'I couldn't make it this Sunday...'

There are always reasons to miss church. Some are inevitable. But some are avoidable! I want to urge you to commit to meeting together as a matter of first importance.

We're told to in the Bible: 'Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.' (Hebrews 10:24-25)

We go to church for the sake of others. Whenever we miss, it discourages the rest. Especially with a small group, like at Wellfield, it can feel really flat when some don't show. Absence is felt!

We have a responsibility towards one another. It's hard to keep going as a Christian! The day of judgement is drawing closer, and nothing matters more than being ready for that day. What an opportunity we have to help one another keep going!

So let's make it our habit to arrange other things around church. That's the thing that can't move. Family gatherings, parties, outings, socials - even work, usually: these can be ordered around church. What a testimony that is to others that Jesus comes first.

7 reasons for having a prayer meeting

This week is the start of our own Wellfield monthly prayer meeting. It's not that we've not been praying before - we pray on Sundays, at the weekly growth group, with 'big St Andrew's' monthly, on our own day by day ... It's just that we desperately need to pray more and be more focussed!

Here are 10 reasons why we need a specific time to pray together:

[1] We need to pray more! God is the God of all power; we can do nothing on our own. If we want to achieve anything as a church, it will be his work, not ours. (We've surely learnt this by now!) God tells us to pray, and promises to answer.

[2] It's hard to pray alone. Praying together helps us focus and helps us remember what's worth praying for. When we run out of steam or direction, someone else can lead with fresh energy.

[3] There's not enough time to pray for all we need to on Sundays and growth groups.

[4] We exist as a church specifically to reach and serve people who wouldn't so easily be reach by St Andrew's. A central prayer meeting over there automatically excludes those people.

[5] Praying together teaches us to pray. We learn from how each other do it. We hear bible-based prayers from those who've been reading different passages of scripture to us. We're spurred on by hearing the heartfelt prayers of others.

[6] Praying for a longer time reminds us what prayer is. RA Torrey spoke of 'Praying till you pray'; he meant that it takes time in prayer to get past the day-dreaming, the praying-just-so-others-in-the-room-hear, the dutiful working through the list of items. It takes time to remember what we're doing!

[7] Praying together reminds us that we're working together. We're partners together in the gospel; without seriously praying together it's easy to feel as though we're all individuals getting on with our personal missions, struggling alone. But gospel work is corporate. That's why praying together is the biblical pattern. For example, Acts 4:24 - "When they heard this, they reaised their voices together in prayer to God..." The Christian life is one of community - we're rescued out of 'the world' to be Christ's 'Church'. It's therefore the most natural thing for us to come together to bring our needs before our Heavenly Father.

So come! People sometimes talk of church prayer meetings as 'the most important meeting of the church'. I'm not sure they supersede our Sunday meetings; but the point is, it's vital for a church to pray together. If you feel to shy - come anyway! You don't need to pray out loud - though where better to learn? We're in this together, growing together - and we need to learn to passionately pray together.