Read and Pray that you may Grow

Both reading the Bible and prayer are important in the lives of the Christians because it is their communication to God. So I would agree that we can find great value in stressing pietistic practices to our church members, yes especially to our church members.

Someone once said that the more we spend time in reading the Bible and in prayer, the more we seek God. This statement simply means that we can find God in our prayer and personal devotion. If I would be the leader in a church, I would certainly want to see the members of my church to grow spiritually and to be mature in Christ. Sunday services and other church fellowships are not enough. Spiritual growth is not a group growth. It is an individual pursuit. Therefore every individual (every church member) should be responsible for his own spiritual growth. To grow spiritually and to be more like Jesus require constant and intimate relationship with God. With this kind of relationship being absent in an individual's life, we cannot expect growth. For a relationship to grow and last, it needs constant communication. Since a person cannot commune with God personally face to face just like any other earthly relationship, he needs to find a way to always be in touch with him. And that way is to read the Bible and to always pray.

I believe that it is the goal of every church to see her members grow in God. As what other Christians say that it is better to have a few members in the church yet mature spiritually than to have a lot of members but are dying spiritually. “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Therefore we should encourage and stress to our church members the importance of studying the Bible and prayer.