Oh Heavenly Father, this church has been brought here by your Divine Grace. This is nothing any of us have achieved. We are repenting and believing in Christ and submitting ourselves to Him and to one another only because you have willed it to be and worked it in us for your good pleasure and our joy.

You are Sovereign, You are Powerful, You are Mighty and you are merciful. Your Glory is so heavy that if every person on planet earth were to try and stand up underneath it, we could not hold it up. If you were to manifest yourself to us in this moment every single one of us would shudder!

It is only because of the work of Christ and the presence of His Spirit in our lives that we can approach you in prayer, for we are sinful people. We rely on your gracious aid to solemnly and joyfully covenant with one another. As we celebrate the history of this church, we celebrate YOU…because the story of this church is the story of your might and your mercy.

Towards that end, Lord, as your people, would you move in such a way as to grant us more of a will to work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Our unity has been tested in the last year and it will be tested again this year. Grant that each of the 129 members of this church and the ones that will come in would do their part build our unity in Christ.

May we walk together with one another as a church in brotherly love…not acquaintance kind of love. Not ‘me-centered’ kind of love…no, brotherly love, family love. Exercising an affectionate care for one another. Not a legalistic, self righteous watchfulness, but an affectionate care and watchfulness for one another. May we admonish one another and call sin, sin, and help each other as we walk the narrow road in this difficult world.

Father, grant that we would cooperate with and submit ourselves to the elders of this church. Lord, I pray that for myself. As an elder, may I submit to J, N, and C. And Lord, thank you for these brothers…oh what a gift they and their wives are to this church.

Father, grant that we would not forsake assembling together here each Sunday. Keep us from seeing church as nothing more than an obligation, a necessity. May these assemblies come to be one of the highlights of our weeks. May your people here at Restoration Church be more attentive to their traveling schedules so that our hearts would not harden as we are kept from each other and you in these assemblies.

May we as a church raise the children under our care. I pray that not only for the parents, but for the single’s and the marrieds without children. Help us all to see that we all have a role to play in teaching the children of our church the Gospel. May we find more and more people sign up to teach the Gospel in Restoration Kids. And may we all live our lives out in front of them so they know what a Christian man or woman looks like.

God, I pray especially that we would be a church that REJOICES at each other’s happiness. That is so rare today. We live in a place and time where we often loathe or are jealous at other’s happiness. Cause us to REJOICE at other’s happiness. Give us a frame of spirit like that. Turn us away from ourselves and toward the good of others in Christ Jesus. And may we help bear the many burdens that we all carry. May this be a place where people who weep, don’t weep alone. Where people that doubt can ask questions. And where people who are in want can find plenty.

May we as a church sustain the worship that the Scriptures teach. Father, we’ve seen all kinds of false worship in Judges. We’ve seen how people say they are yours but then worship other gods. May that not be said of us. May we sustain a white hearted passion that loves YOU above all else…not the god that is so dominant here in our culture, the god of self.

Father work in us in such a way as to steward our gifts to the service of this church and the community at large. Thank you Lord for the many ways that happens every week in the life of this church.

Grant that we would contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of this church and the spread of the Gospel. Father may we be sacrificial in giving our money…may we use our treasures to show where our heart actually is.

May we always agree to the Statement of Beliefs and the understanding of Discipline and therein helping foster a bright light to the world of what the Gospel is and who is in it.

Lord, as people move from here…may they quickly and joyfully join up with other Gospel loving churches. And help us to not despise the ministry of caring for other churches by sending our members there…but help us embrace the joy of sending people to other communities for the joy of Christ.

Lastly, Father, I pray you’d grant converts born to you in the coming year. I pray for REVIVAL to break out in the world, in this city, and in this church. Heal marriages, redirect lifestyles, kill worldiness, and grant that THIS church would be HOLY…not conforming to the world, but instead conforming to the word of Christ.

You’ve been so good to us for so long. From J&L to J&E. From A to K. From J&T to J&K. From A&A to C&B. You have sustained this church and you are sustaining it.

Oh how good it is to consider what you will do in us in the coming year. Move…we pray…move in ways that only could be described by the power of your great might! And do it all, Lord…do it all for the sake of your GLORY, and not ours. We ask in Jesus name.