Many congregations, One Church. A joint Prayer Service in West Seattle.

On Sunday, November 6th, several congregations in West Seattle gathered at West Side Presbyterian to worship, pray and fellowship together as one Church. This was the 5th annual gathering and it was one of the largest in terms of attendees.

Worshipers from West Side Pres, Trinity West Seattle, Hope Lutheran, New City, All Souls, The Hallows, Bethany, and Grace Church were led by five pastors from the congregations in a time of meaningful prayer. Jesse Mablango from West Side served as the emcee and host and provided a wonderful benediction. West Side also provided worship music between each of the speakers.

Ryan Faust of Grace Church began the service by reading from Ephesians 3, proclaiming that we are to be a light to our neighbors and draw that light from one source- Jesus.

Eddie Koh of New City, gave context regarding the early church at Antioch, stating that all ethnic groups were divided in those days EXCEPT for christians. This was such a paradigm shift for the culture of the day, who had no category for these different backgrounds gathering together, that they simply started calling them "Christians". He challenged the church to live our lives in peace- seeking reconciliation within the Church and breaking down racial barriers.

Peter Mueller of Hope Lutheran pressed into our current situation about how we ought to pray during this election season. He encouraged worshipers to remember who the true King is and that he is sovereign and good. He also called on the Church to be an example of working together and loving each other regardless of who wins or who loses, that we should be hopeful regardless of the leadership and that we should be prayerful for local, state and federal leaders.

Finally, David Fairchild of Trinity encouraged worshipers to be prayerfully thankful for the Church in West Seattle down to Burien and pray specifically for the church plants within the last 10 years and for the 10 years to come. That the body would be multiplied greatly and that more established churches would feel refreshed during this time, as well.

Each pastor spent about five minutes on their topics and then asked for prayers to be prayed aloud by the attendees, which was especially encouraging to hear many voices from around West Seattle pray for each other and the city.

One encouraging highlight of the night happened after the service on my way to the car. I was hobbling along on my crutches (I had injured my ankle over the weekend) and someone from the service asked if they could pray for me. I didn't know the woman and she was wrangling three small kids, but she took the time to stop and pray for a quick recovery and healing for my ankle.. She said, "We just prayed for the West Seattle Churches in the service, we are all trying to figure this out and I'd like to pray for you specifically if that's okay." It reminded me of Pastor Eddie's reminder how we should love and encourage each other, so that the world might ask, "who are these people that love each other well?"

If you would like to host something similar or have hosted something similar- we want to know! Let us know how we can help, or even tell your story to encourage the Church!

-Nathan Ryan