Sully Notes Special | 13 Marks of a Faithful Missional Church – Mark 3 of 13

Mark 3 – A Church Devoted to Communal Prayer – of 13 Marks of a Faithful Missional Church in the 21st Century American West  

Sully Notes are meant to provide you with direct quotes from some books I've read in the last year, so you can get a taste of the overall theme of the book and then begin to chew on what your life might look like if you applied what you read.

This series of special Notes are touching on a subject growing in recognition and discussion within the 21st century American church. What is the missional church? Is it something we do or who we are? What does a church look like that is living out the mission of God in their cultural context? How does a church remain faithful to the good news of Jesus, the Spirit of God, the Scriptures, the church throughout human history and around the world, and the mission of God that the church is called to join, while also meeting the questions, needs, and desires of the people God is sending us to in the cultures and contexts we live in today? I have found no better book to answer these questions than in Michael Goheen's A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story. 

For these 13 posts, my goal is to share the final chapter of the book – Chapter 9: What Might This Look Like Today – with you. In this chapter, Goheen shares from his pastoral and professional experience in answering the question, "Ten Things I'd Do Differently if I Pastored Again." The list grew from ten to a lucky thirteen. I think all thirteen are essential for considering how Emmaus City will be a faithful church for our city – Worcester, MA. 

Each blog post will feature one mark that will take about 5 minutes to read. Here is the full list featuring links to the previous posts:

• Mark 1: A Church with Worship That Nurtures Our Missional Identity
• Mark 2: A Church Empowered by the Preaching of the Gospel
• Mark 3: A Church Devoted to Communal Prayer
• Mark 4: A Church Striving to Live as a Contrast Community
• Mark 5: A Church That Understands Its Cultural Context
• Mark 6: A Church Trained for a Missionary Encounter in Its Callings in the World
• Mark 7: A Church Trained to Evangelism in an Organic Way
• Mark 8: A Church Deeply Involved in the Needs of Its Neighborhood and World
• Mark 9: A Church Committed to Missions
• Mark 10: A Church with Well-Trained Leaders
• Mark 11: A Church with Parents Trained to Take Up the Task of Nurturing Children in Faith
• Mark 12: A Church with Small Groups That Nurture for Mission in the World
• Mark 13: A Church That Seeks and Expresses the Unity of the Body of Christ

Mark 3: A Church Devoted to Communal Prayer 

"Quite simply, the church that does not learn to pray fervently and corporately will never become a truly missional church. I am convinced of the 'supreme importance of corporate prayer if the ingrown fellowship is to recover New Testament normalcy.' We may build a large crowd of excited Christians with slick marketing techniques and attractive programming, but this will not necessarily be a community that embodies the power of the gospel. There is nothing glamorous or novel here; prayer is central to the mission of the church because it is God's mission. We know this, yet our humanistic penchant is to rely on our own resources and plan more quickly than we pray. Somehow we must break the power of this idolatry and really believe that it is God's mission.

Three images have helped me grasp the importance of prayer for the mission of the church. The first is John Calvin's image of prayer as a shovel that digs up the hidden and buried treasures pointed out by the gospel. All the facets and benefits of Christ's salvation are given to us – individually and communally – by the work of the Spirit as we dig them up by prayer. Following Calvin, the Heidelberg Catechism says that 'prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness that God requires of us' and then makes the astounding statement that 'God gives his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who pray continually and grown inwardly, asking God for these gifts and thank him for them.'

The second is Andrew Murray's military image of a strategic position. A strategic position is a place on the battlefield that must be taken and held at all costs if one is to win a battle. For example, Wellington recognized the formidable foe he faced in Napoleon and believed that taking and holding a farmhouse located strategically on the field of battle was the key to winning. He directed his forces accordingly, took and held it, and as a result was able to prevail. The strategic position of prayer must be taken and held in our spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:18-20) if we are not to be taken by the spirits of our culture.

Finally, C. John Miller speaks of frontline prayer as opposed to maintenance prayer. Maintenance prayer is designed simply to maintain the existing life of the church. A frontline prayer meeting longs for God to act in life-changing ways, believes he can, and so confidently expects change, praying fervently for his mighty work.

These kinds of prayer times must be shaped with enormous patience and humility, but also great intentionality. The most important ingredient will be leaders who learn to pray themselves and lead by example. Much prayer is turned inward on our own needs but also lacks any expectation that God will do anything anyway. Thus prayer becomes mechanical and routine. Often it lacks centrality and time in our worship services, missional community gatherings, or leadership meetings. Leaders who want to set the pace can do so by prioritizing prayer, setting aside good amounts of time for it, and modeling prayer that is expectant and outward looking in corporate times of worship and missional community gatherings.

It would be easy to see our prayerlessness as simply a weakness. Murray underscores this danger when he says that prayerlessness is 'looked upon merely as a weakness. There is so much talk about lack of time, and all sorts of distractions, that the deep guilt of the situation is not recognized.' A healthy life of prayer in the church begins with confession, naming our lack of prayer for what it is – sin – and finding forgiveness and renewal." – pgs. 207-208 

Tomorrow's post: 13 Marks of a Faithful Missional Church – Mark 4 of 13: A Church Striving to Live as a Contrast Community 

– Sully

 
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