God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, we come to you this morning with holy awe and reverence. Your perfections are matchless infinitely above us. You alone are self-existent and self-sufficient needing nothing or no one. You are the sovereign owner and Lord of all. You are unspotted in your purity, blameless in your righteousness, always true, inexhaustibly good. You are infinitely greater than our best thoughts. Your grace to us is beyond comprehension. We praise you this morning; we praise you alone.

Father, we come to you this morning completely dependent upon Jesus Christ. Our hope to approach you is found in him. He is our great High Priest interceding for us. We praise you for Jesus’ perfect life, sin-atoning death, and death-defeating resurrection. We praise you that Jesus is a good king with a gracious reign always doing what is good and right for his people.

We praise you for the work you are doing here at Restoration Church, and ask, for the glory of your name, for your namesake, that you increasingly do more. Cause us to be a church united in the gospel of our Lord. Cause us to be a church that is hospitable and warmly welcoming to all. By your grace and for your glory, cause us to serve eagerly, give generously, and speak the gospel boldly.

We pray for these new members that we would walk alongside them, and them us as we build each other up in Christ Jesus. We pray for our community groups and community group leaders. Use these groups to help us seek maturity, mutually care for each other, and as a place for mission, a place for spreading your supremacy in our lives and the lives of others.

We also pray for our brothers and sisters at other churches in our city. We pray for All Nations DC, Redeemer City Church, Redemption Hill, Capitol Hill Baptist, McLean Bible Church, GraceDC, The District Church, and The Well. Use these churches to boldly proclaim Christ crucified and resurrected. Use these churches to see men and women, boys and girls, come to faith in Jesus. We praise you for the work you are doing here in our city and ask, in the name of Jesus, you would grant these churches and us a sweet partnership in the gospel that we might see the fame of Jesus spread all the more.

We also pray for those marginalized in and by society. For orphans and widows and homeless right here in our city; would you be a Father to the fatherless? I praise you that you have filled our church with members who have a passion to care for those often neglected by the world. Help us do this all the more as we grow; help us not only seek to care for and serve one another, but also those around us. We pray for organizations like Friendship Place and Central Union Mission and Martha’s table, and DC127 that seek to help in these areas. Give their leaders wisdom as they seek how to best use the resources entrusted to them.

Father, we want to pray for those who are victims of abuse. For men and women in abusive relationships, for those in the modern day slave trade of sex trafficking. Give them grace to let someone know; rescue them, we pray; give them grace to run to the cross of Christ, to look at Jesus who not only paid the price for our sin, but took all the shame and guilt upon himself. Give them grace to know that as your image bearers they have value, worth and dignity no matter what happens to them.

Lord God, as we pray for others, we also see within the depths of our hearts. We confess that we often doubt your rule over us. We confess that we rebel against you publicly and privately. We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you as our supreme King; we have not loved you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We have been bitter withholding forgiveness. We have been shallow thinking alcohol or substance abuse or sexually immorality will satisfy us. We have been greedy not giving generously. Accept our repentance O God. Fill us with your Spirit that we might delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your Holy name.

Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.