Re-setting the Climate

Re-setting the spiritual climate of a church so that its people can be more open to altar ministry is not always an easy thing. Both preachers and churches who are accustomed to life without an altar used for prayers will have to deal with fears that go with risking change to the status quo if the altar is going to be something more than a memorial to the way things used to be done.  In a church overcome by stagnant spiritual life, there is nothing quite like seeing people kneeling around the altar in prayer.  It is contagious, inspirational, and invitational.   

In one church I served the associate pastor and I would process down the aisle at the beginning of the service and pray at the altar during the prelude.  Some might have wanted to point out the passage in which Jesus warned against praying to be seen in public, but what we did was done as a way of inviting those in the pews to join us in prayer at the altar for the worship which was beginning.  Never did a huge crowd gather with us, but there were some.  In addition to the prayers offered for our worship, it was a means of using the altar for praying.  It was permission giving. It was a way of giving people permission to once again use the altar for praying.   

There was nothing extraordinary about this means of highlighting altar ministry.  It can be done in many different ways.  The important thing for the church is to find ways to help its people once again claim the altar within the sanctuary as a holy place where God's grace and power can intersect with human need.  When this divine intersection takes place,  God brings blessings to His people.  When the church begins to see this happening again, it will change its heart.