In 2010 we were greatly encouraged and challenged by some talks that Jeremy Jennings, the past Director ofPrayer at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Brompton, London gave on the all important topic of Dynamic Prayer in the Local Church. Bishop Sandy Millar, a previous Vicar at HTB has said about Jeremy "Although prayer is essential and vital, it is a lesson that seems to take a very long time to learn. Jeremy Jennings has pioneered ways of making prayer meetings interesting and even "fun"."
Dynamic Prayer meetings are vital to the life of every local church and the church at large. We need to know
How can we learn to pray together?
How can we develop more effective prayer?
How can we make prayer meetings dynamic and enjoyable?
What could prayer accomplish in our church?
These talks were filmed at the Dynamic Prayer in the Local Church Conference at Holy Trinity Brompton.
At present we hold a combined Church Prayer Meeting for one hour from 8am to 9am on the first Saturday of the month.
Our aim has been to spend some time in worship and praise followed by guided prayer and intercession. Let us all make time to seek the Lord together and take up the challenge of prayer!
The Rector encourages anyone online to listen to a series of talks that the Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church in Australia, The Right Reverend David Jones, gave recently at a camp organised by the Willows Presbyterian Church. David gives very clear biblical exposition on this vital topic and also shares with his wife Ruth, the wonderful story of what God has done in Hobart amongst churches he has been involved with. Go to this link below and listen:
What: Time of Prayer for the City of Townsville which includes worship and a short devotion
When: Every Friday of School term @ 8:30am – 9:30am
Where: Anglican Church of Ascension, Corner Mill Dr & Fulham Rd Heatley
Who: Kingdom minded leaders of Churches, Mission Agencies, and Prayer Groups.
Contact: Reverend Matthew Bolte on 0437 559047.
How can we pray for the church today?
Howard Snyder gives us some pointers in his book
The Community of the King, IVP, 1978.
The genuine demonstration of Christian community is the first step toward accomplishing God’s cosmic plan. This is miracle, and miracle attracts.
The Church most transforms society when it is itself growing and being perfected in the love of Christ.
The task of the Church … and its place in God’s cosmic design is first of all genuinely to be the redeemed, messianic community, and secondly to do the works of God and carry on the works of Jesus. In truly being the community of Jesus’ disciples the Church commits itself to a pattern of corporate life and a way of relating to one another which is a rejection of, and therefore a challenge to, the social and political structures of the world. In this way the Church’s very existence becomes both prophetic and evangelistic.
Evangelism [in the book of Acts] was not merely something that individual Christians did; rather it was the natural result of the presence and influence of the Christian community in the world. The community gave credibility to the verbal proclamation.
The first task of every Christian is the edification of the community of believers. If we say that evangelism or soul winning is the first task of the believer, we do violence to the New Testament and place a burden on the backs of some believers that they are not able to bear. … [It] ignores the biblical teachings
[B]iblical evangelism must be church-based evangelism. … [T]he Church is both the agent and the goal of evangelism.
