The church needs to be healthy!
I’m in the midst of writing a series of prayers for the Church. Each week, I’m praying about a different topic. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, and hope.
Too often, churches are spiritually unhealthy. Some are even toxic. Certainly, the church should attract unhealthy people—the least, the lost, the last, the lonely—but Jesus makes broken people whole. In other words, we should become more mature!
People who stop growing in Christ become bitter. As someone once said, people have a tendency to “sit, soak, and sour.” And when enough people in a church become sour, the church becomes unhealthy.
O God, thank you for new birth and new life in Christ. Thank you, that in Christ, all things become new and old ways are put behind us!
But too often, Lord, we allow the old ways to resurface. Somewhere along the journey of becoming more and more like Christ, we settle. Then we sit, soak, and sour.
Forgive us for dishonoring you. Forgive us for losing the love we had for you at first. Please draw us back to you and help us rediscover our relationship with you!
Restore health to your Church. Let your Church be a witness to the world that you restore broken lives. Let your Church show the world that you make spiritually sick people well!
Empower spiritually healthy people to stop allowing unhealthy practices like gossip, slander, or sowing discord, to continue in their midst. Give us courage to confront spiritually unhealthy people.
Where the Church is unhealthy, do what you need to do to restore health. Awaken what sleeps. Revive what is dead. Remove what is in the way.
You sent Jesus to rescue us from sin. The healthier we are, the more effective your Church will be in the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world! Amen.