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What Happens When the Church Stops Praying?

Outreach recently spoke with Mark Batterson to discuss a wide assortment of issues, including the challenges of taking the Gospel into the culture of Washington D.C., the lessons he’s learned about prayer from his most recent book, The Circle Maker, and what it means to be a “current” church in our ever-changing culture. Here’s a glimpse into the conversation. Check out more from our Nov/Dec issue here

What are the most important ministry lessons you’ve learned this year?

We’re not trying to grow a church, we’re trying to bless a city, and when you bless a city then God grows His church. And I think that’s gotten into our DNA over the last year.

You know how you can read a verse in the Bible a thousand times, but then one day the full force of it hits you and it’s like this revelation. This little statement Jesus made, “I will build my church”… I’ve heard that a thousand times, but I think it hit me this year.

My job is not to build the church.

It’s a little thing, but it’s been big for me. I’ve shared that in some settings with pastors and I think it’s been real freeing. We need to remind ourselves, it’s His church—He’s the one who will build it, and if we can stay out of the way, then some great things are going to happen.

Prayer has also played a big part.

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I feel like prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do.

So if we’re not praying, then the best we can do is the best we can do, and that’s not good enough. When we get on our knees, the Holy Spirit does the heavy lifting. Prayer creates the culture and gives people a heart for evangelism, because when you get into God’s presence, you start to get His heartbeat.

That’s been the game-changer for us this year.

In your recent book, The Circle Maker, you talk about the important transformation of becoming a praying church. What does that look like for National Community?

You can delegate a lot of things, but you can’t delegate prayer. The Lord convicted me out of Acts 6—when the church leaders were delegating stuff so they could be in the Word and in prayer.

I love conferences. I’m a conference junkie, but I’d rather have one God-idea than a thousand good ideas.

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markbatterson@churchleaders.com'
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., a multi-site church and a leading fellowship in the nation’s capital. Meeting in movie theaters and Metro stops throughout the D.C. area, NCC is attended by more than 70 percent single twenty-somethings. Mark’s weekly podcast is one of the fastest growing in America. His book, In A Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day: How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars peaked at #44 on Amazon.com’s best-seller list. He has just released his newest book entitled, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaiming the Adventure of Pursuing God. He and his wife Lora live on Capitol Hill. They have three children.