Congregational Prayer: Transformation through Liturgy
- McYoung Y. Yang
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
A Covenant Community:
As evangelicals continue in their uncertainty about the nature and identity of the church, biblical liturgy can provide much-needed clarity in grasping ecclesial life for believers. Simon Chan argues that we must move beyond mere doctrinal discussions on church structure and form, we must wedge ourselves in expressing the church’s covenantal identity through doxological teachings found within the structure of corporate worship—i.e., liturgy (for more click here). As Chan elaborates, “the church that is the creation of the triune God is also formed by its action of corporate worship.”[1] In other words, liturgy teaches believers’ about their identity in Christ and reinforces that identity within their worship-filled lives.[2] “The liturgy is a ‘hearts and minds’ strategy,” assert James K. A. Smith, “a pedagogy that trains us as disciples precisely by putting our bodies through a regimen of repeated practices that get hold of our heart and ‘aim’ our love toward the kingdom of God.”[3]
Therefore, congregational prayer becomes one of the normative components within the liturgy of worship that remind God’s people that we have communion with the covenant Lord Himself. The church is blood bought. This becomes a life source not only individually but corporately. Congregational prayer can be described, according to Pat Quinn, as “public prayer by a Christian leader in which he represents the gathered people of God in adoration, confession, and/or supplication and by which he instructs them in God’s ways.”[4]
Before the Almighty:
If liturgy becomes a vehicle in shaping the church’s identity, congregational prayer is a hallmark component within her tool kit. All in all, congregational prayer not only structures our communion with the Father through the Son by the power of His Spirit, but it also teaches us how He is to be approached. Thus, the church—collectively and covenantally—should enter by four governing principles: (1) adoring Him, (2) confessing our sins to Him, (3) thanksgiving to/for Him, and (4) seeking supplication by Him.
Adoration. Adoration is white hot reverence, love, and praise for who God is. It is marveling at His character which is shown through His attributes of holiness, majesty, beauty, power, and more.[5] It is an acknowledgement of His greatness (Ps. 145:3). It is delighting in His transcendence (Ps. 113:4-6). It is high veneration for His divine character (Ps. 34:1). It is gloating at the fact that God is God!
Within a liturgical context aided through the vehicle of congregational prayer, adoration serves to reorient the hearts and mind of the congregation away from her own self-aggrandizement and toward the transcendent God Himself. Adoration postures the congregation’s attention in loving God for who He is. It is acknowledging Him for who He is and, therefore, seeing ourselves as we truly are—creatures.
Confession. Confession is a genuine acknowledgement of our shortcomings before a holy and infinite God. It recognizes our own creaturely fragility and moral bankruptcy. It is a surrender to the justice and judgement of an all-knowing, all-wise God. Simultaneously, it is a submission to the mercy, benevolence, and grace of God grounded in the Person and work of Christ. Confession of sin, positively put, is a trust in the power and kindness of God through the Gospel.[6]
Corporate confession through congregational prayer, then, comes from the outflow of adoration in seeing the beauty, majesty, and wander of God (cf. Isa. 6:1-5). It serves to teach God’s covenant people to live in joyful obedience by naming sin, by trusting in Christ’s salvation, and by living in restored fellowship through covenant wisdom. Confession, by the power of His Spirit, breeds forth humility which leads to a renewal of mind (Mic. 6:8; Jas. 4:10; 1 Pet. 5:6; 1 Jn. 1:8-9). Through confession of sin, the church is rightly postured in humble dependence upon God.
Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a joyful response to the character and provision of God (Col. 3:15; 1 Thess. 5:18). It is gratitude for His salvific work in Christ Jesus (Ps. 107.1). It is an appreciation for His kindness and an acknowledgement that without Him there would be no life. He is the provider, sustainer, and ultimate end in all things (1 Cor. 15:28). Thanksgiving must be the posture of the hearts of God’s covenant people (Ps. 100:4).
