Praying for other churches
Yesterday, we got to meet the new Director of Missions for the Bartow Baptist Association, David Franklin. From the moment I first met him, I liked him, but I liked him even more when he said that the modern day Association of Churches is all but irrelevant and we must find a way to make it more relevant. He went on to say that we as churches must be praying for one another and for true revival in our community – not just a church service or week long set of services entitled “revival” but a revival of God’s spirit breaking down spiritual strongholds and turning people’s hearts to God, especially those that don’t know Him.
I got to thinking this morning, “Why would we NOT want to pray for other churches to succeed?” The primary reason would be on a secular level – that we don’t want them to succeed and thrive more than our church. Not succeed on a spiritual level, because any church pastor, leader or member would say they want others to be reached for Christ and for His kingdom to expand, but on a secular business-type level, it is easy to become uncomfortable by the success of another church when one’s church is not growing or thriving as much. One can become jealous. One could even not like another pastor for some reason and not want to pray for their success because of this. David said yesterday, “it’s hard to dislike someone you’re praying for regularly.”
I pray for myself and the pastors of this community that we will set the pace in praying for other pastors and churches in our area. We have more than 60,000 unchurched people in Bartow County. Let’s pray for each other as we move forward to take this community for Christ. We don’t have to do everything the same or even agree with each other’s methods. We don’t have to join together for common events, but we must support each other in prayer.
