Pastors from five Christian Reformed congregations in rural western Michigan took part in a service July 27 to pray for rain.
About 200 people gathered at a local farm northwest of Zeeland, Mich., for the 30-minute service. It was the second consecutive summer the local churches had organized a prayer service, asking God to send rain for the crops in a season where it has been dry since early May.
“We’re all praying together and crying out to God,” said Tyler Wagenmaker, pastor of Beaverdam Christian Reformed Church, who organized the service.
Pastors from the participating churches read passages of Scripture from the Old and New Testaments and offered prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.
A storm system earlier in the day on July 27 brought rain to the area, which Pastor Mark Neymeiyer of Rusk CRC in Allendale noted in his prayer.
“You have shown your mercy to us in advance of our even asking, with the rain we received already this day, from your grace and mercy,” Neymeiyer said.
Wagenmaker, drawing from the story of the prayer meeting recorded in Acts 12 after the apostle Peter had been imprisoned, spoke of the power of prayer and of churches coming together to appeal to God for rain.
“This is the blessing of living in a place like West Michigan, that we have so many different churches that are represented here,” he said. “How good it is to be able to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ and to be drawn together, because sometimes that’s what challenges do—they draw people together, and that strengthens the bonds of Christian fellowship, it strengthens the church.”
Participating churches were Beaverdam, Rusk, Borculo (Mich.) CRC in Borculo, Drenthe CRC in Zeeland, and North Blendon CRC in Hudsonville, Mich.
Besides the similar service last summer, Classis Zeeland churches also prepared a video-linked prayer service in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CRC’s Church Order makes room for such services in Art. 51-c: “Special worship services may be proclaimed in times of great stress or blessing for church, nation, or world.”