Some friends have asked me why churches die. In some ways that is a difficult question because the circumstances of each congregation that closes are different. There are economic and demographic shifts that may contribute greatly. That being said, I’ll spend some time addressing some of the other reasons that churches die.
The first is prayerlessness. I know this was a factor for our congregation. When I arrived there, they had a prayer meeting each Wednesday evening. The only people who showed regularly were an elder and his wife who played piano, a deacon and his wife, and one of the ladies in the church who was on the search committee that called me. That was it.
Over time, the elder died of cancer and the search committee member grew disenchanted with my ministry (often the person who most wants you there turns on you first when their -usually unexpressed- expectations are not met). That left me, the pianist, the deacon (later an elder) and his wife. We were joined by my new wife (I was single when I was called).
Our congregation never had a serious commitment to corporate prayer. Many of them prayed privately, but what we find in Scripture (particularly the Book of Acts) is the great importance of praying as a body. For instance: the 120 were together praying on Pentecost when the Spirit came to empower them to be witnesses to Jesus. Peter preached to the curious and angry, and God saved over 3,000 people that day.
These new Christians were devoted to prayer. The context in the last section of Acts 2 is them gathering together. One thing they did together was PRAY. In Acts 4 they prayed after the release of Peter & John from jail. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they preached the word of God boldly.
In Acts 6, they chose 7 deacons to serve the Jerusalem church so the apostles could focus on prayer and the ministry of the word. The order may be significant. Spurgeon believed it was. He believed that prayer groups that met were the engine that drove the power of his preaching.
In Acts 10, while praying to God, Cornelius received the vision from God telling him to send for Peter. This began the great movement of the gospel among the Gentiles. In Acts 12, Peter was released from prison while the people were praying for him and his release. In Acts 13, during a time of worship and fasting (I’m sure they were praying), the Spirit told them to set apart Paul and Barnabas as missionaries to bring the gospel to Asia and Europe.
We don’t just need the preaching of the Word, but it must be accompanied by a commitment to prayer. God uses means, and one means He has ordained for the church to grew strong, receive God’s blessings in Christ, expand through evangelism etc. is prayer. Just as Calvin talks about Word and Spirit going together, so we can see that they are joined as we pray.
Churches that don’t pray will not be bold in evangelism.
Churches that don’t pray will not see the ministry of the Word preach as effective.
Churches that don’t pray won’t make much progress in godliness.
Churches that don’t pray will eventually die.
This is why I’m set to read D.A. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation.
Read Full Post »