A response to that dirty word

Maybe part of the reason “church” is such a dirty word today is because it hurts so much when things there are wrong.  Has it ever been a painful place for you? Be honest. You’re talking to a gal who has spent over 20 years in “church ministry,” so I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ve watched from a distance, and I’ve had the mud hit my own glasses. No one expects to go into the gathering of God’s people and find bitterness, anger, selfishness, neglect, or ugliness.  But we do.  Because there are people there, and we are often ugly.

Instead of just putting “church” into the dirty words category and leaving it there, a different response awaits. Instead of just walking out and never embracing again, there’s a better action to take.  Jesus never meant for CHURCH to be a dirty word, and there’s a way to redeem it.

In Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church Teri Lynne Underwood explores the connection between embracing Scripture, evaluating personal experience, and experiencing the power in praying for your church. Acknowledging the difficulties and short-comings of the “institution of church” while challenging believers to invest in the study of the early church and harness the power of prayer, Teri Lynne brings a voice of hope to the often-hopeless landscape of the modern church experience.

Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church is ideal for individuals seeking guidance in praying for their churches, as well as small groups who want to experience the power of prayer in their own congregation. More than another study of prayer, Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church is an invitation to pray.

Features of Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church:  Short chapters with discussion questions, thirty prayers based on the Book of Acts, and a 40-Day reading guide for Acts.

A Note from Teri Lynne: I’m a fourth-generation pastor’s wife and I’m raising a fourth-generation pastor’s kid. The church has been the backdrop for almost every significant decision and experience in my life. I have been a part of churches I’ve loved and churches I, well, didn’t love. From business meetings gone wild to sanctuaries so heavy with the Holy Spirit no one was willing to move – I’ve seen body of Christ at its best and, sadly, at its worst.

A popular sentiment these days in American culture is to reject the “institutional church,” blaming the machinery and programs and leadership for all the failures in sharing the gospel, ministering to the poor, and impacting the world. This book is my reaction to much of that sentiment. Weary from the debate about how best to “do church,” I spent time exploring the first church in the book of Acts. What I found was not a program for exponential growth or a plan for the perfect church, instead I saw a whole lot of very ordinary people become a part of an extraordinary purpose. The foundation for every thing the early church did was prayer. Everything.

In Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church, I am inviting you to join me in letting go of the perceptions and preferences and instead to dig deep into the heart of prayer. Because I’m more and more convinced that answers we long to find about doing church well can only be found when we begin the conversation on our knees.

Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church is available for Kindle and Kindle apps for only $4.99. You may also purchase a print copy of Prayers from the Pews: The Power of Praying for Your Church- perfect for adding your own prayers! – for $6.99.

Print copies will be available very soon on Teri Lynne’s website and on Amazon.

About Teri Lynne Underwood:
I’m a Midwestern girl happily married to a Southern man. We’re making our home in North Alabama with our (growing-up-way-too-fast) daughter and a very droopy Basset hound. In my spare time I love Auburn football, watching Downton Abbey or Big Bang Theory (talk about a split personality!), and spending time with my family. Finding glimpses of holy in the most mundane places, my one desire is to invite others into this journey toward a life where the sacred and secular collide. I write my almost-daily words of encouragement at a little white desk and study in a big not-so-white-anymore chair in between loading the dishwasher, putting out the dog, and sitting in the car line.