Father, I continue to place before you not only those I associate closely with, but also the culture, events, and the distant people who surround me as I walk through life. May your purposes be extended into the culture I live.
Read 1 Timothy 4: 1-5
And some people will abandon the faith. This happens. People make choices. But we still need to keep these people in our prayers and in our love as after all, everything God created is good and through God’s Word and our prayers everything is made holy.
One of the duties and responsibilities of an Elder is to provide pastoral care to people in the congregation. Yet over the years, pastoral care has slowly disappeared from our congregations… and this is a crying shame. If the Church can not care for the people in their own Church, then how can the Church care of the people of the world? Time and time again we hear of Elders calling up congregational members and saying, “I haven’t seen you in Church for six months”. And the congregational member responds, “Oh, I left your Church and am now at another Church where they care about me”. Goodness. Six months! It took six months before the Elder noticed that this congregational member was no longer at worship?
In order to bring the Good News into our congregations and into our community and into our world, we must provide pastoral care for all peoples. Christ commissioned Elders (and us too) to go into the world and tell everyone about the love of God. Pastoral care. The heartbeat of Christianity.
Open my heart and mind to the things you desire me to pray as I think about the world. There are so many physical, political, and social needs, but most of all I pray for your Gospel to spread to every tribe, tongue and nation. Amen (from www.examen.me)
