Category Archives: Church Life

Church Life should be governed by God’s design and purposes for the Body of Christ with Jesus as its Head and us as members united though diverse.

Praying on God’s Terms, According to Biblical Principles?

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Training Category: Prayer Ministry

Confidence Praying on God's Terms, According to His Will

Prayer was instituted by God as the means of communing with Him. He is the One who determined that prayer would be the way humans would work in cooperation with Him. Prayer is His idea, not ours. Consequently, it is only logical that we come to God on His terms, not ours.

Why Effective Prayer Ministry Adheres to Biblical Principles

  1. God will never contradict Himself in the way He answers prayer.
  2. God is not obligated to respond to prayer that violates His character or Word.

Consequently, the more we come to truly know God in the full essence of His being as depicted in Scripture, the more we will pray in ways that tap into His power.

How to Teach People to Pray on God’s Terms

When you teach on prayer, go beyond the mere commands and principles about praying to the basis for that command or principle in the character of God.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov. 9:10)

The fear of the Lord leads to life: Then one rests content untouched by trouble. (Prov. 19:23)

In addition to this content, the Prayer Ministry Manual considers how the fear of the Lord prevents us from living in violation of God’s character and Word and from expecting God to respond to our prayers in ways that contradicts Himself. You will also find a personal assessment for how well you adhere to God’s conditions for praying.

For More on what will help you develop and maintain an effective Prayer Ministry, read the following:

For More About Praying: Resources for Prayer Ministry

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Right Purposes for a Prayer Ministry

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Training Category: Prayer Ministry

If you want to develop a prayer ministry, personally or with a group, one of the first questions you must ask is “Why?” — What are you hoping to accomplish through it?

Effectiveness in Prayer Requires Having the Right Purposes for Praying

Devoted to Prayer
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Maybe you are hoping to see God take care of a list of requests.

You possibly want to see Him do great and mighty things in your midst or to bring revival.

Perhaps you simply want to be obedient to His command to pray.

Or, you may be trying to emulate the early church of the New Testament of whom it was said that they devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 2:42).

While all that and much more can happen as people meet together to pray, you will undoubtedly find a greater level of effectiveness when your purposes are centered more on God than on you. When prayer is about Him and not you, you tend to come to Him with the right heart attitudes. Your role, though important, isn’t primary. If you want people to be devoted to prayer, like the Early Church, you must be focused on the right purposes for having a prayer ministry.

Emphasize the following purposes and watch the difference it makes in your prayer ministry:

  1. Use prayer as a means of keeping focused on God.
  2. Use prayer as a means of acknowledging His grace in your life.
  3. Use prayer as a means of keeping His sovereignty in place in your life.
  4. Use prayer as a means of maintaining your relationship with Him.

Check out the Prayer Ministry Manual where you’ll find some thoughts on the above four points as to what heart attitude we need within each of these purposes and the role we have in it. You will also find a parallel of the above points to Jesus’ sample prayer in Matthew 6 (commonly known as The Lord’s Prayer). And, you will be guided in determining if you, as an individual, or as a prayer group, have the right purposes for praying.

For More on what will help you develop and maintain an effective Prayer Ministry, read the following:

For More About Praying: Resources for Prayer Ministry

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Prayer Ministry an Outgrowth of Relationship

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Training Category: Prayer Ministry

Connect with a Personal God in Prayer

To have an effective prayer ministry, whether that be personal or corporate, we must begin on the basis of a personal relationship with God. Praying is rather meaningless and empty if we don’t sense that Someone is seeing, hearing, and caring.

We must understand and value the relational aspect for prayer ministry to be effective. Remember in Luke 11:1-4 when one of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Our Father …’.” Jesus was teaching the personal and intimate nature of prayer.

To be effective, prayer ministry must be …

more than attending a meeting.

— It is connecting with our heavenly Father.

more than a programmed event or activity.

— It is coming into the presence of the Almighty God.

more than a Christian discipline.

— It is communicating with a living and personal God.

Make your prayer meetings or prayer efforts about relationship, not merely praying requests. Words are shallow and meaningless when there is no sense of connection. You’ll find that when God Himself is the main attraction, you won’t need gimmicks or arm-twisting to keep people coming.

Order the Prayer Ministry Manual for a study on each of the above points involved in the relational aspect of prayer — connecting, coming into His presence, and communicating.

For More on what will help you develop and maintain an effective Prayer Ministry, read the following:

For More About Praying: Resources for Prayer Ministry

Subscribe for E-mail notice of new posts.

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Questions About Your Church

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Your Church Attracting People to the Lord?
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What perceptions would visitors come away with about your church and the Lord you love and serve? Would their experience attract them to the Lord or would they be disillusioned and turned off to the God you proclaim?

Questions About Your Church that Affect People’s Perception

Following are some questions to ask about your church:

  • Would they sense the presence of the Lord in that place or just people “doing” church?

Read: Put the Focus on the Presence of the Lord

  • Would they observe a diverse group of people who have learned how to live in unity or a group bickering about their differences?

