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Prayer Durham Ministers in Prayer Our Purpose 1. We meet regularly for the sole purpose of prayer for our city and for one another. However, if our Lord has something He wants us to accomplish together, we want to be receptive to Him. 2. We recognize that unity requires knowing one another, fellowshipping with one another, recognizing we are part of one another, etc. 3. We recognize there are many congregations in Durham but only one church. 4. We recognize that the body of Christ is made up of every tongue, tribe, and nation. A unified, culturally diverse church speaks volumes to the people of our city. 5. We recognize it is the Holy Spirit who has created the unity of the body of Christ. We are asked to maintain that unity. 6. We recognize that God designed things so that we must work together to see our area reached for Christ (synergism). Statement of Faith (top) 1. God is one and He is all powerful, infinite in glory, wisdom, justice and love. He does what He wants, when He wants, where He wants, how He wants. Even though He is one, He manifests Himself in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 2. The Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments, is God's words of life to us today. The Bible is absolutely true and is our infallible rule for faith and practice. 3. God created the world out of nothing for His own pleasure and purpose. He created man in His own image, in a state of original righteousness, from which he fell by a voluntary revolt. Consequently, today all are guilty, inherently, totally corrupt, and subject to divine wrath. The bottom line: Everyone needs salvation. 4. Jesus Christ, absolutely divine, is co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. When He took on flesh and lived on earth, He united to His divine nature a true human nature, and so He is both God and man forever. Salvation is in Jesus Christ only. God forgives every sin and gives new life to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ. 5. Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. Many people believe that all religions lead to God. The Bible says that every gate, other than Jesus Christ, leads to destruction. God is clear that Jesus Christ is the only gateway that leads to eternal life, no matter what men may think about it. 6. The Holy Spirit, absolutely divine, is co-eternal with the Father and the Son. He convicts unbelievers of sin, righteousness, and judgment and imparts God's salvation to all who are in Jesus Christ. He also comforts the children of God and empowers the church of Jesus Christ. 7. Salvation is a marvelous, absolutely free gift of God, received by faith, not to be earned, and is totally undeserved by the person receiving it. Salvation consists of the remission of sins, being declared righteous by God, being given the new nature of Jesus Christ, being given eternal life, and receiving the continual blessings and grace of God. 8. Repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ is publicly to be confirmed by the convert by water baptism. God honors His word by giving believers power to live Godly lives, filled with joy and peace never experienced before. 9. Jesus Christ will return again, bodily, visibly, and personally to finish the establishment of His kingdom. He will make a final separation of the redeemed and the lost, assigning unbelievers to eternal punishment in Hell and believers to eternal glory in Heaven. The Vision (top) This is the vision that God originally gave Don Westbrook and Paul Gordon concerning our Tuesday morning gathering of pastors. To preserve our times together and to keep from veering away from the original intent, we want to present the original vision to keep us on the course that the Lord gave us. Acts 2: 41-43 and 1 Timothy 2: 1-8 The vision for the group, as we were originally encouraged by the "Transformation" video, was as follows: 1. Meeting regularly (each Tuesday morning) for prayer for our city, our country, spiritual leadership and our churches. 2. Fellowship (including breaking bread together). We hope to see, pastors getting to know one another socially (visiting each other in your homes, going out to eat together, etc.) and spiritually (exchanging pulpits occasionally and the congregations doing things together). 3. Unity - recognizing and receiving one another as members of the same body of Christ (one church in the city). We believe that true unity must cross over racial and cultural lines so that Jesus' prayer in John 17 will be realized, the fulfilling of Psalm 133. 4. Activity - We will conduct "Durham in Prayer", and other events as the Lord leads. General Guidelines (top) 1. Considering projects - There are many projects in which our churches individually are involved. If we are not careful, our time on Tuesday morning is taken up with explaining projects and soliciting support from the various churches. We realize also that there may be projects that our group, as a whole, should seriously consider. The key is: keeping the prayer session on track and responding to the Lord's prompting to support other activities as He would lead. 2. Leadership team - Therefore, in light of the above, and in response to the need for leadership, addressed during our time at Avila Retreat Center, we are establishing a leadership team of 5 brothers to provide the guidance that will enable our group to work together more effectively. At present, the leadership team consists of:
Guidelines for Tuesday Morning (top) 1. The meeting begins at 9:15 AM and goes until 10:30 AM.
2. Because we are charismatic and non-charismatic in our group, and in light of 1 Corinthians 14, we request that tongues not be used audibly during our prayer times together. If you want to pray in tongues, pray under your breath while others are praying audibly. 3. Please hold your prayers down to 2 or 3 minutes. Long prayers have a way of discouraging others from praying. You don't have to cover every base in prayer; others can cover the ones you miss. This is intended to encourage everyone to participate. 4. When you are praying, please be sensitive to others by not using the time to preach, exhort, rebuke or promote a specific agenda. This time should be reserved for speaking to God, not indirectly to the other members in the guise of prayer. Projects (top) 1. If your church is sponsoring, or is involved in, a project of some kind, and you wish to involve some of the Tuesday morning churches here is the procedure:
2. The leadership team will meet on the first Tuesday of each month, after the regular meeting. This is an open opportunity to speak with the entire team regarding ideas or concerns. Want to create a link to this information from your website that includes the
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