One of the most often

neglected church activities is a

weekly prayer meeting; This
is a tragic omission, one which
actually impedes the health
and mission of the local
church. In comparison to
preaching services and Bible
studies, a weekly prayer
meeting's attendance is signifi-
cantly less in many churches.
In truly Reformed churches,
emphasis is placed upon the
preaching and teaching of
God's Word. While this is
proper, corporate prayer
meetings should likewise be
given a place Of prominence in
the church's overall
ministry. ,Unfortunately,
this is often not the case.
It is imperative, therefore,
for church leadership to
encourage its congrega-
tion to attend weekly
prayer meetings. The
congregation must be taught
the vital importance that
corporate prayer has in the life
ofthe Christian.
Reformed theology cor-
rectly recognizes that prayer is
, a means of grace just like
preaching and the sacraments.
Moreover, Reformed theology
has always emphasized the
practicality of God's sover-
eignty for daily Christian
living. It has repudiated the
prevalent cultural attitude of
self-sufficiency, Reformed
churches should therefore
realize that failUre to make
weekly prayer meetings a
congregational priority en-
courages an attitude ofself-
sufficiency among God's
people. Prayer, by its very
nature, recognizes that we are
inadequate in many areas and
totally dependent upon the
power and grace of God.
Prayer is Oile of the vital
means by which the church
communes with her head,
Jesus Christ. It is an way in
which the power of God
operates and his will is ac-
complished in our lives. So
why don't many church mem-
bers see the value of prayer?
Onereason may be that they
simply do not understand the
real purpose and value of
C:orporate Prayer:
A Key To Your C:hUl'ch's
J Iealtb and Ministry
John M. Otis
prayer. We have been taught
that hearing God' s Word is
essential to growth in the
Christian life. Yes, we must
know what God has revealed
to us in order for us to obey
Him in all areas oflife. At the
same time we must realize that
we have no inherent strength
to believe and obey God's
Word. The Holy Spirit is the
agent of sanctification for
Christian living, and prayer is
one way in which the Holy
Spirit works His grace in our
lives. Jesus said, "But when
He, the Spirit of truth
comes, He will guide you
into all the truth; fOl' He will
not speak on His own initia-
tive, but whatever He hears,
He will speak; and He will
disclose to you what is to '
come" (John 16:13). Priorto
His ascension, Jesus told His
dillciples to wait in Jerusalem
until the promised Holy Spirit
would be sent to them (Acts
1 :4,5). As the disciples
waited in Jerusalem, they were
devoting themselves to prayer
(Acts 1:14), and on tlie day of
Pentecost the Holy Spirit
came upon them with great
power.
The apostle Paul under-
stood the vital relationship of
prayer I;lnd the application of
" God' sWord in our
tian lives. Note how Paul
prayed for the EpheSian
Christians: "For this
reason I too; having'
heard of the faith in the
Lord Jesus which ex isis
among you, and your
love for all the saints, do
not cease giving 'thanks for
you, while making
of you in my prayers; that
the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory,
may give you (1 spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, I pray
that the eyes of your heart
may be enlightened so that
you may know what is the
hope of His calling, what are
the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints and
what is the surpassing gret;1t-
ness of His power toward tiS
who believe. These are in
accordt;1nce with the working
of the strength of His might"
(Eph,1:15;19).
FebruarylMarcIl, 2000 - TIIE COUNSEL ofCbalcedon-ll
For the Colossians Paul
prayed, "For this reason
also, since the day we heard
of it, we have not ceased to
pray for you and to ask that
you may be filled with the .
knowledge of his will in all
spiritual wisdom and under-
standing, so that you may
walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, to please Him in
all r,espects., bearing fruit in
every good work and in-
creasing in the knowledge of
God; strengthened with all
power, according to His
glorious might, for the
attaining of all steadfastness
andpatience, joyously
giving thanks to the Father
who has qualified us to
share in the inheritance of
the saints in light" (Col. 9- .
12).
The Scripture is abundantly
clear! Prayer is a God or-
dained means by which the
Holy Spirit sanctifies His
church. In the above pas-
sages, note that Paul did not
cease to pray for the church' s
spiritual' growth. To sum up,
we must be faithful to hear the
preached word. We must be
equally faithful to pray for that
word to bear fruit in our lives.
There are many places in the
New Testament where church
members and church leaders
are commanded to devote
themselves to prayer, to
persevere in prayer, and to
pray without ceasing (Acts 1;
14; Acts 2:42; Acts 6:4; Rom.
12; 12; Col. 4:2; Eph. 6:18;
Lk. 18: 1; Col. 1 :3,9; Eph.
1:16; I Thess. 5:17). The
Greek word for "devote" in its
various contexts conveys the
idea of "tarrying, continuing
steadfastly, cleaving faithfully
to." It should be obvious that
prayer is a major emphasis in
Scripture in the life of the
church. The duty of prayer,
then, should be viewed as one
ofthe foremost responsibilities
of every church member. In
Acts 2:42 the church of
Jerusalem was said to be
"continually devoted to
prayer." In Acts 6:4, the
apostles, as elders of Christ's
church who are to shepherd
the church, said: "But we will
devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the
word. " In light of the clear
Scriptural command to church
members and to church elders
to be devoted to prayer, we
must ask several painful
questions: Why do so many
church members neglect
weekly prayer meetiiIgs? And
does church leadership devote
itself to corporate prayer and
strongly encourage its congre-
gation to be faithful in prayer?
