Church on a Hill

Every week after the worship set, volunteers with wireless microphones would scramble around the room to the various raised hands in the congregation of about 400 people for "prayer time." Congregants would share about sick people they knew, sick people someone they knew knew, and injured people they heard about from a friend or family member. Once, during this prayer time, we heard about a family from another country who was in a terrible accident while visiting another state that someone had heard about somehow. Sometimes, there were praises shared. People would share that the sick person they knew was recovering, that they had recently gotten engaged, or that they would soon become a grandparent.

More than once, prayer requests or praises were shared about the weather, its mild pattern, and the usual amount of rain. Each time someone wanted to pray about precipitation, I was reminded of the church my family attended during my high school years. Located in the crusty dusty part of West Texas, cacti spring up along the roadside, and wild-west tumbleweeds blow across the landscape regularly. But our church spent years praying for rain. They made pins to wear that said “Pray for Rain” and held special prayer meetings to beg God for more rain. The church crumbled the year after I graduated high school, and the building still stands empty today. There were likely many things the congregation should have been praying for. But, the greatest concern they had was that God would change the weather. As a teen, I always wondered why people who craved rain so much chose to live in a climate like West Texas, which received average rainfall during those years. If they moved to Seattle and eventually got sick of the rain, would they hold special prayer meetings to ask God for sunshine? Part of me thinks they would.

Back at Church on a Hill, the prayer request sharing ended, and a church member prayed over the congregation. The prayer typically began with thanksgiving for the gathering of God’s people and moved into asking God to heal the sick believers in the church and the sick people that someone in the church knew or heard about. The church members were prayed for, loved, and encouraged by this prayer time. But something was missing.

Grace Church

Each week, one of the church's elders would lead the congregation in prayer. The prayer always began with praise and adoration, referencing a Psalm or other passage of Scripture as a worshipful prayer.

The elders prayed for the country in which we lived, earnestly asking God for wisdom, discernment, and blessings for those in political power. They prayed for the lost in our community and asked that God would use His church powerfully to reach many for Christ.

When they moved into prayers of supplication, the elders prayed that joblessness, loss, sickness, injury, persecution, and various trials would lead believers into steadfastness of faith and deeper spiritual maturity. While they prayed for healing and provision, they prayed foremost for the spiritual growth and development of the believer through trials.

The Biblical Pattern of Prayer

When my husband receives orders to a new location, one of our first tasks is finding a home. Our priority is a sound structure. After that priority has been met, we can enjoy the fun part of house hunting. As seasoned DIY enthusiasts, we love to buy a house and transform almost every surface of its interior to match our taste and style. But we cannot neglect the priority. If we buy a house with a failing roof or a collapsing foundation and replace the countertops, add beautiful light fixtures, and paint all the walls, we have accomplished nothing. The house will not serve our needs if it fails to stand.

The apostles’ instruction and encouragement to suffering or struggling believers reveal the priority of prayer. When James, the brother of Jesus, wrote to persecuted believers, he began his letter with instructions on how to strengthen their faith in the midst of trials. I’m sure the readers of James’ letter prayed for protection and relief from their persecution. However, their wise spiritual teacher led them to focus on something more important. He wanted them to persevere, to consider it a joy to be united with Christ in suffering, and to ask God for the wisdom they needed to have this perspective. The apostles address suffering by addressing the spiritual foundation, the healthy maturation, and perseverance of the saints. They teach us that praying for the relief of suffering without first praying that the believer will grow to be more like Christ through the suffering is like painting the walls of a house in a sinkhole.

While Church on a Hill prioritized prayer for physical healing and situational blessing, and my high school church prayed for weather patterns, they missed the opportunity to pray for the building up of mature believers. The elders at Grace Church prayed over our church body with the same focus as the apostles' prayers. Their prayers discipled the congregation. I learned about God’s plan for his church through those prayers. I learned how to pray for government leaders, not just the ones whose politics align with mine. I was reminded that, just as Christ suffered for the joy set before Him, we should look to the joy before us in our trials. I learned what it looks like to pray for suffering to build perseverance, and for perseverance to build godly character, and for character to build hope (Romans 5:3-4). I learned how to pray for the deepest needs of my brothers and sisters. The fruit of their prayers was evident in the spiritual transformation of the congregation. Our faith and hope were strengthened, our love for one another multiplied, and our church body grew.

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