A Month of Prayer
Our Strategic Planning Committee and our staff have spent countless hours evaluating data from our community and our church, parsing simple phrases to create shared language for our congregation, and dreaming about the future God has planned for Fee Fee. I’m proud of the work these groups have done, and I cannot wait to share their findings with you in January.
However, the most important thing these groups have done isn’t found in the discussions, the mission statement, the values, or the recommendations for the church. Instead, the most important thing these groups have done is pray.
They prayed for wisdom in the discussions. They prayed for discernment when creating shared language. They prayed for clarity in seeing the vision God has for our church. And when both groups, separately, produce the same language and the same vision, we know that God answered their prayers.
But the vision isn’t going to become reality without more prayer. Having a great mission statement and clear values is good—but that doesn’t change hearts and lives. Starting and continuing amazing programs is wonderful—but without the power of God, those programs are nothing more than empty ways to pass the time. We can plan magnificent events and fill our building with eager visitors—but if the Holy Spirit doesn’t work to convince people of the love of Christ for them, then people will leave with nothing more than memories of a good evening.
We need the power of God for our church to survive. We need the power of God for our church to become a thriving, healthy, growing, evangelistic body of believers. We need the power of God to impact our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our community. We can’t be content with our own power—we need the power of God.
In recognition of this fact, I want us to set aside January as a month in which we will engage in focused prayer for our church. We will have more focused prayer in our services, prayer points for our Sunday school classes, and prayer services on Sunday evenings. I will also encourage each member, if able, to fast on the final Friday of January, using your hunger to drive you to pray for our church. We need God to do what only he can do in our church.
Let’s pray.
In Christ,
Pastor Britton