Thanksgiving confined in corporate prayer teaches the covenant community to live as His people; that is, we have the privilege of communing with the covenantal Lord Himself. Our lives, then, is a response to His covenant faithfulness, which is not wrought in fear, but gratitude saturated in praise (Ps. 150:6; Col. 3:16).[7]
Supplication. Supplication is approaching and humbly asking our covenant Lord to provide for our needs, desires, and longings (Phil. 4:6). We do this because we trust in His benevolence, His mercy, His care, and His steadfast love. He is our provider (Lam. 3.22; Ps. 34:10; Matt. 6:26; Phil. 4:19). He is our sustainer (Ps. 55:22; Isa. 41:10). He is our source (Ps. 23:1; Isa. 40:29; Phil. 4:13). We serve a gracious God who is eager to provide for our needs.[8]
Supplication applied in the context of corporate prayer teaches the church to live in dependence upon God’s provision, wisdom, and timing.[9] Through Christ the covenant people enter His courts with confidence (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 3:12; Heb. 4:16). Simultaneously, we ask with boldness knowing that He is able to do far more than what we can fathom (Eph. 3:20-21).
Listed below are things we can continually pray for as a congregation.
Elders/Pastors/Leaders
The needs of the congregation.
The vision and direction of Covenant City Church.
Governmental leaders locally, nationally, and beyond.
Other ministries (churches, mission organizations, seminaries, networks, etc.)
Communing with the Covenantal Lord:
Jesus proclaimed that “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). The hallmark sign of God’s people—the new covenant temple—is that she would commune covenantally with the Creator God Himself through Word-saturated prayer. She would be a people that is marked out by His Word and intercedes according to God’s will (Jn. 15:1-11; cf. Rom. 12:2). Additionally, this prayerful communion would not only mark off individuals, but it would be apparent amid the corporate body. As Chan rightly contends, “To divorce private prayer from liturgical prayer is to cut the branch from the vine. We need to see our own quiet times as joined with the corporate prayer of the church.”[10] Simply put, congregational prayer—let alone the church’s liturgy—teaches the covenant community how to commune with God, how to boldly enter God’s court through the blood of Christ by the power of His Holy Spirit.[11] Likewise, it forms the church to be the covenant community God has called them to be (Eph. 4:1).[12]
The ministry of corporate prayer, then, is no small task. It is a resounding plea that the Christian life is a life willfully lived dependent upon our covenant Lord. It is a ministry of intercession. It is a ministry of modeling dependence. It is a ministry of unifying a covenant community’s heart to the will and Word of God. For those privileged in serving in this kind of ministry, devote oneself to being saturated in His Word and to committing oneself fervently to commune with God. By so doing, you teach the church to posture their lives likewise for the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria!
***footnotes***
[1] Simon Chan, Liturgical Theology: The Church as Worshiping Community (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 15.
[2] See Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Pictures at a Theological Exhibition: Scenes of the Church’s Worship, Witness and Wisdom (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016), 38-39. Vanhoozer speaks of the ecclesial imaginary where Christ—the Word—brings new reality to bare on God’s people. The liturgy and worship serve to invoke this reality through the truth of His Word. It aligns the believers to what Vanhoozer calls the theodramatic imagination.
[3] James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 33.
[4] Pat Quinn, Praying in Public: A Guidebook for Prayer in Corporate Worship (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 17.
[5] See Matthew Barrett, None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2019), 1-14.
[6] See Timothy Keller, Prayer: Experiencing the Awe and Intimacy with God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2014), 205-221.
[7] See Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1998), 115. Chan says, “To glorify God is to proclaim who God really is, and this act is always accompanied by a certain creaturely attitude of humility, wonder and awe. Glorifying God is not confined to church but extends to every circumstance of life, including eating and drinking (1 Cor. 10:31). . . . Ultimately worship is a response to the glory of God that theology seeks to trace.”
[8] See John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2011), 159-183.
[9] See J. I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1993), 187-189.
[10] Chan, Liturgical Theology, 161.
[11] See D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004), 34-35.
[12] See Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Faith Seeking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 2. Vanhoozer says, “Doing theology ‘in accordance with the Scriptures’ is ultimately a matter of being transformed by the Spirit in order to conform one’s heart, mind, and soul to the Bible such that being biblical is indeed a matter of the strength of one’s very being.”
McYoung Y. Yang (MDiv, SBTS; ThM, MBTS) is the husband to Debbie and a father to their four children. He is a Pastor of Preaching/Teaching & Executive Editor at Covenant City Church in St. Paul. Along with his ministerial duties, he is a homeschool dad. McYoung is a PhD candidate at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO, and his ambition is to use his training as a means to serve the local church in living life through the Gospel lens.