Challenging Evangelical Assumptions, Part 1

I grew up in an evangelical church, the Church of the Nazarene. I was fully educated in the ways of the evangelical church. We were not fundamentalists, but somewhat legalistic. I want to examine some of the assumptions that I grew up with. (I will explore these off and on over the coming weeks, and perhaps months). Some of these assumptions are codified, and some are unspoken, and perhaps a few are even unconscious.

Assumption One: Prayer must be spontaneous to be sincere.

This is one that is not codified, but is certainly unspoken. I recall hearing criticisms of churches that read their prayers. In our church, prayers were sincere because they were spontaneous. We were somehow closer to God because we prayed in an utterly spontaneous way.

Here is the challenge I would issue. Why is spontaneity equated to sincerity? Think back on important moments in your life (proposing to your girlfriend, giving a big speech, taking a test, etc.). Were any of those spontaneous? Did you take a big test without studying? Anything that is important takes preparation. Are we not saying that prayer is unimportant if we "go off the cuff"?

As far as I am concerned, pre-prepared prayers can be very effective in focusing our attention on God. This could be done either through praying the Psalms, using great prayers of the saints, or writing our own.

Another aspect of spontaneous prayer, is that it is usually the same thing every time. Sure the order in which we pray for the missionaries.

I seems that spontaneous prayer is born of laziness rather than sincerity.

If prayer is important, it should take time.