Prayer: The Glue and Resilience in Church Community
The story of the early church in Acts shows us that an effective church is one where individuals are devoted "to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" - and they are devoted to these things together in community (Acts 2:42). In I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer , Rainer suggests that belonging to a local church involves "praying together as a family for the church where God has placed us" (Rainer 2013, 60). He suggests the local church also needs individuals who "seek to pray together for the church" (Rainer 2013, 63). Similarly, in his book Autopsy of a Deceased Church, Rainer's experience and research show that when a church was no longer praying and hoping together, "the church started dying" (Rainer 2014, 68). For this reason, Thom S. Rainer suggests committing to praying for our churches, asking God to keep us "passionate and believing prayer as the lifeblood of the church" (R