The Most Important Thing

There’s a lot of activity that goes into moving a group of people from scattered to unified, from loose cannons to the Body of Christ. That activity is translated differently by many Bodies that become the Local Church. One particular pastor has placed on his website a list of these activities. They are typical of what we see—children’s ministry, youth meetings, discipleship and membership classes. But then there was this one strange activity that drew my eye. It was labeled only “The Most Important Ministry.” When I clicked on that, the page opened to a gathering to pray. It had replaced the midweek service normally reserved for group studies and children’s meetings. Imagine that: the most important meeting was not ministry to the poor or to children or to one another, but ministry to God.

Oswald Chambers said:
“When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible’s idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.”

When ministry becomes about anything else, I get sidetracked. When ministry is focused on ministering to God, then out of it springs life and fruitfulness.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
--Jer. 33:3