Towards a New Awakening: Praying the Marks of Mission—By the Mark, Four!

To Seek to Transform Unjust Structures of Society


When God renews the Church by awakening new faith in its members, the society within which it exists is also blessed and renewed. Broken marriages are restored, illegitimate birth rates drop, things that were stolen are returned, bad debts are made good, oppressive working conditions are improved.

Pray for the complete transformation of Church and society, for fair, living wages for all and for affordable food and housing, for an end to sexism, racism and age-ism. The list goes on…

Towards Another Great Awakening: Praying the Marks of Mission—By the Mark, Three!

To respond to human need by loving service.

When revival happens loving service expands. When hearts are warmed by the Gospel compassion grows. William Wilberforce is a good example. A significant part of what propelled him into social justice ministry was the Second Great Awakening at the close of the Eighteenth Century. 

Prayer for more of the Third Mark of Mission: 

Since, "to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Cor 12:7), pray that 

• God will stir up and appoint many with the Holy Spirit's gift of helping (1 Cor 12:28), service (Rom 12:7) and doing acts of mercy (Rom 12:8)
• these people will use their gifts cheerfully (Rom 12:6 & 8) and well
• by our loving service, those in need would taste and see how good Jesus is.

Towards a New Awakening: Praying the Marks of Mission—By the Mark, Two!

To teach, baptize and nurture new believers 

1. Pray that, as part of the next Awakening, God will stir up and release the gift of teaching (1 Cor 12:28) across the church so the hearts of new believers will burn within them as the Scriptures are opened (Lk 24:32) and they learn to observe all that Jesus has commanded us (Mt 28:20).
2. Pray that as the new believers the Lord adds to our number (Acts 2:47) in the next Awakening are baptized, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit so our sons and daughters shall prophesy, the old shall dream dreams and the young shall see visions (Joel 2.28).
3. Pray that the new believers the Lord sends us will be well and deeply nurtured in The Way, The Truth and The Life (John 14:6) that Jesus is. 

Swinging the Lead: Towards a New Awakening—Marks of Mission Prayer—By the Mark, One!

I've been enjoying CS Forrester's Hornblower series for the fourth time, I think. Whenever Hornblower brought his ship close to shore he needed to know how much water he had under the keel so he would station a leadsman in the chains of a ship, up against the shrouds, as you see in the illustration. The leadsman would swing a lead line, a length of thin rope with a plummet, generally of lead, at its end. When the plummet hit the bottom, measuring by a series of marks on the line, the leadsman would call the depth out saying, "By the mark, five!" or whatever the line showed. 

The Marks of Mission are just as important as navigational tools for us. Carrying them out shows us that we’re still afloat and on course. Without them we’re at risk of running aground, unable to reach our destination.

Praying the Marks of Mission Mark by Mark: By the Mark, One!

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God

…which is Jesus, of course. 

Here’s the challenge.  Paul says “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4). He’s right. People are literally unable to hear the good news. Sadly, our acrimonious behaviour in the church, between denominations and factions has helped the god of this world keep many from seeing the good light of that gospel. 

What to do? 

Pray for two things: 

1. Jesus says no one can come to him unless the Father draws them (John 6:44). So, ask the Father to draw them. Pray that he will open our minds and the minds of the people around us in our communities and across the land so we shall all see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ in another Great Awakening. 

2. This is what Jesus did for the deaf man with the speech impediment in Mark, chapter 7: 

…looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

Following Jesus' example, pray deep and from the heart with the Spirit's "sighs too deep for words" (Ro 8:28).  Pray Ephphatha over ourselves and our church so that when the Father draws people to us, our ears, too, will be opened so we can hear his Word for them and what their needs are. Pray Ephphatha so that our tongues, too, are released to speak plainly of Jesus, of what he has done for us and what he can do for them. 

Swinging the Lead

Prayer is often hard work. Swinging the lead could be hard work, too, the plummets Hornblower's leadsmen swung sometimes weighed as much as fifty six pounds, but it was always worth the effort because it helped them, by those marks, to know where they were. 

It's worth the effort for us, too. The Marks of Mission will show us how deep we are. 

Towards a New Awakening: On Our Marks!

…the Marks of Mission, that is (ACoC here). Thinking about them a lot these days.

First There Were Five

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. 

Soon There May Be Six

A sixth was suggested recently by the Anglican Church of Canada:

   6.  To advance reconciliation and peace among all people.

On Our Marks! Get set! Go! 

Which brings Jesus and the Great Commission to my mind. "Go," he said. The starting block is prayer. Praying ourselves into revival and a new awakening in Marks-aligned action is the way to go.