John Onwuchekwa serves as pastor of Cornerstone Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prayer: How Praying Together Shapes the Church is apart of the Building Healthy Churches series published by Crossway.

Pick up a copy here

 

 

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Prayer is breathing. There’s no better metaphor of what prayer should be for the Christian. (pg. 17)

 

Our churches prayers get reduced to a tool for transitioning from one activity to the next. (pg. 17)

 

God rewards the prayers of novices, which encourages consistent prayer in the lives of His people. (pg. 24)

 

Calling on the name of the Lord is more than just saying His name aloud. Throughout the Bible, the name of the Lord is synonymous with the nature of the Lord. To call on His name is to make an appeal to His character. (pg. 33)

 

If prayer clings to the hope we share in Christ, then prayer should reflect our togetherness in Christ. If prayer has a gospel shape, then by implication it must have a church shape. (pg. 37)

 

If your life’s primary concern is to make your name great, you’ll be uncomfortable in Christian community. (pg. 52)

 

The local church takes the theory of Christianity and makes it tangible – in love, deed, and especially in prayer. (pg. 62)

 

When we pray together, we want to address the misconceptions about God, pray for those things many of us neglect, and show that substantial prayer doesn’t have to take a substantial amount of time. (pg. 78)

 

A community that routinely confesses sin together is a community that is glad, growing, gracious, and grounded. (pg. 82)

 

A prayerful community of confession is a peaceful community. (pg. 84)

 

A church that practices prayer is more than a church that learns; it’s also a church that leans. (pg. 92)

 

Gathering to pray helps us embrace our responsibility to each other while allowing us to be content with our limitations. We’re no one’s saviors. Prayer allows us to leave things unfinished in the lives of people. (pg. 104)

 

Successful evangelism isn’t measured by the end result, but by our faithfulness to the task. (pg. 113)

 

Prayer replaces apathy with compassion. (pg. 115)

 

Cultivating prayer in the life of the church is a marathon, not a sprint. (pg. 125)

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Evan Knies is from West Monroe, LA. He is married to Lauren. He serves as Minister of Students at Bullitt Lick Baptist Church in Shepherdsville, KY. He also serves as the Executive Assistant of the Nelson Baptist Association. He is a graduate of Boyce College and presently an M.DIV student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the Billy Graham School. You can follow him on Twitter @Evan_Knies