March 31, 2000

Dear Body Member,

Greetings in Jesus' name.

Last Sunday, in the light of the letters of resignation from both the Senior and Youth Pastors, which were read in the morning service, Cindy Sawyer led those available after the Sunday School sessions in a time of prayer. She did this as a Prayer Committee member and former Prayer Coordinator in the current Coordinator's absence. Many expressed their appreciation for this time of meditation and prayer.

For the past three months the Prayer Committee has been discussing how we can, in our church, solve the problem, created by the trend in evangelical churches across North America in the past thirty years, of down-grading their prayer ministries. No wonder our churches have so little impact on our society. "The church must proceed on its knees" is more than a slogan. It was our hope that we could see some new approaches to prayer in our church that would give a new emphasis and priority to prayer, and yet not burden our people with extra meetings during the week. The plan basically was to have presented some of these to the congregation in time to have them in place by the fall.

The events of the last week seem to make instituting some of this emphasis now quite urgent. In the midst of special needs we must seek God's face together, as a body. Christ is building His church, it is not we or the church leaders. "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." We must come to Him in a new way, in united prayer, if our church is not to succumb to the dangers involved when a church is changing pastoral leadership. Jesus, as He drove out the money changers from the temple, said, "My house shall be called a House of Prayer..." We need to be a people of prayer. "The work of God IS the work of GOD!" Thus, because of the special needs the church has right now, we are proposing that there be an all church prayer meeting at 12 o'clock noon each Sunday during the month of April (with the possible exception of Easter Sunday). This will give us an opportunity to assess how this time, and approach, is being received by our people, and give opportunity for feed back. It will also get us underway in a new approach to united prayer for the church as we go into this stage of our church's history -- a stage every church must experience from time to time. We need to bathe that process, and our leaders, in prayer as we look to the future.

We heartily encourage our people to make these prayer meetings a priority. Too long have we relied on a few to carry this burden which needs to be carried by us all.

See you Sunday! (And remember to change your clocks.)

Bob Chapman, Prayer Coordinator