Prayer for Refreshing our Building and Our Hearts

February 9, 2023 / by Dave Rowden

On September 29, 1996 the East White Oak Bible Church worship center was dedicated to the glory of God. It has served the congregation well these past 27 years.

Our worship center is significant because of what happens in that space: we assemble to worship and glorify God. If you’ve attended a recent worship service, you know that we have been praying about our building “Refresh” plan, which is intended to help people see better and hear better as well as improve seating and aesthetics so that our worship is unhindered and enhanced.

As we pray about the worship center refresh, a good place to start is asking the question, “should we do it?”

We want to do what God wants us to do. There is a good reason to pray about this. For a variety of reasons we will have different opinions about the refresh. We want wisdom from God, not from our own experience and reasoning. To get wisdom we pray. James 1:5-8 assures us that God gives wisdom generously and without reproach when we pray with faith. Let’s all resolve to pray for wisdom leading to God’s will, not for the outcome we want.
We should also pray for the team working on the project, for God’s wisdom as work continues toward a functional, attractive, and cost effective design, and for wisdom dealing with the many details required to complete the estimate of cost and the timeline required to complete the project.

Before and after the congregation votes, our prayer should be for unity in our church body. We should pray, however we vote, for each other and that our church will reflect the love of our precious Savior even if we disagree.

If the outcome of the vote is to go ahead with the project, we should pray for those tasked with making it happen. There is a lot of work dealing with contractors, timelines, and the unexpected problems that will come up as the work progresses. Please be in prayer about the finances of the project and how God wants you, individually, to be involved.

Regarding prayer, Colossians 4:2-4 tells us to pray steadfastly with thanksgiving, at the same time praying for the progress of the gospel. Pray not only for the physical work, but that God will use our efforts for His glory, among us, the next generations of our congregation, and those yet to be reached who come into our building.

Dave Rowden serves as an elder at East White Oak, and has served as a children’s Sunday school teacher. He is married to Karen. They have two grown children and six grandchildren. Dave is retired from a career in machine design engineering. He is an enthusiastic outdoorsman who enjoys fishing, boating, hiking, and hunting.