July 21, 2008
I love churches
Well, here I am again.
The other website project is taking far longer than I expected and I’m not sure I like it better than what I have here anyway. So, I think I’ll take advantage of my articles appearing on Sharperiron this week to pop back into the blogosphere.
I haven’t been at my church for a couple weeks now. I miss it. Instead, I have had the privilege of going to some churches in the area. Last week we enjoyed the fellowship of Elim Baptist Church. This week we went to New Zion Baptist Church. In both places we sensed a commitment to the truth and a warm spirit of Christian purity. The two churches could not have been any more different.
Elim is the second oldest Baptist church in Rockford (that I know of anyway). It was originally Swedish and for decades did not even use English. Scandinavian. Formal. Reserved. Quiet. Very white.
New Zion is a black congregation. My family and I were the only white faces among the two hundred or so that were there. The pastor has only been in that particular ministry seven years. God is blessing his dynamic, Gospel-centered preaching. There seems to be a spirit of revival. Real revival. I’m not just saying that because they were more flamboyant. People are getting the Word there.
Jennie and I were so enriched by both experiences. We know and love the pastor of Elim and we are excited about getting to know and love the pastor of New Zion. Ever since God called us to Rockford we have prayed for other churches in the city.
In fact, every Lord’s day I pray for various churches from the pulpit of our church. Obviously, prayer for a church doesn’t constitute an unqualified endorsement, but I want my congregation to know that though we may disagree on some things, even substantially, we are on the same team mainly. The Head of the Church has His people in these places and God has blessed them with fruit. We rejoice in that. And we pray for them.
Of the churches that I pray for each Lord’s Day (I usually mention about six or seven) are:
Elim Baptist Church, First Baptist Church, Memorial Baptist Church, Rock Valley Bible Church, First Evangelical Free Church, Maywood Evangelical Free Church, Grace Reformed Baptist Church, North Love Baptist Church, Red Brick Church, Harvest Bible Chapel, Windsor Baptist Church and now, after yesterday, New Zion Baptist Church.
There are more, but those are the ones that come to mind immediately. Because we agree substantially with First Baptist, Rock Valley, and Elim I pray for these churches from our Sunday morning pulpit almost with out fail every single week.
It was a blessing to go see what God is doing in other places in our city. He has His seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Thank You, Jesus, for Your Church. Thank You for your churches; and with the words of Watts we earnestly exclaim, “we long to see Thy churches full.”
Posted by Bob Bixby at July 21, 2008 06:13 AM | eMail this entry! | 513 WordsThis entry was posted in the following categories: Church Ministry
I love churches who pray for churches. I think it’s ironic that I never heard that kind of prayer until college, when I began attending a Free Presbyterian church (i.e., a church that is denominational) whose services frequently included prayer from the pulpit for other local churches (regardless of denomination). There is an enlargement of heart that grows along with striving to be “separated unto the Gospel” rather than sectarian.
Sometimes I do wish when we pray for area churches “wherever the Gospel is being preached today” that we could also pray for churches where the Gospel is being totally perverted or omitted! No doubt if we were to do that, the services would, unfortunately, grow unbearably long. I do love that you pray for our fellow-believers as part of our services and that you faithfully encourage us to acknowledge them in corporate and private prayer.
And I’d love to visit New Zion sometime myself—Karyn and I were just talking about that recently while driving around Rockford. The next time we have an anomaly in our own church schedule….
Posted by: joy mc. at July 21, 2008 09:39 AMTo be honest, I’ve never even considered the notion of praying for other churches from the pulpit. Often pastors pray for the body of Christ as a whole, but rarely for those institutions which support it. It’s frightening how quickly and quietly individuality overtakes and blinds us.
Posted by: Hudson at July 31, 2008 06:35 PMThat’s very encouraging to read about churches praying for other churches and to read of your enthusiasm for the church culture. The church culture in my city is pretty dismal and makes finding a church a very difficult thing.
Posted by: Denise M. at August 28, 2008 03:01 PM
