Corporate Prayer

A quick survey through the book of Acts reveals the values of the early christians. It is easy to recognize that they valued community and listening to the teaching of God’s word. Another value that is easy to recognize is corporate prayer.

They prayed together during key moments of decision (Acts 1:12-14). They prayed during times of persecution (Acts 4). They also set specific times of prayer (Acts 3:1; Acts 13:1-3; Acts 16:16). It is obvious that the early church valued corporate prayer. The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon of the 1800’s also valued corporate prayer. Consider his words regarding corporate prayer , “Oh! yes, (the prayer meeting) is the place to meet with the Holy Ghost, and this is the way to get His mighty power. If we would have Him, we must meet in greater numbers; we must pray with greater fervency, we must watch with greater earnestness, and believe with firmer steadfastness. The prayer meeting... is the appointed place for the reception of power.” Spurgeon attributed the success of the church to prayer when he said, “It is in the spirit of prayer that our strength lies; and if we lose this, the hair will be cut off from Samson’s head, and God’s Holy Church will become as weak as water...”

I want to see New Life embrace the practice of corporate prayer. I have been thinking, dreaming and praying about the value of corporate prayer in our congregation. As we head into the fall I want to schedule a time that we can come together for corporate prayer. We have seen God do great things in the life of our church as many are engaged with regular Bible reading. I see God using community as a place where people confess sin and develop a strategy for waging war against besetting sins. I also believe that the are missing a great opportunity to grow in our understanding of worship and God’s grace if we continue to ignore corporate prayer. Please know that the elders pray for you and we are thankful for your pursuit of Christ through the ministry at New Life. I desire greatly not to just pray for you but also pray with you. Over the next few weeks I am going to lay out a strategy for corporate prayer within the life of our church. I want to encourage you to consider the importance of corporate prayer and join together with others as we pray for a great work of God within our faith community and throughout the world.

​Pastor Billy