Here is a prayer poem based on the acronym ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) which I have written and adapted for use in public prayers.

ADORATION

Creator God, we are here to praise Your glorious name,

For You call all the billions and billions of stars by name.

Redeemer God, we can only bow humbly at your feet,

For You alone all the powers of hell did defeat.

Heavenly Father, we kneel in worship and adoration.

Your power is vastly beyond our imagination.

Your wisdom and knowledge is so infinite and vast.

You see everything that is present, future and past.

You alone are worthy of all our worship and praise.

May we love and honour You all of the rest of our days.

Jesus, we cannot thank You enough for Your sacrifice.

For our sins, it was the only payment that would suffice.

We come as sinful creatures before the Holy One.

Yet we come in the precious name of the beloved Son.

We come boldly before the heavenly throne of grace.

We come as needy children seeking the Father’s face.

CONFESSION

Heavenly Father, we are so weak and twisted and frail.

If our inmost thoughts were exposed we’d be worthy of jail.

You have forgiven us so many times we’ve lost count.

If our sins were piled up it would be an impressive mount.

How many times can we come before your mercy throne?

How many of our sins will the blood of Jesus atone?

We have hurt so many, many people over the years.

We can’t count how many people we’ve driven to tears.

And now once more we come before your throne of grace.

And bow before you to confess our own disgrace.

Please ease the pain that we have inflicted on others.

Please grant them a measure of your grace to discover.

Yet we know that it is against you that we have sinned.

So it is your mercy and grace that we hope to win.

THANKSGIVING

Father, we know that our life comes from you.

Your love and grace sustains us all our days through.

Help us to remember that we are but dust.

Sunshine  and rain are also your gifts to us.

You’ve given us this wondrous world to enjoy.

You’ve granted us a measure of peace and joy.

We also want to thank you for our health.

Compared to many we also have great wealth.

Thank-you Jesus for dying at Calvary.

The salvation which for us is totally free,

You purchased at the cost of your precious blood.

Now all of our sins are covered by your blood.

How can we mere mortals thank you enough?

To count all that we owe you is really quite tough.

We can only honour you with our thanks and praise,

And pledge to serve you all the rest of our days.

SUPPLICATION

Heavenly Father, we have so many needs.

We need forgiveness for our many misdeeds.

We need your comfort for our times of great pain.

So we come before your throne of grace again.

Father, we come humbly before you at this hour.

We have loved ones who need your healing power.

We ask you to hold them in the palm of your hand.

And comfort them until they reach the Promised Land.

We pray that you would continually feed us.

We also pray for those all those who lead us.

May they daily seek your guidance and wisdom.

May they know where their power truly comes from.

SUPPLICATION

Heavenly Father, we have so many needs.

We need forgiveness for our many misdeeds.

We need your comfort for our times of great pain.

So we come before your throne of grace again.

Father, we come humbly before you at this hour.

We have loved ones who need your healing power.

We ask you to hold them in the palm of your hand.

And comfort them until they reach the Promised Land.

We pray that you would continually feed us.

We also pray for those all those who lead us.

May they daily seek your guidance and wisdom.

May they know where their power truly comes from.

8. Soul Liberty

                Separation of church and state and soul liberty are often linked together. They are both issues for which Baptists have marked Baptists from the beginning. They are also issues for which Baptist have been willing to die. Thomas Helwys, one of the founders of the Baptist church in England was imprisoned by King James I (the one who commissioned the King James Bible) for daring to argue for separation of church and state and religious liberty. He died in prison. Many religious groups that fled religious persecution set up their own religious persecution in the new world. Roger Williams was different. He not only started the first Baptist church in America he also established the colony of Providence Plantation which provided a sanctuary for victims of religious persecution.

                Soul liberty means that each individual has the right to choose for himself or herself what to believe and practice. Individuals are accountable to God alone. They should not be compelled to join a state church, but should be free to join which ever religion and whatever church they choose for themselves. This also means that church officials have no right to dictate what their followers should believe and practice. Unfortunately, many church officials today do exercise considerable control over their followers.

                Jesus came to earth to set us free from slavery to sin. We should not replace this with slavery to church officials, but should exercise the freedom that he has won for us. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (E.S.V.) Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Question:            How should churches exercise church discipline in light of this principle?

7. Separation of Church and State

Throughout history church and state have been intertwined. In ancient times the ruling monarch not only governed state affairs, but religious ones as well. In ancient Israel, if the king was faithful to God, then the nation prospered. If he was not, then calamity came upon the people. These ties between church and state continued for hundreds of years. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Martin Luther probably would not have succeeded if he had not received some support from the nobility. John Calvin established a state church. This union between state and church still exists in many places today.  Queen Elizabeth II is not only the nominal head of Great Britain, but also the nominal head of the Church of England. Many countries are still ruled by religious leaders. Baptists consider such ties to be unhealthy. Abuses have been frequent.

The church and civil government each have their separate roles given to them by God. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (E.S.V.) Verses two to six explain what the role of civil government should be and verse seven says, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” When Jesus was questioned about whether people should pay taxes to Caesar, he replied in Matthew 22:21, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” Baptists believe that both the church and the state have legitimate roles to perform and that these roles should not overlap. The state should not interfere with the church’s role and the church should not interfere with the state’s role.

That does not mean that Baptists cannot be involved in politics. John Diefenbaker, Tommy Douglas and Ernest Manning were prominent Canadian Baptists who were also involved in politics. However, it must be noted that that these three politicians were members of three different political parties with vastly different political views.

A practical illustration of what separation of church and state means is that church leaders should not tell their followers how to vote and state leaders should not tell church leaders that they must perform same sex marriages. Unfortunately, church leaders often do tell their followers how to vote. They do not want the state to interfere with their affairs, but they feel quite free to interfere with state affairs.

Question:            How should Christians respond to moral issues like same sex marriage and abortion, prostitution which are governed by the state?

6. Congregational Government

Baptists practice congregational government because they believe that all believers are equal in Christ. There is no separate ruling class. There is to be no hierarchy in Baptist churches. Jesus Christ is the only head of the church. Colossians 1:18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” (E.S.V.) Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Baptists also believe in the autonomy of the local church. No denominational officials dictate what local churches do. However, Baptist churches do associate with other Baptists churches to be better able to perform such tasks as world mission.

The New Testament does not lay down rules as to how churches are to be governed. There are offices mentioned such as pastors, elders, deacons and evangelists and there are qualifications given for those who hold these offices, but there is no specific church explicitly stated.

Unfortunately, many Baptist churches only maintain the illusion of congregational government. Nominating committees choose who will fulfill the offices in the church and the congregational merely votes to ratify these choices. Then these officers then choose the nominating committee for the next year and so the cycle goes. Many people in the church are not involved at all in the decisions that are made. Attendance at business meetings is remarkably low.

Question:            Why are so few people involved in the work of the local church?