Communal Disciplines (2)

And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’”  Acts 4.23-26

Begin here
The Church of our Lord Jesus Christ began in a prayer meeting. For 10 uncertain days, 120 people waited on the Lord, agreeing together and joining their voices for the Lord to pour out His promised Spirit (Acts 1.12-14). Prayer is not everything they did, but everything they did took shape in, launched from, and was sustained by corporate prayer.

When Jesus commanded the apostles to “wait” for God’s promise, they understood that to mean they should pray.

Could these anxious and expectant saints have prayed just as well at home, on their own? Perhaps. But it pleased God to bring them together, where their focus was sharpened, their faith strengthened, and their prayers more consistently addressed to the promises and will of God.

Not only was the Church born in prayer, but it persevered through its first great crisis in the same way. When Peter and John were threatened with punishment if they did not cease preaching the Gospel, they returned to their fellowship, now several thousand people strong, and made their report. Whereupon, spontaneously, the people united their voices together and sought the Lord in prayer. Their prayer reminded them that God was not unfamiliar with their trial, and that He was able to sustain and empower them to continue faithful in their calling as the new Kingdom community of the Lord, in spite of the threats of their enemies.

God heard their prayer and emboldened them to persevere, and He continued to grow His Church as a result (Acts 4.31).

And the first great missions effort of the Church was inaugurated during a season of corporate prayer (Acts 13.1-3).

As the community of God’s people, called to embody His resurrection life to the watching world, we must not minimize or bypass the importance of praying together.

However…
Yet is this not precisely what we do? How much time do churches spend in corporate prayer? The first believers persisted for 10 days; we hardly give 10 minutes to this important communal discipline. They met every challenge and opportunity in seasons of corporate prayer. Do we do the same? Since prayer is so important to the spiritual life of each Christian, we can only believe that corporate prayer, praying together, must be equally important in the work of maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

But in reality we provide very little – if any – time for corporate prayer in our services of worship, and most churches have given up trying to maintain a weekly prayer meeting. So few people attend, and, in general, the prayers are so small that few believe “prayer meeting” to be an important part of the life of the local church. Groups throughout the church may include prayer in their meetings or activities, but the complaints are universal about the trivial matters which tend to command the focus of such prayers, and most people are merely auditors while the “usual suspects” take up the bulk of the group’s prayer time.

And as for all the Christians in any particular community – members of all the local churches – joining together for prayer, such an event is almost unheard of in our day.

We simply do not believe that corporate prayer is an essential discipline for building the Body of Christ and realizing more of the presence, promise, and power of the Kingdom. So how might we begin to rectify this sad situation? Allow me to make a few suggestions.

Some suggestions
First, churches should bring meaningful and extended corporate prayer back to their times of worship. Use a psalm or two to organize that part of the liturgy, as our forebears did in Acts 4. It’s not necessary for everyone to pray, but the opportunity to pray should be extended to all, and all should be able to participate in the prayer if only by verbalizing an occasional “Amen” or “Yes, Lord” (1 Cor. 14.16). As we shall see, the entire service of worship is itself a form of prayer, but it can only be engaged as such when worship is rightly ordered and everyone understands the pattern and flow.

Second, give prayer a more prominent role in all other areas of the life of the church. Devote time for praying together in all meetings, Bible studies, and ministry activities, and provide a common focus for such prayers – perhaps, again, by using a psalm – that allows people to focus and intercede together according to a shared agenda.

Third, conduct special meetings where prayer is the item on the agenda – a weekly prayer meeting, regular times to pray for revival, joint meetings for prayer with other congregations, and so forth. Kingdom power awaits us as we unite our voices in prayer, especially when we are using God’s own words to guide our prayers. As we work hard to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, let us recover the central role of prayer in all matters of our community life. For without prayer – focused, sustained, urgent, corporate prayer – we will not be able to fulfill our callings, whether as individual believers or bodies together.

Next steps: Talk with a pastor or church leader about corporate prayer. How do they understand its role in your church? Do they agree that more effort should be invested in praying together? Do they have any ideas about how to accomplish this?

T. M. Moore

This week’s study, Communal Disciplines, is part 6 of a 7-part series on The Disciplined Life, and is available as a free download by clicking here. We have prepared a special worksheet to help you begin getting your disciplines in proper shape for seeking the Kingdom. Write to T. M. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for your free PDF of the “Disciplined Life Worksheet.”

A rightly-disciplined life requires a Kingdom vision, and that vision is centered on Jesus Christ exalted. T. M. has prepared a series of meditations on the glorious vision of Christ, based on Scripture and insights from the Celtic Christian tradition. Order your copy of Be Thou My Vision by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.