Comments about Announcements


The Spiritual Side

In our assemblies, announcements are often made concerning various topics affecting the congregation, ranging from serious health problems to "housekeeping" items such as the need to keep the children out of the parking lot after services.

It occurs to me that SOME announcements, while essentially related to physical matters, have spiritual significance. For example, consider our members who travel. We naturally pray for their safety, but we should also consider the spiritual side of their trip. The person may be travelling to a place where there is no church, or may be coming into contact with non-Christians. We should pray for opportunities for the spread of the gospel. Also in such conditions, we should pray for the traveler's spiritual strength, especially if they're likely to undergo persecution or unusual temptation (for example, Christians in the military).

And what about the sick? Spritually speaking, a prayer list may include an elder or preacher, as well as a non-Christian. What we know about the person's spiritual condition affects how we pray. If the person is a Christian, we're likely to ask God to grant them steadfastness and patience. On the other hand, if the person is not a Christian, we'll probably ask God to extend their life to allow opportunity to hear the gospel and repent. Our prayers in that case will also extend to asking for opportunity for Christians in their circle to have opportunity and courage and wisdom to teach the person the gospel. (So it's appropriate to announce what we know about the person's spiritual condition, at least generally, and of course, as best we know.)

May we always see the spiritual side of our physical circumstances.

Guidelines

Everyone seems to have an opinion about what should or should not be announced.
Here are InkMan's guidelines for deciding what to announce:

Get InkMan's Template for Making Announcements


Written by Ink Man

©2005-2019 — All rights reserved in all media / Todos los derechos reservados en toda forma.