Am I failing because I don’t lead prayers in the congregation?
Question:
I have followed your site for many years and asked a few questions from time to time. Now I have a big one.
I have been a member of the church of Christ for many years. I do sermon readings, I always participate with answers in class, I say the prayers at the Lord's Table and I have served my congregation in various ways.
I have rarely, in all my years attending, done a closing prayer. I have never done an opening prayer.
I avoid them because I do not do them well, get emotional, and usually cannot complete the prayer.
My question: Am I not supporting the local congregation in my failure to do these prayers? Will not doing these types of prayers cause me to lose my salvation and end up in torment? I have not found any scriptural material that states that unless I do these prayers I will be lost, but I wanted to ask your opinion as well.
Thank you so much in advance for your attention.
Answer:
"For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body" (I Corinthians 12:14-20).
Each of us has different abilities and preferences. There are things that I'm not really good at doing and I appreciate those with greater talents in those areas. I had a good friend who was great at teaching people individually, but he was terrified of teaching a large group. He did what he could. He was an asset to the congregation.
You are discounting the things you do because you are able to do them easily. It isn't that you can't lead a prayer -- you've done it -- it just isn't your favorite thing to do. That's fine. If you are interested in improving that is also fine. But none of these means you are a failure as a Christian.
