CHURCH PLANTERS NEED PRAYER

 

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of encouragement for village church planters.

The Apostle Paul was a powerful man of God.  In Lystra, he saw a man who had been lame from birth.  He saw the man’s faith and called  out to him, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. Another time in Philippi he spoke to a servant girl who was influenced by evil spirits to predict the future. One day Paul had had enough.  He turned to the girl, cast out the evil spirit. and kept on walking. Paul was a man of strong faith. He demonstrated his faith by obeying our Lord Jesus. He set out to make disciples of all nations, just as Jesus had commanded.  And he kept on going, kept on obeying, kept on preaching the word of God when it was easy and when he was horribly mistreated.  Paul was a powerful man of God who showed his faith by obeying Christ no matter what.

You would think that a man like that would not really need the prayers of other people.  But if you thought that, you would be wrong. 

Church planter Paul knew how much he needed the prayers of others.  Paul needed prayer so much, he asked people he had never even met to pray for him. In Colossians 4:3,4 Paul asked his disciples’ disciples to pray for him. He called on them saying “Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.  Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”  Paul needed prayer and he wasn’t afraid to ask for it. 

When I first started planting churches, I went out full of faith.  In obedience to Christ, I left my home and moved not only to a different country but to a different continent. I learned a second international language, Spanish, and began to learn a local language, Quichua. I got so sick with Hepatitis A that I lost more than 10 kilograms of weight.  I did all this out of obedience to Christ who called me to plant churches among an unreached people group.  Most people thought I was a strong man of God, full of faith. But here’s the thing.  Church planters have so many challenges they must face, spiritual and physical, and cultural challenges. Challenges on the outside and challenges on the inside. Who is strong enough by himself to face all of these challenges?  

After three and a half years of church planting, I just about quit.  I was so discouraged.  There was very little fruit to show for all that had been done. As I prayed, I asked the Lord what I should do.  He made it very clear to me that I should not quit but that I should mobilize 200 people to pray for a breakthrough in disciple making and church planting. I did just that. Not long after all those people began to pray, God opened hearts to respond to the Good News like never before. And he changed me too.  What had been a huge struggle became a huge joy for me. Thirty years later, I’m still working to plant churches.

So today, as I speak to you, I am speaking to my fellow church planters.  I rejoice in your great faith and in your obedience to Christ.  But you need people praying for you too.  The Apostle Paul needed prayer, I need prayer and you do too. Who is praying for you?  Who knows your hopes and dreams, your hardship and struggles?  Who is praying for you?  If you do not have at least 12 faithful men and women of God who are praying for you, you probably need to stop what you are doing and find them.  Keep them informed of your prayer requests and how God answers their prayers.  You can tell them in person or by What’s App. But whatever you do, make sure you have people praying for you and for your church planting ministry.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

If you have found this message to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church planters and disciple-makers who may need encouragement.  Feel free to share it on What’s App, Facebook, and other platforms you use to connect with others.

Be encouraged, God is with us!                                              EC-05

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