The power of praying for other churches

If you attended the Southern Baptist Convention in Baltimore or watched online, you know prayer played a big role in this year ’s annual meeting Messengers spent time praying together in the convention hall, and also adopted a resolution on praying for other churches that are struggling, “so that together we can more effectively reach our neighbors and our nation with the Gospel ”

The resolution was a response to a growing number of churches taking action and praying for local sister churches Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville, Ill , is one such church

Noticing the need for unity among local churches, Emmanuel began praying for sister churches in its local Baptist association on a weekly basis The church prays for three churches and their pastors each week, rotating the list to pray for all 27 churches in the association multiple times each year

Church members and leaders alike began to observe a noticeable, positive impact from this prayer focus Taking note of the cause/effect relationship of the power of praying for local churches, Emmanuel recently expanded its regular prayer list to include two church plants outside of the association.

The church prays a specific, scripted prayer for each church and their pastor each week: for “the physical and spiritual protection of the pastor so that he would deliver the message that God has given them and to lead the people with passion to reach the lost in their community ”

This scripted prayer addresses an eternal need for each church, according to Cliff Woodman, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church: “I wanted it to be a specific prayer that could apply to any church The mission of every church is to reach the lost and make disciples ”

If more Southern Baptist churches take this kind of initiative to pray for each other and unify under the banner of Christ, then communities will come together spiritually and the Kingdom of God will expand as a result, Woodman said, citing Jesus’ words from His high priestly prayer: “I in them and you in me May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23)

“Let’s ask Harold to lead the new Bible study He’s always wanting to start something ”

How religious are people in Illinois?

Daniel Woodman, an entering freshman journalism major at the University of Missouri, is a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville His column first appeared on Baptist Press as part of the Southern Baptist Convention’s call to prayer

Very religious

Moderately religious

Non-religious

π A slice of life From breakdown to breakthrough

For the last eight years, I have been working in churches that were in need of revitalization, or breakout I know this doesn’t make me an expert, but it has given me field experience In addition, for the last three years I have been intensely studying the condition of the American church and her impact in contemporary culture

I have come across many success stories of pastors who led their church to positive breakout But it seems that for every story of success, there are nine stories of struggle and heartache In all honesty, leading a church to breakout is like trying to climb Mount Everest It’s daunting and extremely difficult

In my last column on Nehemiah, I explained how his breakdown laid the foundation for the breakout of his people But that’s not the end of the story Nehemiah also faced many obstacles in leading the breakout. The king (his boss) had already stopped the rebuilding of the wall years earlier Nehemiah hadn’t led this kind of work before He faced a long, dangerous journey to get to the people, and once he arrived, he met a discouraged people in need of motiva-

Tion And Organization

Just like Nehemiah, those who want to lead a church to breakout will face a variety of obstacles As leaders, we face obstacles of perceptions, practices, poor theology, and people’s resistance to change For many, the perception is that the church is fine we’re paying the bills and ministries are still running When it comes to practices, over time churches tend to focus on insiders, not outsiders, which can lead to neglecting the building, failing to create hospitable environments, and lacking a defined process for connecting new people

Poor theology also can be an obstacle Without being aware, a congregation can lose their passion for the centrality of Jesus and his gospel, their urgency to call people to repentance and salvation, and their missional posture towards the community and the nations

One of the toughest obstacles is leading people to embrace change I have found many church members want growth (or, at the very least, they don’t mind it), but don’t want things to change In short, leading breakout isn’t easy, especially in light of the various obstacles Nehemiah knew this as well He navigated through the obstacles by way of breakthrough an “aha moment ”

His prayer, starting in Neh 1:4, gives us at least three principles of breakthrough that have implications for our ministry today:

God is the breakthrough power. Immediately after hearing the condition of the people, Nehemiah went to the Lord “Let Your eyes be open and Your ears be attentive to hear Your servant’s prayer,” he says in verse 6 “…I confess the sins we have committed against You ”

39.4% 30.5%

This is paramount for church and denominational leaders to understand, especially given the fact that we live in a self-help culture where there is no shortage of books, conferences, leadership podcasts, and workshops about how churches can breakout from their unhealthy condition While there’s nothing wrong with many of these resources, I have to constantly remind myself that these are supplements to breakout, not the source.

Humility is the breakthrough position Nehemiah’s prayer reflects his understanding of God’s position and power, and that he and Israel are His servants (Neh 1:5, 6,10) Our prayers should reflect God’s transcendent position in relations to us how great, gracious, awesome, faithful, and powerful he is In addition, our prayers should reflect our humble position to God a position that’s here to serve him and be used by him to do what he has put in our hearts

When it comes to leading our churches to breakout may we never confuse our role with God’s we are simply conduits by which He works to bring his people where He wants them to be

Faithfulness is the breakthrough pattern. In Nehemiah’s prayer, we see that his going to the Father wasn’t a one-time deal; he did this “for days ” Scholars note that four months passed between chapter one and two

Thus, for over four months, Nehemiah faithfully goes to the Lord, humbling and submitting himself to God’s will and leading His continued faithfulness reflects both the seriousness of leading a breakout and his belief that only God could do it

If we desire to lead our churches to breakout, not only must we have a breakdown, but we must have a breakthrough an “aha moment” were we realize God is the only one who can breakthrough the obstacles we face.

Josh Laxton is lead pastor of Western Oaks Baptist Church in Springfield His first column on Nehemiah appeared in the July 28 issue of the Illinois Baptist