by Mike Godfrey
My first Sunday as a church planting resident in Northern Virginia was an immersion into a different church culture and a different worship experience. There were the usual differences that come with the change of location and region, however there were significant differences in what took place in our Lord’s Day gathering.
One of the most memorable changes was in one of the corporate prayers during the service. One of the pastors led the congregation in prayer and in his prayer, he named multiple other churches in the area by name, and their pastors as he lifted up these churches to the Lord asking God to uphold, strengthen, bless and grow these other churches in our area. I would later find out that some of these churches were less than a handful of miles away from us.
I had never experienced that in a worship service before.
To be clear, nearly every church service I have ever been in included some time of prayer. However, most often they were perfunctory, unplanned and just placeholders so a praise team could move into position while music plays under the voice of the one praying.
But praying for other churches, other pastors that were right around the corner from us was new to me.
I wish it hadn’t been because I have seen how that simple practice shaped our church and later shaped my ministry as a church planter. Slowly but surely the pastors of the church I served taught me along with the rest of the congregation that Jesus’ kingdom was bigger than our worship center and it was good for us to ask Jesus to bless other churches for the expansion of the gospel in our region, and even our neighborhood.
And doesn’t this reflect the pattern we learn from the apostle Paul, consider these few passages from his letters:
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, Eph 1:16–17
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Php 1:3–5
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven… Col 1:3–5a.
Paul wanted the churches he planted or partnered with to know that he was praying for them, and it is fair to assume that he offered these prayers while being present in other churches he was planting or strengthening. Paul lays a pattern for kingdom prayer that we would do well to embrace here in our network of First Coast Churches.
Let me give a second more personal reason why I encourage you to adopt this practice. Pastoring is hard, it can be emotionally, spiritually and even at time physically devastating. And many times, we feel alone, even knowing Jesus never leaves us. Knowing there were other churches praying for our church and for me was a fresh strength when I felt unable to press on.
On many occasions during the week other pastors in our network would text me or email me letting me know they were praying for our church on the upcoming Sunday in their services and they wanted to know what specific ways they could pray for our church.
On another occasion at one of our network gatherings I shared my recent struggles with discouragement, and the next Saturday evening at around 9 P.M. I started getting texts from the other pastors. They were filled with Scripture, words of encouragement, and reminders that preaching the gospel was never in vain. As I read the texts to my wife, I couldn’t hold back the emotions. I wasn’t pastoring alone. I had brothers who were fighting for me and striving with me in prayer.
So, the point of this article is two-fold:
First, don’t pastor alone. Let’s build a culture of pastoral intercession rather than pastoral competition. Brothers, we can do better by lifting one another up before the Lord in prayer. The more we pray for each other the more our love for one another and for the churches we serve will increase.
Second, lead your churches to pray for other churches. In your worship services make space to pray for one or two other churches in our region by name. Pray for God to strengthen their pastors, pray that the gospel would sink deep into the hearts of their churches to cause them to reflect Christ more beautifully. Pray that the name of Jesus would be lifted up all over the first coast through the many embassies of heaven we call churches in our region.
May the Lord be pleased to knit our hearts together as we pray for the churches Jesus has given us the privilege of serving.
