One necessity of every professing New Testament churches is PRAYER. It is one of the four non-negotiables for all New Testament churches (Act 2:42). When I came to my present ministry in 2001, I asked for such commitment from its congregation. I quoted Spurgeon’s acceptance at New Park Street.

“And now one thing is due to every minister, and I pray you to remind the church of it, namely, that in private, as well as public, they must all earnestly wrestle in prayer to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I may be sustained in the great work.”

I never asked anyone whether that commitment was accepted by the church (or even if they notified of my request). When Archibald Brown went to the Stepney Green Tabernacle, he took notice of their non-solicited commitment to individual and corporate prayer.

“I think of thirty years ago, when I stood on Stepney Green for the first time in my life and looked across at that chapel that was pointed out to me as Stepney Green Tabernacle, then in want of a pastor. And I think of those who gathered round me in those early days and said, ‘Well, pastor, you preach, and we will pray.’ They constituted a noble band.” (Murray, Iain. Archibald Brown, Banner of Truth, 38)

My heart yearns for such reviving in professing Christian churches.