When visitors asked Charles Spurgeon for the secret behind the vibrant growth of his church, he didn’t point to the preaching, the music, or the building. Rather, he would lead them down a flight of stairs to the basement of the Metropolitan Tabernacle. In that basement, hundreds—occasionally, thousands—gathered every Monday evening to pray. Spurgeon would say to the visitors: “Here is the engine room that keeps the whole machinery going.”1
Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle understood a truth that is every bit as foundational today: sermons don’t save people, programs can’t change hearts, and human effort alone won’t expand the kingdom. God does these things. And He does so when His people pray.
Two striking features of the Spurgeon’s prayer meetings were the breadth of member participation and the specificity of the requests. Members would submit handwritten slips of paper with urgent, deeply personal requests:
“A mother asks prayer for her wayward son.”
“A wife requests prayer for her unsaved husband.”
“A clerk asks us to pray for a colleague who mocks the faith.”
Spurgeon would stand in front, read these slips aloud, and invite someone in the room to intercede. These were not rambling, vague prayers, but fervent pleadings for real people with real names and real needs. Such member-submitted requests weren’t a small component of the prayer meetings, but more like a centerpiece. In light of what the Bible says about the efficacy of prayer (Jas 5:16; Rev 8:1-6), it is no wonder that so many souls found respite in Christ through the ministry that one local church.
The Engine at PBF
At every elders meeting, your pastors pray for a growing culture of prayer at Providence. We are encouraged by what we see in this regard. Small groups of people are meeting to pray. People pray spontaneously together at our worship gatherings. Reveille continues to be a staple of our men’s culture. And we are seeing encouraging things at our monthly prayer gathering...
Our July prayer gathering was very similar to the one described above in that we prayed almost exclusively for lost friends, family, and acquaintances whose names were submitted by our own members. We prayed for over 120 lost souls that night. It was a most unique and special prayer gathering. What a blessing it would be to see such meetings become utterly commonplace…
Filling the Engine Room
Our prayer gathering attendance has grown over the years and last month’s gathering was one of the best attended in our history. We praise God for this. There is still room for you! Over the years, we’ve asked our members to prioritize three things regarding the church schedule: both hours on Sunday, Home Fellowship Groups, and the monthly prayer gathering. That short list should indicate how important corporate prayer is to us.
Some people have extenuating circumstances (i.e., second-shift jobs) that prevent this last priority. The rest of us may be inspired by considering again the metaphor of the engine room: “If you visit a factory, you will find it’s the engine room that keeps the factory running! If you stop that engine, every wheel will stand still. It is only prayer meetings we are having? Just so. It is only the engine, but that is everything.”2
Numeric growth at PBF over the years has come overwhelmingly through transfer rather than conversion. This is not for lacking of our sharing the gospel! I hear testimonies publicly and privately on a regular basis indicating that much evangelism has happened and is happening. Perhaps the Lord desires us to tirelessly pray for a harvest from all these sown seeds!
God works through prayer (1 John 5:14-15). We’ve covenanted together to do it. Let’s fill our prayer gatherings! The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, August 5 at 6:30 at Summerhill Drive.
Fueling the Intercession
We solicit kingdom-centered prayer requests regularly. (Don’t know what a "kingdom-centered request" is? Click here.) Last month’s prayer gathering demonstrated we have no lack of such requests…we just need to submit them. Your family members, your friends, your neighbors…send in their names by the end of the Tuesday before the prayer gathering (this time, that’s Tuesday, August 4) and we’ll pray for them. We’re happy to pray for your encouragement, sin struggles, and praises as well. We will always devote as much time to these requests as needed.
Requests can be submitted all month long through the “Prayer Petitions” portal on the church app. You can also email them directly to me (email address is in the directory).
I agree wholeheartedly with the Prince of Preachers, “We shall never see much change for the better in our churches till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.”3 The Lord has blessed PBF greatly in our eighteen-plus years together. I do believe this has largely been due to prayer! At the same time, our capacity for prayer as a church can only grow, and I look forward to seeing how the Lord will work through it.
We’re saving you a seat in the Engine Room on August 5!
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1 C. H. Spurgeon: A Biography. W. Y. Fullerton
2 Only A Prayer Meeting, “Fighting and Praying”. C. H. Spurgeon
3 Only A Prayer Meeting, “Only a Prayer-Meeting!”. C. H. Spurgeon
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