O God, again and again, you have made known your plan, not just to save isolated individuals but to gather a people for yourself. Though all the earth belongs to you, you have gathered a people, a nation, and now the church to be your treasured possession.

You said to the people of Israel, “The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance” (Dt 4:20). So too, you have brought us out of death to life, out of condemnation to acceptance, out of bondage to freedom, out of alienation to be members of the household of God—members of our own beautiful, ordinary local churches.

As we consider your great purpose in gathering a people for yourself and as we pray for our individual church and our family of churches, we pray that you would unite us. You have called into one body, joined together in one Spirit, to worship one God and Father through one Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ. Yet the threats to unity are legion—busyness, neglect, selfishness, indifference, impatience, sinful judgment, self-righteousness. Let us return again and again, when tempted, to our first love, the love we had for one another at the beginning. And let the main things that gathered us together be the main things that keep us together.

We pray that you would mature us. We praise you that you did not leave us as you found us—we were washed, sanctified, and justified to belong wholly to you! We were called to be a holy nation, a house of prayer for all peoples. Let not the busyness of doing church distract us from our central calling to worship you and to become more like you. Let all that we do—our gatherings, our initiatives, our prayers, our life together—contibute to this great end. Let our gatherings be filled with the Word of God and the enlivening and sanctifying presence of the Spirit. Let our relationships with one another be marked by kindness, patience, and love, providing a greenhouse for grace to grow. Let our churches be the aroma of Christ to our family, friendships, and community (2 Cor 2:14).

We pray that you would use us and our gifts to build up one another. We thank you for the many people who have built us up in the faith over the years—through their prayers, encouragement, serving, teaching, giving, and so much more. Let us follow their example and not seek our own interests. Let us take up every opportunity to serve others. Make known to us opportunities to serve. Give us wisdom about what opportunities are best. Help us to commit and follow through to serve with joy, eagerness, and dependence. Grant us favor, causing our efforts to build up the whole body, including ourselves!

We pray that you would keep us until the end. We praise you that our hope is not in our plans, programs, church plants, or our life together. Our confidence is that, through our often measly efforts, you are gathering a people to be with forever. One day soon, we will all hear, “Behold, the dwelling palace of God is with man!” (Rev. 20:3).

Until that day, keep us until the end. May all who join our churches finish the race well. May no more wander away from our churches or, more importantly, from following Christ. Let us work hard while restingly in the promise: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:9).

May all glory be to our Lord and Savior, the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ.

Amen.