Prayer in a Pandemic, Part Three

Prayer and proclamation.

These days, the gospel is being proclaimed online each week by more preachers than at any time in history. As the gospel is preached, prayer must continue to be our foundation. In previous articles (see Part 1 and Part 2), I noted how first the church was birthed in prayer, and that prayer should be the foundation to all we do. Next, I observed how prayer is our response in times of difficulty.

In this third article, I want us to see that prayer was as important to the leadership of the early church as was the preaching that was being done. If you are a preacher, I don’t need to convince you of the importance of preaching. If March 22 was the first time you ever preached online, and especially if you had technical issues (as many did), I doubt I have to talk to you about the importance of prayer. I saw some pastors asking for prayer because of the technical issues they’ve faced.

When we read Acts, we see constant references to prayer. But I think we can think of prayer and preaching separately and not bring them together adequately. Sometimes, we think the most important thing we do is preaching when, if you read Acts closely, you see that prayer is mentioned far more frequently.

How did the apostles deal with issues that came up in the church? They didn’t have to figure out how to use Facebook Live so they won’t be sideways on a screen, but they did have the issue of widows being neglected. This was a real problem that needed a good solution. These weren’t complainers. These widows were genuinely being neglected. Today, we too need to pay attention to those being neglected and to prioritize helping the most vulnerable.

How did the apostles respond?

Here’s what they didn’t do: they didn’t ...