“HOME ALONE” at prayer?

We all ask this same question, Is corporate prayer
important? Is corporate prayer more powerful than an individual praying alone
at home?
What is our answer? Corporate prayer is an important part of the
life of the church, along with worship, sound doctrine, communion, and
fellowship. The early church met regularly to learn the doctrine of the
apostles, break bread, and pray together (Acts 2:42). When we pray together
with other believers, the effects can be very positive. Corporate prayer
edifies and unifies us as we share our common faith. The same Holy Spirit who
dwells within each believer causes our hearts to rejoice as we hear praises to
our Lord and Saviour, as I watch the
early church in Acts, I am positive the knitting together of Christians old and
new creates a unique bond of fellowship found nowhere else in life, I am sure.
To those who may be alone and struggling with life’s
burdens, to those who may be angry with the church, to those who feel hurt, to
those who feel an injustice has been dealt to them and treated unfairly,
hearing others lift them up to the throne of grace can be a great
encouragement. It also builds in us love and concern for others as we intercede
for them, care for them and love them as Jesus loves us. At the same time,
corporate prayer will only be a reflection of the hearts of the individuals who
participate. We are to come to God in humility (James 4:10), truth (Psalm
145:18), obedience (1 John 3:21-22), with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6) and
confidence (Hebrews 4:16). Sadly, corporate prayer can also become a platform
for those whose words are directed not to God, but to their hearers. Jesus
warned against such behaviour in Matthew 6:5-8 where he exhorts us not to be
showy, long-winded, or hypocritical in our prayers, but to pray secretly in our
own rooms in order to avoid the temptation of using prayer hypocritically.
There is nothing in Scripture to suggest that corporate prayers
are “more powerful” than individual prayers in the sense of moving the hand of
God. We need to hear this and ponder this truth, far too many Christians equate
prayer with “getting things from God,” and group prayer becomes mainly an
occasion to recite a shopping list of our wants. Biblical prayers, however, are
multi-faceted, encompassing the whole of the desire to enter into conscious and
intimate communion with our holy, perfect, and righteous God. That such a God
would bend an ear to His creatures causes praise and adoration to pour forth in
abundance (Psalm 27:4; 63:1-8), produces heartfelt repentance and confession
(Psalm 51, Luke 18:9-14), generates an outpouring of gratitude and thanksgiving
(Philippians 4:6; Colossians 1:12), and creates sincere intercessory pleas on
behalf of others (2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2:16).
Prayer, then, is cooperating with God to bring about His
plan, not trying to bend Him to our will. As we abandon our own desires in
submission to the One who knows our circumstances far better than we ever could
and who “knows what you need before you ask” (Matthew 6:8), our prayers reach
their highest level. Prayers offered in submission to the Divine will,
therefore, are always answered positively, whether offered by one person or a thousand.

The idea that corporate prayers are more likely to move the
hand of God comes largely from a misinterpretation of Matthew 18:19-20; “Again,
I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it
will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come
together in my name, there am I with them.” These verses come from a larger
passage which addresses the procedures to be followed in the case of church
discipline of a sinning member. To interpret them as promising believers a
blank check for anything they might agree to ask God for, no matter how sinful
or foolish, not only does not fit the context of church discipline, but it
denies the rest of Scripture, especially the sovereignty of God.
In addition, to believe that when “two or three are
gathered” to pray, some kind of magical power boost is automatically applied to
our prayers is not biblically supportable. Of course Jesus is present when two
or three pray, but He is equally present when one believer prays alone, even if
that person is separated from others by thousands of miles.
Let us be clear, when we come together as the family of
believers at BCBC in corporate prayer is important because it creates unity
(John 17:22-23), and is a key aspect of believers’ encouraging one another (1
Thessalonians 5:11) and spurring one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews
10:24).
HOME ALONE at individual prayer in your house is good, Jesus says so, to be
in Gods House in prayer with others is good, Jesus says so.
Let us spend some together sitting at the feet of Jesus; listening,
praying, being quiet, being at worship, we have the opportunity to be together
as family on the 20th at BCBC

Bless you all

Martin

Relevant, Robust, Revived.
Aware, Appreciate, Associate.
Church, Christian, Community.

The March 25th service was a great opportunity to share with you all the “RAC@BCBC” strategy. The strategy has an interesting story in itself. For about three years now, I have walked with “Relevant, Robust, Revived” calling it the “3 R’s” for the church, not knowing there was more to come. My experience with Street Pastors, showed me why God had revealed the first part of RAC to me as I could see it in action. Street Pastors is such a RELEVANT initiative for our times, serving and showing the community as well as the Christians that faith works, which in the process made some timid Christians “ROBUST” in their faith which in turn REVIVED not only the strength of the Christian and in turn their Churches but the admiration of the Civic and Statutory authorities along with the night scene public, and so we started School Pastors on the request of Police and Council.

The Church moved from a problem area of concern in the corridors of the decision makers in Bexley to one of looking at the church as a “Borough Asset”. Clearly this pointed the way for me to recognise that the “Jesus way” is the “Best way”, and you can hear Bart Simpson say “DOH!!”

