Edgeworth’s pastors get together to pray for all that is happening here every Monday night at 9:00pm. (Weird time, but it allows our one dad to be home for bedtime before coming over to the Emerson to press in in prayer. The time demands of tent-making and shepherding an ever growing church are intense, but we’re committed to having our elders be husband and dad first.) We don’t have the ‘prayer’ thing down or anything, but we are committed to carrying the ministry of prayer in the life of this church. If we tell someone ‘we’re prayerful about you’ we want not to be lying about that. Prayer is also not some mystical endeavor to get God to act in accord with our will. We’re convinced that prayer is more participating with God in His redeeming work; He is up to stuff and we join that work through prayer.
Often we try and have our prayer be informed by the Scriptures. (Last night we read about Asa who was a king of Judah and did a good job responding to the word of God through the prophet and courageously calling His people back to faithful pursuit of God, even firing his mom from her job because she embraced idols. But then Asa panicked when Israel in the north was acting out against him and partnered with a nearby pagan nation instead of seeking God. Alas, Asa never did seek God again, even when he came down with a wicked illness. And so we prayed that we would 1. be courageous leaders like the earlier Asa who heard the word, believed it, and responded courageously to it, and 2. not be like later Asa who relied on his own ingenuity and then was so stubborn that he wouldn’t seek God rather than admit his sin and repent.) We’ve got annual member renewal forms from our Edgeworth members that direct our prayers for them and their families throughout the year, and we also have the names of everyone who is a current part of our church life on a board that we pray through by name. There’s something cool about that. We also lift up brothers and sisters worldwide who are in the trenches planting churches and ask God to continue to extend grace to us in our work here. And we press in for our city and the mess that it is and the redemption that God can bring it.
We’re also in a season of waiting on God for next step vision. We’re at the healthiest spot in the life of this church numbers-wise, we’re carrying the ministries of preaching and prayer with abandon, we’re seeing deep community emerge before our eyes, we’ve got 8-10 folks who are new to the Gospel hanging with us and taking things in, we’re aclling 13-15 new members, we’re loving and dialoguing with local Morrocans and Indians, and on and on. What we don’t have is a single a full-time worker or a permanent location. Are either of these things we need to be pushing for? Is it more missionally appropriate for us to have multiple part-time paid elders and staff rather than 1 or 2 full-timers? Broadening the skill set of leadership while multiplying hours avavilable to be worked? We’ve searched through every facility available in Malden at the time being; matching our needs for square footage and parking would necessitate a $125,000 a year + lease cost. And no one ever sells a building around here that has more than 25 parking spaces. Should we be thinking about securing permanent space that does not double as worship space but supplements rented Sunday gathering worship space? So we’ve got a permanent location with great signage that houses community events, an art studio, a smaller music venue, office space, kids space, etc.? And weekly church life happens there and Sunday morning church life happens in a bigger space? Or should be be thinking of multi-siting Edgeworth and kicking a Sunday night service? This works in other cultures but I just don’t think Sunday night would fly in this culture. And of course, we could just jam tens of thousands of dollars into some targeted publicity and see what happens if 2 million people are made aware of the existence of the church over the course of a few months. This would necesitate a name change as well, since Edgeworth is a bad name for connecting within Malden itself (people who are from other neighborhoods hear that name and figure it doesn’t include them) and a neutral name outside Malden; we could do better. Anyway, you can see all the stuff that we are weighing and praying through and talking through with our members.
Mondays @ 9is not the only time we pray. As believers, prayer is something that should fill our lives… prayer at home, prayer with our spouse, prayer for and with our kids, prayer at our small groups, prayer in corporate worship, prayer without ceasing.
If you are a night owl, please join us on Monday’s @ 9 as we press in for this work at Edgeworth.
