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When
Prayer
Alone Is
Not Enough
by Pastor Chris Foote, Director, Adventist Family Ministries
Are there hurting people in your church?
In my role as Family Ministries Director, I
get to focus on various issues of relationships both
within the Bible and the local church community.
Without exception, when these topics are addressed
in the worship hour or in a seminar setting, I receive
several expressions of appreciation for opening up
the discussion.
Our denomination began with a very doctrinallybased
focus. The anticipation of a soon-coming Messiah
and the search for biblical integrity galvanised
a grassroots movement that would sweep the world.
While our movement is God ordained, our church
community is nevertheless made up of humans with
all the social complexities that characterise our species.
The entrance of sin distorted much of the blueprint
for harmonious relationship while the language
differentiation at Babel birthed a diversity of
culture and religion. In creating us in His image,
the Lord gave us massive potential for creativity and
knowledge, and blessed us with a variety of spiritual
gifts to enable ministry. These are all factors
that impact our original mandate to be fruitful and
multiply, creating community.
I have heard some declare that prayer and Bible
study are the solutions to all our relationship needs.
While these are great habits that will bless our relationships,
by themselves they won’t solve many of
our problems.
Prayer itself is linked with necessary action. Think
of Moses, standing praying to the Lord on the banks
of the Red Sea. What did the Lord say? “Why are
you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on”
(Exodus 14:15). Jesus also challenged His disciples
in Luke 10:2, 3 to “pray to the Lord to send out labourers,”
followed by the command “Go….” and be
those labourers.
A spouse suffering within an abusive relationship
(studies show these are just as prevalent within the
church as the wider community) could take action
by finding help and escaping to a refuge with professional
mentoring, for exmaple. Prayer alone isn’t
enough—in fact, it often plays into and reinforces
the cycle of abuse.
A couple struggling to build a meaningful marriage
can benefit greatly from mentoring and professional
therapy, gaining understanding of the ways
our brains function and how to manage conflict.
Pre-marriage coaching includes much more than
just how to pray together. We also need to understand
how relationships work, and how to deal with
the “baggage” we all
bring with us.
Even a church struggling
with interpersonal
issues (a fairly common
occurrence when
humans are involved)
can benefit from understanding
and repairing
relationship systems.
This is why your
church needs a local
member to be my point
of contact in sharing
helpful resources and
coaching to help members
dwell in peace
together.
Adventist
Aviation
Association
AAA will host a visitors,
day at South
Brisbane Church on
Sabbath, March 31.
Come along and help
celebrate almost 40
years of service to God
in our conference.
Lunch and an afternoon
program will follow
Sabbath School and
Divine Service. Everyone
is welcome—past,
present and future
members, supporters
and families. AAA is
your organisation so
please be supportive
and come along.
Positions Vacant
Senior Clinical Manager—
Adventist Aged Care (South
Queensland) Ltd
We seek an expression of interest from a suitably-qualified
and motivated person to lead an
aged-care team in South Queensland. Duties include
providing clinical oversight of a residential
aged care service, including the management of
special care beds, ensuring the quality of care
provided exceeds government standards, and
ensuring that financial and human resource
benchmarks set by the corporate office are met.
Expressions of interest listing two referees can
be emailed to headoffice@sdaac.com.au and
close on February 27. For enquiries, contact Paul
Mitchell, CEO. on (07) 3451 5900.
February 2012 | 3
Focus |