Why Are Prayer Meetings Dying?

I once heard a visiting pastor said that if you want to determine the spirituality of a church, don't go to its Sunday worship service. Instead, drop by at its prayer meeting. There's a lot of truth in this. At the same time, I've heard many pastors lamenting the low turnout at their church prayer meetings. But I've yet to hear a pastor asking the honest question - why?

Not too long ago, a friend of mine told me about his pastor who was addressing lay-leaders in his church. The pastor claimed that members of his church had lost their first love for God. The pastor went on to expound Revelations chapter 2 to prove his point. How did that pastor arrive at that conclusion? Simply because members of the church are no longer interested in the many conferences & seminars organised by the pastor. I suppose the pastor of that church was unfamiliar with the word - "Heresy".

In that same church, attendance at its prayer meetings has been dropping rapidly. The pastor's prediction that the current recession in the country will drive more people to church, especially to its prayer meetings didn't bear fruit. Instead, more people are keeping away. Why?

Having joined my friend for a few of its prayer meetings, it's not difficult to see why members of the church are keeping away from its prayer meetings. On the few evenings I was there, the bulk of the time was spent in praying for the pastor's pet conferences & seminars that he had organised. All I heard was the pastor's agenda & programs. If anyone had a need, the prayer meeting was certainly the wrong meeting in that church to go to.

I asked my friend whether since the recession started a year ago, did the leadership/pastor of the church ever held a prayer meeting to pray for its members? He replied "No." As with the prayer meetings that I've attended, the prayer items have always been the pastor's conferences & seminars. The pastor himself had not visited anyone of its members who had lost his/her job or home, to date.

This church is no pushover. It's a popular, charismatic church with a big reputation in town. If there was one thing I've learnt in life, it's in knowing the difference between having a reputation & having character. Your reputation is what people know of you. Your character is what God & angels know of you. No doubt the pastor of that church was a very nice guy. Having big conferences & speakers with big names will certainly help a church to build up an awesome reputation, but its character may still be found wanting.

Looking at that church & the many so-called mega-churches around the country, it's not hard to see why prayer meetings are dying even in these mega-churches. Needs are not met, the sick & wounded are not healed. When the pastor is not asking for more money to build bigger barns, its about the pastor's agenda. The members are like sheep without a shepherd. The pastors are no longer shepherds, but hired hands.

An evangelist once said, if God was to withdraw the Holy Spirit from the early church, 90% of its work will come to a halt. Today, if God was to do likewise, in most churches 90% of the work will go on. It's no longer about God, it's all about the pastor's agenda & programs. Therefore, is it any wonder that prayer meetings are dying in many churches? I think not.

Charles Darwin, Evolution and the Anglican Church

Over the last weekend we read about the Anglican Church, aka the Church of England organizing several events related to Charles Darwin & the Theory of Evolution. While the news media were quick to report about these events, the news media were unaware that for a long time, the Anglican Church no longer speak for Christians & Christianity around the world.

Firstly, the western world is no longer regarded as the epitome of Christianity. Neither North America nor Europe are regarded as the Christian World anymore. The biggest & fastest growing churches today are not in North America or Europe. They are in Asia, Africa & South America. To Christians in these three continents, Christianity is already dying in North America & Europe, especially in the United Kingdom. The days of great scholars like Michael Green & James Ian Packer are gone. The Anglican Church today is a joke.

So when news filtered out that the Anglican Church were organizing the said events, the churches in Asia, Africa & South America didn't even blinked. The Christian Faith has been reduced to nothing more than organized religion in the Anglican Church. To many Christians, the Anglican Church is already in advanced stage of rigor mortis.

The story of the Church in Asia, Africa & South America is written in the blood, sweat & tears of its people. In Asia, there is not single country that could be labeled as a Christian country. The Christian Faith is often planted with the blood of its missionaries & leaders in these places. It's not uncommon that imprisonment & persecution is the price Christians in Asia, Africa & South America pay for their belief. Christianity is cheap in the western world.

Today, many countries in these three continents are developed countries. Christians here don't share not care to compromised their Faith unlike those in the West. Respected men & women of science in many countries don't subscribe to the Theory of Evolution. They don't feel the need to buy in into this theory to be good & competent professionals in the world of science & technology. They are not prepared to sell-out their Faith.

The strangest development surrounding Charles Darwin is that some of supporters are now claiming that Charles Darwin was an abolitionist, an activist working against slavery in the UK. Nothing could be further from the truth. This sounds more like a PR exercise to remake Charles Darwin as a respected man of science. If Charles Darwin was passionate about his abolitionist stand, there is not as much a sentence about it in all his letters or books.

In fact, Charles Darwin had a personal dislike for William Wilberforce, the abolitionist & British MP who helped to end the slave trade in the British Empire. In addition, when Charles Darwin was in New Zealand, he expressed his disgust & contempt for the local natives, calling them savages needing training in civilization. So much for his compassion for African slaves. Charles Darwin was very much a bigoted racist.

Gay-Rights Hypocrites Attack Pastor Rick Warren

Passing themselves off to be liberals and free folks, the gay-rights movement renewed their attacks against pastor Rick Warren after the inauguration of president Barack Obama. Hypocritical to the core, jaundiced with malice and prejudice, the attack dogs of the gay-rights movement set about to attack pastor Rick Warren, who to date had refused to defend himself.

Thankfully, pastor Rick Warren gave no quarters nor compromised his prayer. After all, he was praying for the office of the president and for America. Not everything in America is about the self-centered gay-rights movement. The gay-rights movement is about division, not unity. It is an "I-me-mine-myself" organism.

When hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, it was the churches that were the first responders. It was not the gay-rights movement. Likewise, time and time again, Christians have been one of the first to respond when America was in dire need. Not gays, not lesbians. But the deception goes on to show that the gay-rights movement is the core of American values and history. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Christians have nothing to be ashamed off in this country. Christians are the true liberals of America. Well said, well done pastor Rick Warren. Do not let the turkeys get you down. You have done the Kingdom of Heaven proud.

Barack Obama, Rick Warren and the Gay Fascist Movement

I was surprised to read about the Gay Movement whipping up a storm just because the senior pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, was going to speak & pray at president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

Personally, I have nothing against people such as gays if they are wired differently from the rest of us. I have friends who are definitely gay.

Pastor Rick Warren never said that he was going to preach against gays and lesbians during the inauguration. Yet, the Gay Movement were the ones who cast the first stone.

The Movement have proven that they are not just about equal rights or even human rights. The Movement is nothing more than a fascist movement, trampling down anyone who happens to disagree with them, very much like a bunch of Nazis.

In attacking pastor Rick Warren, the Gay Movement have demonstrated that they are no better than a bunch of playground bullies.

It is unfortunate that president-elect Barack Obama had chosen to give in to this fascist movement so early in his term. In offering Bishop Robinson a platform, president-elect Barack Obama had nullify the relevance of God and Christianity in America.

President George W. Bush compromised with the religious right-wingers and disgraced the Faith. Now, president-elect Barack Obama had disgraced the Faith by selling out to the Gay Fascist Movement.

Perhaps there is no God in America after all.

The Church of God Today

One cannot help but notice the different directions which the Church is taking today. On one hand, the smaller churches are gearing up for world missions & evangelism. The training & the care ministered to their members is heart warming. On the other hand, the larger churches are stuck in the comfort zone. With a larger congregation & deeper pockets, missions means nothing more than sending a check off to the nearest para-church group or mission organization.

While the smaller churches focus on character building & mutual care & support among its members, the larger churches are caught up with the physical appearance of its buildings & facilities. Limited resources are forcing smaller churches to dig deeper within, to strengthen its foundations. For the larger churches, its about appearance & what looks good on paper.

In times of personal tragedy, members of a smaller church would gather around, to comfort & support a family in distress. In a larger church, one would be expected to sign up for some sort of grief management sessions. Troubled, married Christian couples have been turned away often enough because the pastor has more important things to attend to. The human touch is gone. The pastor is no longer a shepherd but a program manager.

There's a saying in the business world - “take care of your staff & they'll take care of your business.” The fastest growing churches today are those which are doing exactly that. They've a New Testament - Pentecostal attitude towards their members. They're not those with massive buildings & other properties. After all, Jesus did say the world will know that we're his disciples if we've love for one for another.

A Modern Pastor’s Prayer

Dear Lord, thanks for the wonderful service this Sunday. The pews were full & the offering was good. I’m equally delighted that our $2 million, new sound systems worked out so well. I’m sure even the big MTV bosses in Hollywood will feel right at home here in our little, humble church.

Thank you for the new costumes for our choir members. How can I forget? Now our choir is the only choir in town to wear a designer’s label. We’ll be so proud to show them off this Christmas on national television. Oh yes Lord, thank you for the grand piano too. Our choir is now complete.

Dear Lord, thank you for the wonderful testimony by Mr. Moneybin about how you’ve provided a new sports car for his dear wife & a summer vacation in the Bahamas for them. I hope & pray that his wonderful testimony will inspire our fellow members in church to expect great things from you.

But Lord we do have problems. Ever since that Pastor Revival spoke at our church last month about reaching out to the neighborhood for you, some of our members have started bringing single mothers, gang bangers, ex-cons, hookers & crackheads of all sorts, to the church. This is a real headache for me.

I know, dear Lord, our members have very good intentions but these new “visitors” are upsetting the ambience of your holy sanctuary. Who knows, some of them may even be HIV positive? Last Friday, our Elder, Mr. Compromise, who is normally very tolerant of things, took up the issue with me.

Only just yesterday, the Bigbusiness family hinted to me that they will have to look for another church if these filthy people don’t stop showing up. Gracious Lord, this family is the biggest contributor to our new building fund. We cannot afford to lose them. Dear Lord, please do something.

Dear Lord, we know that you are a wonderful & gracious God, abounding in mercy & grace. I pray that in your grace & mercy that you’ll find another church for these people, somewhere else. I’m sure there’s a church out there with lots of time for people like these. Oh, the horrid smell, just to think of it.

Before I forget dear Lord, we have some outrageous complaints from some of our members that felt-needs are not met in this church. This is simply not true. How can this be? We have spent a lot of time, money & effort organizing conferences & seminars for our church members. How ungrateful!!!

If they only take the time & trouble to attend some of these conferences or seminars, all their problems will disappear. It’s so disappointing Lord that they don’t realize that I’m doing all this for their own good. Even the directors at the national church board are thrilled with our programs!!! Why can’t they?

Finally Lord, we need another $500,000 for the new stained-glass windows. The present ones just don’t look right with our newly imported carpets from Europe. I heard that some important senators are dropping by in about 4 months time. The timing is just perfect.

This visit will go “LIVE” on national TV. Dear Lord, think of the prestige this will do to your glorious name & this church. I feel so good dear Lord, I can't be wrong.

In Jesus name,

Amen & amen!

Farewell, Ruth Graham

When the news broke that Ruth Graham, the wonderful wife of good old Billy Graham for the last six decades had gone to be with the Lord, I was reminded of these verses from the Bible:

• Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints

• Welcome, you good & faithful servant

Ruth will always be a saint in modern Christian history. In her own quiet & simple ways, she had served God faithfully with Billy for more than half a century.

Goodbye Ruth for now. See you in heaven !!!