In Jeremiah 29:7, God tells his people to pray for their city. What they discovered—and what we can discover, too—is that praying for the city is a way we grow in love for our city. When God commanded his people to pray for Babylon, he was inviting them to love Babylon. When we pray for New York, we grow in love for New York.
Why is that? Because prayer—being the enormous thing that it is—changes you. When you pray for another person, you can’t help but be changed in your feelings and affections for them. John Stott put it this way:
It is impossible to pray for someone without loving them, and impossible to go on praying for them without discovering that our love for them grows and matures… We must begin to pray for others before we are conscious of loving them, and we shall find our love break first into bud, then into blossom.
What’s true interpersonally is also true on a city-wide level: when we pray for our city, we grow in love for the city.
And what’s more: prayer changes things. Radical prayerfulness is indispensable if we want to see our city flourish. When we cry out to God in prayer, he hears, and he answers.
See below for resources to deepen your prayer life, as well as opportunities to join with others in our church to pray for our city.
In hope,
Pastor Bijan
Deepen Your Prayer Life
Click here to visit our prayer page, where you’ll learn about different opportunities we offer.
Sunday Morning Prayer takes place at 9 am and 10:50 am and meets every Sunday, except on major holidays. We’d love for you to join us!
Would you like someone to pray with you one-on-one? Our leaders, identified by their name tags, are available after our Sunday services at 9:30 am, 11:30 am, and 5 pm.
You’ll also find helpful resources on our website. If you’d like to submit prayer requests online, simply fill out the form at the bottom of the page.
Upcoming
- July 6 to 10 | Be a VBS Volunteer
- July 9 | Food Distribution at the Frederick Douglass Houses
- July 11 | RWS Dashers Running Club
- July 12 | Central Park Church Picnic
- July 12 | All Angels’ Community Meal Volunteering
- July 15 | 9:39 Bible Study Begins
- July 16 | Grief & Loss Support Group
- July 16 | Riverside Chapel Service
- July 19 | Mandarin Speaking Community Group
- July 22 | Exploring Your Spiritual Gifts: A Workshop
- Sep 25 to 27 | Lake Champion Fall Retreat
Get Involved
| RWS Job Opening: Director of Youth Ministry RWS Job Opening: Youth Ministry High School Manager Volunteer with WS Youth on Friday nights this fall. Apply to serve with West Side Kids! Listen to sermons on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. Serve at our welcome table for one Sunday a month at RWS. Subscribe to our Neighborhood Engagement Newsletter. HNFY: Find a place to volunteer this summer. Visit Hope For New York’s volunteer page to find a list of opportunities to serve across the five boroughs. |
