2010 Letter No 09

Each month Bill writes a pastor's letter for our monthly church magazine called 'The Messenger'. Here is the letter for September 2010:

On Tuesday mornings, whenever I can, I gather with a handful of other ministers from across West Bromwich in order to pray together. It is mainly the Pentecostals, myself and one or two Anglicans.

We pray for our town and also pray for one another. And to be honest, we do not only talk to God. We do quite a lot of talking to each another. We discuss some of the new ventures which are happening in our churches. We talk about our understandings of how God is at work among us. We share our feelings about our struggles, our successes and our failures.

This is a good thing. It reflects something which should be central to the lives of God’s people. We are invited to open ourselves up to one another and to God. The life of a disciple of Christ – a follower of Jesus – involves being in community with others. A Christian is not supposed to be running a heroic solo race, but rather is called to be part of a team activity. Gathering with other Christians to share and pray together is an important part of this.

And so I want to say this about our Tuesday morning gatherings. Sometimes there is a real sense of God’s presence and activity among us. At other times these meetings are just a part of the weekly routine. But I do know this. My walk with Christ and my ministry as a pastor are better and fuller because of them.

How are you opening yourself up to God and to others? Where do you share and pray with your fellow Christians? Is it in a growth group, the ladies’ prayer and support group, through informal networks or with prayer partners? Or is it in fact with nobody? If this is missing from your life then what are you going to do about it? It is an important part of being a disciple of Christ.