work of the Spirit.
Th e goal for the prayer time was straight forward and simple, the salvation of the soul. Th ey would pray for the souls of family members, neighbors and co-workers by name. Others would join in agreement. Every person prayed for the people in their sphere of infl uence, family, friends and neighbors. Th ey prayed for salvation and praised God when it happened. Th e absence of a speaker and theological discussion made these meetings unique and attractive. Th e distinguishing marks of these prayer meetings were fourfold: 1) Spontaneity: the beginning meetings were the pattern, but soon the meetings conducted themselves with everyone participating. 2) Interdenominational: people from every evangelical faith participated, and issues that distinguished them from one another were not discussed. 3) Promptness: the meetings started promptly at noon and closed promptly at one. Th ose who prayed were held accountable to the fi ve minute per person rule. 4) Th eir focus: the agenda was prayer – specifi c prayer for salvation and for the Holy Spirit’s empowerment.
What is in store for the Evangelical Methodist Church? We want to learn from history and join thousands of churches across the USA that are focused on prayer for revival and renewal. Th is is the beginning of our vision for the local church. • Lay people and pastors will begin holding prayer meetings specifi cally asking God to anoint them by His Spirit and bring revival to local churches and our nation. • Churches will open their doors for early morning or noon time prayer meetings. • Th ese prayer meetings will prioritize prayers for the lost, for the Presence of God, and for the empowering by the Holy Spirit for ministry in their community. • Pastors and churches will join across denominational lines with like-minded people to pray for revival in their city, neighborhood and our nation.
God is seeking just one person through whom He can change a local church into a healthy ministry that impacts its community for Christ. You can be that one!
Reprinted from the Jan/Feb/March 2008 Connection.
