For the past 8 years I have prayed with a group of men at my church every Monday morning from 7:00am-8:00am. This group ranges from 8 to 18 men. We don’t talk about prayer, we don’t have a bible study – we pray. Sometimes we pray for each other in smaller groups, sometimes we pray for our church and the various staff and ministries, sometimes we pray for our city, our country and the world.

I’m not always fully awake when I arrive as are some of the men, and yet we hold it as a priority for our lives.

For me personally, it has been a great experience for many reasons. First, it starts my week off with prayer, providing a solid foundation to begin the week. There is something good about coming before God with like-minded men in prayer.

More importantly however, in the midst of the diversity, it is teaching me to pray.

Every man has a style to their praying. Some are elegant in their prose and the words seem to flow out effortlessly. Some are more to the point without any extras words added for definition – just the facts. Still others seem more disjointed as they try to finds the words to express what is on their hearts. Amazingly, in the middle of this variety, I’m relaxed. I have my style, they have their style – we hear and learn from each other.

Beyond their style of praying, each man has various topics of prayer that they tend to emphasize more. One man prays for families and marriages, another for the city, one man cares deeply for outreach around the world, still another for the pastors at our church. And as I sit in the circle and listen to the many prayers, I get a sense of the importance of community. No one of us cares enough for all aspects of life, but together our prayers encompass so much more. Perhaps God gives each of us a passion so that collectively we are stronger – I feel good about that, more complete.

As I looked around the group last week, I realized that we also represent various cultural groups – first generation Caribbean, Chinese, Syrian, African and Italian, with a few of us Canadians mixed in:) Not only do our passions guide our prayers, our cultural formation shapes our prayers.

We don’t do life alone. Our faith can never be a private thing, it just doesn’t work that way. Sure, doing life with others is messy, uncomfortable and strange at times. And yet, if you step back and look at the richness of the diversity and have a willingness to learn from others, you can’t help but be thankful for the beauty of community.

As you lead others on the journey of discipleship, always be mindful to bring them into the larger body of Christ. Don’t hide in your small group and think you have it all together, you don’t. We do “The Church” as disservice by being loners and independent thinkers. There is much to learn from the diversity – let’s lead the way on this.

For the Kingdom.