Pray for Divine Appointments

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:26-31 NIV

The right conversation at the right time

Philip was sent out into the wilderness and, while there, he encounters someone who wanted to learn more about God. This Eunuch was the ultimate seeker. He was curious. He was trying to figure out who this God was. And at just the right time, God brought Philip around to explain it. This is the perfect example of a divine appointment.

We’re praying that God gives us hundreds of divine appointments like this. We know that a church plant will not succeed without plenty of divine appointments.

In Columbus, 81% of the population does not think it’s important to attend a religious service, but 44% consider themselves spiritual. In other words, there are hundreds of thousands of people who do not attend any church but consider themselves spiritual. They might be curious. They might have questions. They might even be seeking.

Today, the vast majority of people who currently don’t attend church were once active in a local church. In other words, most of the people who are not attending church once attended church and stopped for some reason. Our hope is to meet these people.

We believe our faith community is uniquely equipped to reach and disciple people who have had negative experiences with a church. We believe that God is going to arrange divine appointments with people who are spiritual but not religious. We believe that if we pray for divine appointments, God will connect our church to random, unexplainable encounters with people at the right moment for God to transform their life.

Will you pray that God will provide hundreds of divine appointments like the one between Philip and the Eunuch? Will you pray that God will push our leaders out into the community and onto the desert roads, as the Spirit leads?