Wednesday, November 25, 2009

5(hundred) Hours - A Call to Prayer

What is 5(hundred) Hours?

5(hundred) Hours is an ambitious, church-wide call to prayer aimed at spending five hundred cumulative hours in corporate and private prayer to prepare for the January launch of re:Generātion, a new Young Adults Ministry taking place Sunday nights.

How to Get Involved—Starting, November 29th

As a Life Group or Ministry Team Leader. . .

. . . you can get involved by pledging to spend a portion of your group’s time in December praying for this new ministry. Remember, the time is cumulative, meaning if eight people pray for one-half hour, that’s four hours all together.
As an Individual . . .
. . . you can get involved by pledging your own personal time in prayer, encouraging those you know to do the same and holding one another accountable.
To pledge, please fill out the response card included in this week’s bulletin (one card per person).
As a Church . . .
. . . you can get involved by attending weekly prayer events Sunday morning between services at Riverfalls or before service at Robinwood and by joining with us New Year’s Day to pray, worship and fast.
Guiding the Process

Throughout the month of December, there will be a different area of prayer to focus on each week.
Week 1—Leadership and Leadership Development
Week 2—Worship
Week 3—Mission and Outreach
Week 4—Community and Discipleship
In addition to these focuses, the Young Adults’ Team will also be providing updates on the launch along with practical tips to help your prayer times, both in private and in public.

Why 5(hundred) Hours?

Prayer exists for two reasons: to bring glory to God’s name (Jn. 14:13) and to bring joy to God’s people (Jn. 16:24).

John Piper explains it like this: “God aims to exalt Himself by working for those who wait for Him. Prayer is the essential activity of waiting for God—acknowledging our helplessness and His power, calling upon Him for help, seeking His counsel. . . . [God] will not surrender the glory of being the Giver . . . [because] the Giver gets the glory.”

Our primary aim, therefore, in calling for this unique and ambitious time of prayer is to see God’s glory and our joy brought together. Yes, we want young people worshiping God. Yes, we want a new generation of leaders trained and equipped. And yes, we want to seek and save the lost. But in and through all of this, what we want is for God to get the glory and for us to get the joy.

The only way for this to happen is through prayer.

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