Read: Keys to Unity

  • Would they come to know the love of Christ through people who view compassion as more than a feeling or would they leave feeling empty and unsupported?

Read: Compassion: More than an Option?

  • Would they notice the integrity of God’s holy people who seek to avoid even the appearance of evil or would they find carnal people doing what is right in their own eyes?

Read: A Church That is Holy — Really?

  • Would they conclude that structures are there to prevent problems and make life together better or that the structures are mere tradition and stifle true ministry?

Read: Organization Needed But For What Purpose?

  • Would they see people who practice what they say they believe even in the behind-the-scenes functions or would they note the hypocrisy?

Read: Your Life: A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

What people would see or experience at your church, could determine if they want to come back again. And, it could make a difference on whether or not they want the Lord you profess to be a part of their own lives. Let’s make “the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10).

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Let All Be Harmonious – What’s Stopping You?

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What's Stopping You from Living in Harmony?God commands us to live in harmony with one another  —  Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another. (1 Pet. 3:8)  — so it must be possible. He provides all the power we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3) which means He will equip and empower us to live in unity despite all of our differences.

Yet, for many, our experience in the Church fails to consistently reflect such harmony. Why? What’s stopping it from happening?

“Self” gets in the way of living harmoniously.

1) Self-promotion

Needing to look better than the next person, to always come out on top, blocks harmonious life together, whereas humility promotes unity.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Rom. 12:16)

… be compassionate and humble. (1 Pet. 3:8)

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. (Phil. 2:3)

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. (James 3:16)

We can come together on an equal plain when we acknowledge that we are who we are and do what we do because of God’s grace (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 15:10).

2) Self-perpetuation

Looking out for ourselves, having that sense of entitlement, prevents harmony, whereas seeking the good of others brings us together.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Rom. 12:17-18)

Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. (Rom. 15:2)

No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. (1 Cor. 10:24)

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Cor. 12:7)

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. (1 Thess. 5:15)

We can come together for the good of the whole when we acknowledge that it isn’t all about our own interests and needs.

3) Self-protection

Holding on to our hurts and disappointments, putting up defensive walls around us, tears down harmony whereas forgiving one another, even doing good to those who have done wrong, opens the door to reconciliation and unity.

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:19-21)

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph. 4:32)

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (1 Pet. 3:9)

We can come together, breaking down those defensive walls and letting people in, when we trust the Lord to take care of us.

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Finances in the Church: Fundraising

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Church Fundraising Efforts
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When someone visiting the Church Budgeting & Finances category in the TrainChurchLeader.com Practicum asked if I would share some fundraising ideas, I couldn’t stop at just listing ideas. I felt the need to provide a filter through which to examine those ideas. We need to make sure we are lining up with God and His Word and trusting Him.

Fundraising efforts in the church have taken on many forms:

  • capital campaigns in which pledges are taken
  • sending out letters of appeal for funds
  • finding a generous donor willing to gift a certain amount that will only be given as matched by others
  • having auctions or rummage sales in which people donate goods that will be sold and the money given to the church
  • having a banquet or dinner for people to come and make donations
  • selling products or services of some sort (i.e., car washes, bake sales)
  • holding walk-a-thons, run-a-thons, rock-a-thons, etc. in which people get pledges from friends and family to be given for every mile/hour accomplished
  • joining organizations like iGive and encouraging people to make their personal online purchases through it for the church to get a commission

Of course, you can also get into wills, trusts, endowments … legacy types of gifts that have more of a long term objective rather than raising immediate cash.

While all of the above ideas have been done at churches, we need to stop, think, and pray about what we should implement and how often. The intent of this post isn’t to pass judgment on any of these specific ideas but rather to challenge us to work through issues related to fundraising in the church.

Questions to ask when it comes to fundraising in the church:

1) How does God feel about your fundraising efforts?

  • Are you examining the whole of Scripture, reconciling what you want to do with passages like Jesus’ anger over money changers in the temple (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17)? Or, are you merely doing what others have done or what you think will work?
  • Are you promoting the kind of giving God looks for which is giving from a cheerful and willing heart (2 Cor. 8-9)? Or, are you promoting giving that is coerced or done merely out of obligation?
  • Would He say that you are being a good steward of not just your money but also your time and people resources (Matt. 25:21-22)? Or, are there other ways He would want you to invest the time and effort spent on fundraising?

2) What impression do your fundraising efforts give people about the Church?

  • Do they get the idea that all the church does is ask for money? Or, do they feel as though the church isn’t merely looking for what they can get but rather what they can give to God and people (1 Cor. 10:23-24; Jn. 15:13)?
  • Do they view the church as no different than any other organization looking for money? Or, do they see a living organism whose trust is in the Lord to both lead and provide for His people to do His will (Prov. 3:5-6; Col. 1:18)?

Bottom Line: The Bible doesn’t say “Thou shalt not have fundraisers” but it does give us plenty to think about regarding motivation, means, and effect.

More: Stewardship Resources

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