The Prayer, Care, and Social Concern Ministry
Written by Brian Lee
Information provided by the Prayer, Care, and Social Concern Ministry Team
“I pray because I can’t help myself. … I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God. It changes me.” – C.S. Lewis
Prayer is such a crucial backbone of our Christian life that this is always an area with new insight to learn and room to grow in our walk of faith. Moreover, prayer is not simply a private, individual affair. The outflow of a healthy and vibrant prayer life compels us to not simply invite others into our lives, but also stretches ourselves to engage the world, as the bridge of the song Hosanna would suggest:
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like
You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
– Hosanna by Hillsong United
Hence, our Prayer, Care, and Social Concern Ministry focuses on equipping, empowering, and encouraging our community to engage in these 3 very things: 1) connection with God; 2) connection with each other; and 3) connection with our communities.
Praying and Caring Amidst the Pandemic
Since the pandemic, engaging and caring for the community has become ever more challenging. Nevertheless, the PCS team works flexibly and diligently behind the scenes to ensure that there are channels to engage inwardly and outwardly. The PCS team has created online platforms for our community to participate in prayer together, as well as a place to submit prayer requests. We also had the opportunity to host our first ever online prayer retreat as a church community in 2020. In regards to caring for the community, the prayer team continues to offer prayers to those who are in distress or going through grieving. The PCS team mobilizes the greater community to extend words of care, encouragement, and/or condolences to those who were in need during this pandemic season.
Challenges in Ministry
PCS vows to make prayer more than just an appointment or event. We often compartmentalize prayer into an event rather than a posture or habit in our lives. As our team lead Danita puts it, “Prayer isn’t just relegated to a prayer meeting, prayer at meals, or listening to someone pray during service. We need to listen to God more and speak less. We need to take the time to worship when we pray, rather than rushing into a shopping list of requests. Prayer is so fundamental for any ministry.”
We also hope to expand our reach to care for those not just within our community, but those outside that we might not have had the opportunity or courage to engage previously. The pandemic has demonstrated to us how fragile our social and support circles can be and how much the Christian community may fill in that gap, while witnessing the gospel of Christ through the process. Hence we cannot rely on one-time service opportunities, but a commitment in relationship building and faith witnessing, the same way we established trust and camaraderie through our long-time relationship with those in Tsawout.
Ways to Support the PCS Ministry
What better way to get involved in PCS than beginning with augmenting your prayer life! To recognize the importance of prayer in our lives will lead to foundational changes to our desire to engage God and others in love, compassion, and humility. We hope that you may consider joining us in our life-long journey of fine-tuning our craft in prayer, weaving prayer into your daily life and your spiritual interaction with others. If time permits, you may also consider signing up and becoming part of our prayer team as well. In living out care, you may also find ways to show your love to your neighbours, friends, and family, especially those who might be struggling and hurting right now.
Lastly, the PCS team is always looking for others to join the team. We welcome people who have a heart for prayer, care, and social concern to join our core team. If you have an idea on how we as a church can care for our neighbors and you have the willingness to lead the effort, join or partner with the PCS team, either as a team member or for prayer support.
Praying for the PCS Ministry
Even if you are unable to participate in the PCS ministry at this time, we greatly appreciate your support in praying for our community and our ministry. In particular, please do remember the PCS ministry in your prayers on the following:
- that PCS team members will seek God regularly and intentionally, listen to and obey Him, and be authentic in our walk with Christ.
- for us to follow God instead of running ahead of Him and asking him to bless our plans.
- that God would raise up more people of all ages with a burden to pray, to care about the oppressed right in our own neighborhoods, and to care about people holistically (spiritually, mentally, physically).
If you have any questions about PCS or simply want to learn more about the ministry, please feel free to contact Danita at pcs@vcbc.bc.ca