Old Paths, New Power: Awakening Your Church through Prayer and the Ministry of the Word by Daniel Henderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an extremely encouraging, challenging book. In summary, Henderson is calling the church back to Acts 6:4. The leaders focus on the ministry of prayer and the word and the saints are equipped for works of ministry. The heart of this book is a call back to prayer. The Acts 6:4 model is the Old Path. No, this is not a portrait of an idyllic 1st century faith. He points out that the struggles and challenges of the church then were as difficult as they are now, but the response was very different.
Instead of evangelical celebrities, catchy vision statements and measurable outcomes formulated by CEO types, the church needs to be lead by humble, praying, biblical fed men. Once we return to this old path we will see a revival of new prayer. Henderson reminds us we do not plan and promote revival. Revival is a gift God sends.
Henderson includes many examples where this old path is leading to new power. The old paths of New Testament leadership (Acts 6:4) will lead to new power. And the examples cover a great sample of various types and sizes of churches. So its not personality based, location, or denomination. It is a movement of God. Henderson also includes various shorter articles ranging from John Piper and Henry Blackaby to Francis Chan and Jim Cymbala, so again we are reminded this is God working through His church.
Henderson also pushes us to get beyond the prayer meeting organ recital (Joe’s toe’s and Danny’s diabetes) to humble pleas of desperation and thanksgiving. NOTE: Henderson never says these types of prayer are not valid but prayer gatherings can be so much more. He gives a simple formula. God is worthy and I am needy. There are plenty of examples of prayer services, prayer gatherings etc. throughout the book. In the end Henderson calls us to prayer services that are Word Fed, Spirit Led and Worship Based.
This is not a book on how to grow a bigger church but a church of healthy, spiritually passionate disciples. He says “when prayer goes viral people are not excited about it ‘prayer’ but are infectious about him ‘Him’ (Jesus)”.
Lord teach us to pray
Thinking About Theology 