WS Update: Deepening Our Practice of Prayer

January 20, 2025

On Thursday evening, our church will gather to deepen our understanding of and practice of prayer. The following illustration challenges me when I think about the importance of prayer for my life and for our church family:

Imagine for a moment that you’ve been given the location of a buried treasure. You’ve been told where it is and given everything you need to dig it up. This treasure is vast: not only would it change your life, but with it, you could do a great deal of good in the world. And yet, you leave it buried in the ground—of no value to you or anyone else.

John Calvin, the 16th-century pastor, said that’s what Christians do if they neglect the practice of prayer:

To know God as the master and bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of him, and still not to go to him–this would be as of little profit as a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him… It is, therefore, by the benefit of prayer that we reach those riches which are laid up for us with the Heavenly Father.

Communing with God is the great privilege of the Christian life, and we neglect it to our peril. And so, I hope you’ll be able to join us on Thursday as we explore how we can and why we should grow in prayer.

In Christ,

Pastor Bijan


How could New York City be changed if we, the church, adopted a posture of prayer as we seek God’s renewal in our city? Join us for this catalytic gathering where speaker and author John Onwuchekwa will guide and challenge us to become a more prayerful church in our personal lives and as we love and serve our neighbors and seek renewal in our city.

Tickets are $10 per person; click here to register.


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