Our churches have powerful music, powerful equipment, powerful social media reach, powerful preaching, powerful history, etc., etc. All of this is nothing with the power of God. It’s God’s power that turns hearts and opens the eyes of unbelievers. It’s God’s power that opens doors into our communities. It’s God’s power that multiplies the gifts of people for radical service and generosity. This weekend our church prayed through five areas in church life where we need God’s power and that make us powerful together. Pray these for your church:

1. UNITY OF MISSION AND PURPOSE – “that they all be one…” This was Jesus’ prayer for the church in John 17:21. And he tied it to the mission and power of the church when he said “so that the world may believe.” Powerful churches are united in purpose and mission. Pray for Unity among believers and unity of mind and purpose in your local body.

2. MATURITY AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH – “I pray that… he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” In this prayer in Ephesians 3:16-18, Paul linked power and spiritual growth as he prayed for the church. A church is known by God and will be known by the community by the lives of its growing disciples. Pray for maturity and spiritual growth among believers in your church.  

3. PASSION FOR THE LOST – A powerful church will have a passion for the lost. Paul makes this statement regarding the lost in his community – “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation” Romans 10:1. He went on to say that he would be willing to forfeit his own salvation if they may be saved. This is the kind of passion that lit the fire of evangelism that changed the world. Pray that your church will have a passion, burden for the lost. 

4. LEADERS AND LABORERS – Jesus asked us to join him in praying for laborers in Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:2. In many of our churches, the 80-20 principle (20% of the people, do 80% of the work) has given way to the 90-10 or 95-5 principle. And with still millions of people without access to the gospel, we desperately need to pray with Jesus for laborers for the harvest.

5. ONE ANOTHER – One of the 44 commands that include the phrase “one another” in the New Testament is the command to “pray for one another” James 5:16. A powerful church is a praying church. Our prayer list and our prayer meetings should be filled with prayer for those around us. As we pray for each other we feel invested in the growth and health of each others lives. This helps us grow deeper in our love and concern for each other. And as we see God work in answer to our prayers, we grow more convinced of God’s power and that others need to experience what we’ve found in Christ and in the fellowship of believers.

A powerful church is a praying church that is unified, maturing, passionate for the lost, developing leaders, and putting the needs of others first.