Asking the Jesus way “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51) is, I believe, the way into the hearts of the community, and delivering what they need. Jose and I took a break, we got a nice deal in a nice hotel for a weekend. Whilst sitting in a nice peaceful conservatory reading “Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf, which is a book of theological exploration of identity, otherness and reconciliation, a book I was asked to read before going on to a BU ministers conference, that RAC hit me, and I wrote down the three “A’s” and the three “C’s” and there I had it, God given, God illustrated and God prompted. I shared it with Jose, I was so full in my explanation of “ RAC” that she asked how long I had been thinking about it, and I said, “it just came to me, sitting here, reading this book and drinking this coffee”, I explained it as though I had been working it through for years, and of course I had, but in His guidance and in His leading, without knowing, but now He explained it all to me in a moment! It was Jose who defined it “RAC, Gods breakdown service for the church” Clever girl.

When Jose said it, to me, it meant how God has broken it all down so it is easy to remember, easy to understand, easy to say, easy to follow, and I like “easy”. I like that old saying “K.I.S.S” (Keep it simple, Stupid) God knows me so well. It also showed me that God waited to show me the rest of RAC until there was somewhere to plant it, somewhere to seed RAC into a church, into His saints, into a community. We all now know He chose Blackheath and Charlton Baptist Church.
So there we have it , what I believe is our way forward together in RAC@BCBC. However, how do we find what the local community need? A community survey is one way. Another is to deal initially with issues which already divide and damage families. The 4 national problems are:

1. Debt,
2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse,
3. The Internet
4. Parenting Skills

Let us dream a little. What impact would BCBC have in our local community if they started to see their local church dealing with their issues as families of the 21st century. What impact would BCBC have if we sent an invitation to Mums and Daughters to come to BCBC, to hear where there is help for their daughters to make Sex, Drug and Alcohol free decisions in their life, to come to BCBC where gifted speakers, personal testimonies and give- aways, such as pamphlets, helpful web sites, useful help-lines all with one aim, equipping them to live a more fulfilled responsible life. What impact would BCBC have if we invited fathers and Sons along to “Young Men of 21st century” where we have corporate man explain how hard work and reputation pays off? Let them hear about “Data Mining” a whole new way companies look at the Internet to see what prospective employees have put out into the WorldWideWeb, about themselves, and see their personal photos on Face Book, or other social networks sites which gives them a better perspective of who this young man/women really are. This might compliment the interview of blow their chances of employment out of the water. The technology is out there to "mine" "Cloud sites" and data about anyone!! Companies are mushrooming to help companies choose who to employ. So pictures and comments made when a teenager can haunt you when you leave university, college or Sixth Form. Big Brother is here!
There is much we can do, all to show them we care and we are:

Your church for Your community" (YC4YC).

You will of course notice that I like initials, acrostics and catchy phrases. Mostly because they are easy to remember, but also it saves typing out whole titles all of the time.

So to clarify, we want to reach our local community and beyond, so they come to know BCBC as YC4YC through RAC@BCBC, (I have just saved three lines of typing and you all know what we are about)
The process for YC4YC is to become R’d, so as the community become A’d and together we will become closer by all being C’d All to His glory and all so as Jesus can meet this community and enter their lives. Alleluia!

A NOTE FOR US ALL: My daughter introduced us to FreeCycle, it is new to us. We had a dining room table and chairs plus a coffee table and a glass cabinet and bedroom cabinet which I would have taken to the dump. FreeCycle is a website set up to help those who are putting a home together on a small budget, they can get some more use out of any furniture we have finished with and are replacing. Please consider this useful way of moving furniture on, and helping others. http://uk.freecycle.org/
Blessings
Martin

TO PRAY FOR THIS WEEK:

Please Pray For our church building, our dear old church is in need of attention, some TLC will need to be undertaken over our next year. Pray for plans to be put in place.

Please Pray: For the £40,000 needed for immediate works on the building.

Please Pray: For the Elders meeting on the 8th May.
Please Pray For The Bluecoat School. They are reeling from the news that two of their pupils have been found guilty of causing the death of a student in Upper Wickham Lane Welling last year, one was guilty of murder and the other of manslaughter. Pray for all families involved, pray for the students who knew the boys as they come to terms with consequences of actions.
Please pray : For nominations and elections of deacons

Please continue to Pray for BCBC,s relationship with the school through Rev Liz Newman, School Chaplain. I had a very good meeting with Liz on 30th April and we have set plans to partner in some initiatives to have a more positive impact on the students self esteem and cmmunity involvement.

Please continue to Pray: As Jose and I prepare to move from our home to the manse on the 24th May. Please pray for Jose as she will be project manager for our move, nothing more than the move, she has her hands full with me, and pray that I will be a good assistant to Jose as she directs the action for throwing out stuff. Please pray for Jose as she chooses what we keep and what we throw away, as I am a hoarder and struggle with throwing anything away.

Please continue to Pray for Jose as she sends me to the dump and that I do not bring anything back from the dump, Lord give me strength and wisdom to unload our stuff!!!

Please continue to Pray for us as prepare to move. We have lived in Bexley all of our married lives, so far!



TO CONTACT MARTIN:


e mail: revmartinbcbc@gmail.com Tel: H:01322 430313 M:07941 092394