Becoming a Praying Community

Prayer, in our sanctuary

This evening at Redeemer many who have been taking my 6-week Spiritual Formation course will come to our sanctuary. We'll spend time in small groups sharing, with the question "What did God say to you in these past weeks?" being our focus.

I anticipate that the small group sharing will be lively. And encouraging. Tonight we'll be spurring each other on in the life of prayer and encountering God. I expect God to be speaking to a number of people this evening.

Notice the word "common" in "community." "With unity." With one voice. What we'll have in common are things like:

• Spending much time actually praying.
• Hearing from God.
• Meditating on Psalm 23 and John 14-15-16.
• Being formed and transformed by God's Spirit.

The sharing will circle around these things.

For me it's like this. If we all went to see an excellent movie, then went out for dinner afterwards, we'd be talking about our shared experience. Everyone would have a say in this; no one would be left out. This is authentic "fellowship," if the word can be taken to mean something like "a group of fellows in the same ship."

To me it works like this.
- Pray alone
- Come together in small groups and share and pray together
- Worship together in a large group
- Pray alone
- Come together in small groups and share and pray together
- Worship together in a large group
- Pray alone
- and so on and on and on...

Let this thing build into your life, this movement from solitude to community and back to solitude and then again to community, focused on prayer, the biblical text, hearing from God, obedience, spiritual fruit-bearing, and meta-morphing into Christlikeness.

Let "church" be defined by this kind of inner movement.

From these inner circles move outward into the world.

That's how I am viewing the idea of "Church," and what I desire to be part of.