Culture of Prayer vs Program of Prayer (Expanded)

I heard one of my mentors from afar, Daniel Henderson of Fellowship 6:4, says something that I wanted to pass along to you. He was talking about the importance of building a culture of prayer in your church rather than a program of prayer. I have been thinking about it, and it is a very important distinction. It is also very helpful as well. Here are just a couple of the reasons.

  1. A culture of prayer affects everyone rather than just those in the “prayer ministry”.

This means that you are looking for ways to grow prayer in your men’s ministry, youth group and children’s ministry. This can be empowering especially if you are in a smaller church because you don’t need to create a whole new program than needs to be maintained.

As I travel around speaking at churches one of the things that I find too often is Christians intimidated by prayer. I often speak about the fact that prayer is not just for super-Christians. Part of the reason for this intimidation is the result of people thinking that there are people who pray and then there are the rest of us. There are reasons to have a prayer altar workers team – like being able to train them on the salvation follow up process. But it is important to communicate that one of those reasons is not that not every Christian can pray for needs.

2.  This allows all sorts of opportunities to be moments to grow the culture.

Taking some extra time in the board meeting to model the life of prayer is helping you build a leadership that is praying. When you are already doing an outreach connecting the life of prayer to that event is natural and life-giving. Your goal becomes to have leaders of your men’s ministry who spontaneously take time to pray for each other in a group not just to have an “elite group of prayers.” Now you are multiplying rather than just adding to your churches prayer life.

One way to think about this is as connected to the “spiritual” fire of your church. If prayer is just a program we are containing that fire to one area of the church. By creating a culture of prayer in the church we are spreading that fire everywhere. Ministry begins to happen in different areas of the church at a new level and ultimately spills into the streets.

If you are a pastor or leaders what is one way that you could help build the culture of prayer in your church today? If you are not yet a leader in your church let me encourage you to not be afraid of the life of prayer, but dive right in and see how it changes your life.

Are you embracing emotionalism? (Updated)

Having grown up in the church all of my life I have heard the challenge against “emotionalism.” This normally follows someone, who is a young believer, doing something that out of order. This “emotionalism” can be attached to a lot of unhealthy things that can happen in a church. I live in the wintry, upper Midwest of the USA where we are affectionately called the Frozen Chosen. We are definitely on the calm side of the calm/emotional spectrum.

But this idea of the calm/emotional spectrum leads me to a challenge that people in my neck of the woods struggle. Merriam-Webster.com has one of the definitions of emotionalism as, “undue indulgence in or display of emotion.” And those of us who have seen this in church say a hearty, “amen.” Actually where I live a hearty “amen” could be called emotionalism.

What if you move to far in the other direction? What if our fear of emotionalism causes us to disengage our heart completely? If some of us expressed our love to our spouses with the same emotion that we express toward God we would end up in marriage counseling. Jesus called us to love the Lord with all our heart and soul. I think that includes our emotions.

[tweetthis]I will love the Lord with all my heart and that includes my emotions![/tweetthis]

We can miss out on a lot if we do not engage our emotions. Charles Finney would go so far as to say that “excitements” are the only way for the church to grow.

David’s wife Michal was appalled at David’s dancing and I can be in danger of becoming like her. The answer, as in most cases, is an internal look. Ask yourself, “Which end of the spectrum am I?” If you find yourself in an emotionless religion then you must find new ways to engage your heart. It may be scary for a couple reasons. One: engaging our emotions before God does not always feel safe to start with because we are not used to it. Two: we may fear that our friends will charge us with “emotionalism”.

I want to challenge you that the journey will be worth it and may just bring new life to your walk with Jesus. It will also give us more grace for brothers and sisters who happen to slip into “emotionalism.” You may provide healthy models for others on how to express emotion in their seeking of God.

For thoughts on emotion and prayer watch this and if you want to engage your emotions and are having a hard time start here

Confessions of a short person: Lessons in pursuit by a wee little man.

For those who have never met me, you should know that I have never been accused of being tall. As a kid there was never a line to try to get me to sign up to be center for a basketball team. This might be why I have a draw to Zacchaeus. At one of the churches I was pastor they even had an ongoing joke about me and Zacchaeus. I mean it would be just like me to have the song I am known for be, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man…” I am still scarred by the song, “Short people don’t deserve to live.”

But Zacchaeus got something right. And he has some important thoughts for each of us no matter how tall we stand. Zacchaeus is a model of passionate pursuit of Jesus.

First think of the desire he must have had to climb a tree. He had an opportunity to see Jesus and he wouldn’t pass it up. We have a continual opportunity to meet with Jesus so sometimes we take it for granted. Zacchaeus didn’t wait for later to go after Jesus. How much effort will we put into spending time with Jesus?

[tweetthis]How much effort will we put into spending time with Jesus? Let’s go after Him![/tweetthis]

Second, he didn’t let his dignity get in the way. Zacchaeus worked with the Roman government. He didn’t allow the thought of, “What will the Romans think if they see me in a tree?” keep him from His pursuit. How many of the people he had to collect taxes from did he see as he climbed up the tree? What are the things that are keeping you from a passionate pursuit of Jesus?

Finally, he let his encounter impact his life. After Zacchaeus met with Jesus his heard was changed. His life was changed. Meeting with Jesus led to more than just a good feeling. Will you allow your time with Jesus to change the outflow of your life? I often need to capitalize on what God does in my life so it doesn’t slip away.

[tweetthis]I often need to capitalize on what God does in my life so it doesn’t slip away.[/tweetthis]

Let me encourage you to not let anything get in the way of your pursuit of Jesus. If we let it any moment could truly change our lives. That could even be today!