There are many things I pray for regarding local churches.
I was thinking about the people in local churches and praying about them today, and I wanted to journal some thoughts before I forgot them, and to elicit feedback.
Obviously there are many biblical ways to pray for the people in local churches, such as praying that people in local churches would grow in holiness, unity, love, and delight in God above all things.
Yet, I have been thinking about the reality that the Christian life is both individual and corporate, and how to best pray for people in local churches to have a healthy perspective and balance of both of these aspects. Here are some thoughts and prayers so far:
1) I am praying for less “ME” men and women in local churches. I suspect that in our American, individualistic culture, I need to pray for this a LOT more. For many of us, ME is the center of the universe. We look for churches and ministries that cater to ME. We make decisions based on ME, what would be best for ME, what happens to fit MY life situation best (whether it is moving to a new area, taking a new job, pursuing a certain vocation or ministry. etc). We often view Christianity solely in individualistic terms, where the “corporate” church’s role is primarily to affirm and support ME. For example, many people who think they are “called” to ministry, simply assume that the local church’s role is to “rubber stamp” the ME desire and perspective, where ME makes a decision and simply informs the local church. In this mindset, ME rules, and the church is more seen as a cheerleader to ME or an afterthought to ME. So, I am praying for less “ME” men and women in local churches.
2) I am also praying for less “YES” men and women in local churches (using “yes men” as an idiom as is most commonly understood in our American culture at this point in history – we obviously pray for more church members to say yes to many things, like holiness, service, evangelism, missions – but the idiomatic expression of “yes men” refers to people who always say yes without thinking, and the motivation is often people-pleasing) Sadly, this is often the unbiblical extreme that many church leaders swing to as a response to so many “ME” people in the church. Many times leaders only want “yes men” to always say yes to whatever they want and desire, and to do it blindly. And people in the church, especially those who are prone to people-pleasing, will often become passive, just waiting for the leadership to state a need or a request, for them to blindly and mindlessly fill or follow. In this mindset and culture, Christianity is often solely viewed in corporate terms, where the individual becomes a mindless drone. And in reality, when this happens, the church is at worst like a cult and at best like an assembly-line factory, none of which are God’s design for the church. Now, to be clear, the church should be characterized by unity. But unity is not the same as uniformity. So, I am praying for less “YES” men and women in local churches.
3) I am praying for more “FAMILY-LOVING, FAMILY BUILDING” men and women in local churches. Churches need more individuals who think about how their actions or decisions affect not just themselves, but the family of God. For example, even if the timing is good for an “individual,” but it would be detrimental or not very beneficial at that moment for the family of God, it may not be a good decision. I am not saying that decisions always need to wait for the “perfect” timing for the family of God because there may never be an “ideal” time to leave, but instead of the family of God being an “afterthought or cheerleader,” I am praying that more individual Christians would recognize they are part of God’s family, and think actively how their actions would affect the family, not just them individually. Every time Scripture talks about individuals being gifted by the Holy Spirit, they are gifted for the building up of the family of God, the body of Christ. At the same time, churches and leaders must remember that there are a variety of gifts and different members of the family of God and body of Christ. Unity is not the same as uniformity.
So, while we want people to be characterized by LOVE regardless of their spiritual gifts, we don’t want people simply to be passive, just waiting for a need to come up so they can fill it in love. We want people to be characterized by LOVE for the family AND a proactive pursuit of using their gifts to actively build the family and build God’s Kingdom. We want people with different perspectives and gifts and strengths to ask questions (not just be mindless “yes men”). We want them to ask question not to be divisive, but because they love the family and they may see or notice something we didn’t. They may have ideas and suggestions that we never thought of that are better. We don’t want “yes-men,” we want family-loving, family-building people willing to think and pray and work with us for the good of the family. We also want people to actively think about and pray about how to exercise all of their variety of gifts from the Spirit for the good of the entire family of God and the spread of the Gospel to all the nations. I am praying for individual Christians to think less about themselves and more about others and the corporate family of God, desiring to love the family and build the family. I am also praying for the family of God to recognize, celebrate, and encourage the diversity of gifts given to individual Christians, so that as individual Christians flourish in their gifts for the building up of the family of God, the entire family is benefited. I am praying for more FAMILY-LOVING, FAMILY BUILDING men and women in local churches.
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