We are terribly mistaken if we
think that the spiritual health
and mission of the church can
be carried out without a
devotion to prayer. God said
in James 4:2 that we do not
have because we do not ask.
We cannot expect church
members to grow in sanctifi-
cation if we are not constantly
praying for one another and if
church elders are not laboring
in prayer for the congregation.
We cannot expect world
missions to expand and bear .
12 - TIIE COUNSEL ofChalcedoD -FebruarylMarch, 2000
fruit without constant prayer.
Jesus stated it qUite simply in
Matthew 9:36 - "and seeing
the multitudes, He felt
compassion for/hem, be-
cause they were distressed
and downcast like sheep
without a shepherd. Then
He said to His disciples,
'The harvest is plentiful, but
the workers are few, There-
fore beseech the Lord of the
harvest to send out workers
into His harvest. '" One of
the undeniable keys to the
success of world missions is
prayer!
For the nations of the earth
to be discipled, there IS an .
urgent need for preachers who
will fearlessly declare the .
whole counsel of God. Who
can make such men? Only
God can. TQ that end, God .
says that we must petition Him
in prayer: What happens if we
fail to pray? The clear m p l ~
cation is that He doesn' t send
them out. Someone might
argue, " A sovereign God
doesn't need us to accomplish
His will; therefore, we cannot
say that our lack of prayer
hinders world missions." God
doesn't need any of us to
accomplish his eternal coun-
sels. He is orrmipotent and
sovereign, in need of nothing
he has created. However, the
Scripture is clear that God has
chosen to use human activity
as an ordained means to
accomplish His sovereign
decree. Prayer is one such
means. Divine sovereignty
and human responsibility
should always be conceived as
complementary doctrinal
truths. It is not the responsi-
bility of the creature to know
and understand how these two
work together. The fact that
God says that we do not have
certain things because we fail
to ask for them is clear evi-
dence that human responsibil-
ity does impact a world under
God's sovereign control. God
commands uS to pray fOr
godly preachers. A lack of
prayer does impede world
missions. In fact, Paul pled
with the Roman Christians to
strive together with him in
their prayers for him (Rom.
15:30,31). Paul asked the .
Ephesian church to persevere
in prayer for him so that he
might boldly speak the gospel
(Eph. 6: 18). The prayers of
the church are used by the
Holy Spirit to empower God's
heralds to preach faithfully and
boldly.
Postmilleunialists, of all
people, should be the greatest
prayer warriors. As
postmilJennialists, we ac-
knowledge that the Great
Commission will be accom-
plished in history. The na-
tions of the earth one day will
be discipled; the ealih will be
filled with the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. King Jesus will strike
the earth with the rod of His
mouth, and with the breath of
Bis lips, He will slay the
wicked (Isa. 11:4). This
means that the gospel will be
victorious. Let's not be naIve
to think that this mission can
be accomplished apart from
prayer. Those churches that
claim to be thoroughly re-
formed and postmillennial
must place a strong emphasis
upon the ministry of prayer;
otherwise, they are greatly
deceived. If these churches
are not encouraging their
members to make corporate
prayer a priority, then, in all
honesty, they are failing in a
vital part of their ministry.
Church elders need to be
reminded that their ministry is
essentially two fold as Acts
6:4 states. Elders are to be
devoted to prayer and to the
ministry ofthe word.
Now that we have admon-
ished the church to see the
necessity of corporate prayer,
how can the church practically
implement weekly prayer
meetings? Here are some
suggestions:
(I )The pulpit periodically
needs to encourage the con-
gregation to participate in
corporate prayer by preaching
sermons pertaining to prayer
and by encouraging weekly
attendance at prayer meetings.
(2)Church leadership
should encourage a church
wide corporate prayer meet-
ing, or encourage various
prayer groups in the homes of
church members.
(3 )Church elders need to
provide leadership to the .
congregation by participatiJlg
in such weekly meetings.
(4)Churches which have
their congregation assigned to
various elders for oversight
purposes should encourage
the elders to have those
families assigned to them to
submit prayer requests to the
elder so that he can faithfully
perform one of his God given
responsibilities as an elder.
In conclusion, to neglect
corporate prayer is a terrible.
mistake for the continumg
welfare of Christ's church. If
our churches are not growing
in grace and having the impact
in the community that they
should, the church leadership
needs to determine whether
prayer is the priority in the
congregation that it must be or
if it is a neglected aspect of
church life that is weakening
the body of Christ and limiting
her victory over the world ..
**For a more in depth
study of the natu/"e of ' .
the reader is
aged to order John Otis'
. booklet entitled, "The Pray-
ing Christian: God's War-
rior. It can be ordered for
$1.25 from Triumphant
Publications at 6070Surrliy
CT. Cumming, Ga. 30040**
February/Marcb, 2000 - THE COUNSELofCba\cedon., 13