“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.” (Philippians 4:6)
In an action-oriented world where we value progress and fast-paced results, I resonate with the phrase: “Let’s hit the ground running.” I often forget, though, how hard it actually is to literally “hit the ground running”. I remember when I was young that train doors could be opened before the train stopped at the station. For the more adventurously rushed, it was an opportunity to leap off the still moving train and “hit the ground running” to be first off and first out before the crowds blocked their way. I saw a few people try this only to fall heavily and be stopped in their tracks, often injured. It’s dangerous to hit the ground running! Instead, of a running start, perhaps we need a kneeling start, a considering commencement, a prayerful beginning. In fact, we need a prayerful beginning, prayerful middle and prayerful end, don’t we? We need to kneel before we run. I’ve been encouraged recently as I get glimpses of the prayer life in our churches and amongst our regions. A prayerful posture is something that wells up from a deep place of reliance on God and relationship with him. At this time in our movement, as much as ever, we need that deep reliance and relationship expressed through prayer. Particularly as we continue on a journey about Affiliation, Baptist Values and Marriage, we need to hear from God, listen to one another and move forward graciously, carefully, compassionately and in ways which honour Christ. So, we want to provide a few opportunities you and your churches may wish to use as tools to pray.
- Let’s Pray Together – a quarterly prayer calendar emailed out to you to assist you to pray into issues across our movement. To sign up to receive the Spring Edition of Let’s Pray Together please go to the Communication Preferences section of the Association’s website (click here) and tick the box for “Prayer and Intercession”.
- Intercessors – a group of people committed to pray for our movement as we continue our journey about Affiliation, Baptist Values and Marriage. We want to support the Way Forward Consultants in prayer and ask for continued guidance from God for everyone and every church in this process. To sign up to be part of the Intercessor group, please click here.
- Prayer Nights – a monthly 45-minute prayer opportunity on Zoom in the three months leading up to both our November and May Assemblies. The first one will be 7.45pm to 8.30pm on Thursday 17th You can register by clicking here.
Please continue to pray for your leaders, pastors, churches, regions and movement.
