The Church Answers Podcast

The Six Purposes of the Church: How They Really Play Out in a Local Congregation. Part 9 of 9: The Purpose of Prayer

The purposes of the church originate with the early churches in the New Testament. When Rick Warren wrote "The Purpose Driven Church" in 1995, the purposes became commonplace in conversations in churches around the world. Thom takes a detailed journey about the purposes of the church through nine episodes. Keep all of them together to share with your church leaders and members.

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 31 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Welcome to the Church Answers podcast presented by Chaney and Associates. Chaney and Associates are the accounting firm for the church. Now get ready for fast-paced insights on key issues affecting the local church today. We release three episodes each week, so make sure you've seen or heard them all. And now, here is the CEO of Church Answers, Tom Rayner. The Lord added to their number those who have been saved. So that's unfamiliar to you, if it is familiar to you, it's the beginning of the early church. It's the beginning of the church in Jerusalem. It is the beginning of the New Testament church. And the beginning is with prayer. The beginning takes place in an upper room where the followers of Christ after watching his ascension and wondering what would happen next, they begin to be filled with Holy Spirit. Peter preaches a sermon. During the time of the feast of Pentecost, it says in verse 41 of chapter 2 of Acts, "Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day, about 3,000 and all." My name is Tom Rayner. You are watching or listening to the Church Answers podcast. We're on YouTube, and if you're watching us on YouTube, how about giving us a thumbs up and giving us a subscribe to us as well. Thanks to all of those who are listening on your podcast out, please give us a rating and review. It takes a few minutes, but it gets the word out, and it's your gift to us as we make this a gift to others as well. Speaking of gift, Chaney and Associates, to call them our sponsor is just such an understatement. Yeah, they're paying the bill so that we can do what we do, but it's just so much more than that. So, Chaney and Associates is a kindred spirit and ministry. They are the accounting firm for the church. There's no accounting firm that serves the church like Chaney and Associates does. That's all they do. They've been doing so for 21 years with 1,100 churches currently, no telling how many over the years in total the accounting and payroll services bookkeeping. You need to get them, you need to get that off your plate, and you need to be given that to Chaney and Associates. I tell you, you're not going to find a better one. I don't know if you'll find a different price one, but you're not going to find a better one. When we're talking about stewardship of God's money, this is the place you need to be set up an appointment with Chaney and Associates, go to chaneyassociates.com. I have had fun for eight episodes. For those of you who have any interest in this and you may not, I record nine episodes consecutively, and then we divide them three for the next week, three for the next week. And oftentimes, you know, by the time I get to the ninth recording, which this one is, I'm a bit tired doing that many episodes at my age can be trying. I know that when my son Sam records podcast and art does too, they get more energized the more they talk. Well, I'm an introvert. I listen to myself. I'd rather listen to someone else and be in a corner and turn the other way. And so doing this, this, this many episodes normally drains me. So by the time I get to the ninth one, I'm, I'm just, I can't wait to give it up. I got to tell you this, yeah, going through nine episodes has been a little bit challenging today, but really not that much. We've done all nine episodes on Rick Warren's book, the Purpose Driven Church. Well, we've done eight episodes on it. That's far. This ninth episode is kind of a PS to it. Just a reminder, the Purpose Driven Church over one million copies was one of the most paradigmatic shaping books for local churches in the world in contemporary times. Obviously there are others historically that have had different types of impact, but in contemporary times, the Purpose Driven Church was that book. And it's been a joy to just be reminded of this book that is almost 30 years old. What a difference it is made in churches. What a difference it made in my life. What a difference it's made in the churches I've served. And in the organizations I serve that serve churches. I hope you have gotten some benefit of that. And we've taken the previous five episodes to cover Rick's five purposes, worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry and fellowship, five purposes. So we've, we've gone through those five purposes, but now we're going to add a six. This is our own doing. I don't think Rick would disagree with this because he definitely believes in the power of prayer and he would probably, I think he has said that prayer is intrinsic in all of these other purposes. So this is not a critique, but we just think that prayer needs to be identified on its own as a six purpose. Now let's go back to the early church. Let's go back to that first church in Jerusalem and let's look at what was taking place there. We talked about Peter preaching at Pentecost. We ended that with saying they were baptized and added to the church that day, all who believed about 3000 in all. Wow. All right. Now we have our first church. It's in Jerusalem. Eventually they would disperse and start other churches around the Roman Empire, but right now they're gathered in Jerusalem before they disperse. There is your description of that church. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching that would be discipleship to fellowship another purpose of the church called it sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper and to prayer. Almost a pinnacle moment and to prayer. Yeah, that's verse 42 of chapter 2 of Acts, that's just that one verse. Let's continue on. A deep sense of all came over many of them, the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders and all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. Ministry is taking place. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need more ministry than what? Worship. They worship together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity, all the while praising God and joined the good will of all the people and each day the Lord added to their fellowship, those who were being saved. In those verses in the first church, you heard worship, they came to worship. You heard ministry, they sold their goods as anyone had need. You heard discipleship, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. You heard evangelism and each day the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved. You heard that they worshiped together and all the believers met together, one place. They worshiped together in the temple. You've heard all of the purposes, but I want you to hear this well within this text in verse 42, it says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship and to prayer. It's for that reason, that beginning with me and then through the work of Chuck Lawless, who's probably the best living scholar on church based prayer in the world today. I know there are many good ones, but I will certainly give him kudos for that and he would give glory to God for it. But prayer is one of the six purposes of the church. Even though Rick mentioned five, it is not a critique because you can always say I would have done it this way, I would have done it that way. We just decided that we needed to lift up prayer to the greatest visibility possible. And so when we start talking about the purposes of the church, yes, worship, definitely discipleship without a doubt, evangelism, certainly ministry, yes fellowship, but also prayer. And so oftentimes you will say, you'll hear me say, there are five Rick Warren purposes and we add a six or sometimes five plus one is the sixth. And so as we begin to look at the major contribution of the purpose-driven church, as we begin to see what Rick Warren has done through this book and as we have taken nine episodes to walk you through it, I don't want to leave these episodes without talking about the importance of prayer. I don't want to leave these episodes without saying prayer is a purpose of the church. I don't want to leave the series of nine podcasts on the purpose-driven church without you being reminded and Rick would not disagree in any way whatsoever how important prayer is in the local church. We had mentioned this before have a tool called know your church and in that tool, we help you discern what are the strengths of your church, but we use six purposes. We use worship evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship and prayer, the sixth one. So as we conclude this, I just want to say a thanks to Rick Warren for the purpose-driven church and now as he is retired from the church, he founded at Saddleback to just be a reminder of the great contribution that he has made. He's been a lightning rod for controversy, which is unfortunate because I guess that's just the way pioneers are and he has been that way in so many different things. But when it is all said and done, he'll be remembered in history as one of the great prophetic voices for the local church of the 20th and the 21st century. I know I've been impacted affected by his life. I know that many of you have as well and I hope that you have taken something from these nine episodes of the purpose-driven church and I hope that you'll remember the great contribution one church, one book and one man has made to the kingdom. Thank you for being a part of the Church Answers Podcast. Thank you for allowing me to be with you. Thank you, Chaney and Associates. We'll be going to another topic next week, but for now, nine episodes of the purpose-driven church in the can and I hope that you will be able to use them and use them in your church for the glory of God. See you next week, six purposes. You have been listening to the Church Answers Podcast presented by Chaney and Associates. Chaney and Associates are the accounting firm for the church. You need to focus on ministry, Chaney will focus on finances. Also please subscribe and give a review to the Church Answers Podcast on YouTube and on your favorite podcasting app. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)