Rebuilding the Family Altar

My sister attends St. Aldates Church in Oxford. Before our summer holidays she gave me a book called The Discipline of Intimacy written by the Rector, Charlie Cleverly.

Somehow this book touched my heart. It is very informative, very biblical in its approach, but it has what I can only describe as drawing power. It drew me. It made we want to read. More than that, it made me want to pray. It made me want to seek God.

However, it went even further. One chapter in particular might prove to be the most important chapter that I've read in any book for a long, long time.

You see the chapter in question, chapter 9, is about rebuilding the family altar. The author was challenged about the importance of this by an African pastor. This pastor, John Mulinde, told him that he was surprised that having visited many Christian homes in the West, prayer was not part of the warp and woof of the lives of these families. He then went on to explain that in Uganda Christian families prayed together for about an hour daily.

The author told of his own experience of rebuilding the family altar in his home and gave ten practical steps for anyone who wanted to set out on this journey.

Can you imagine how it would affect the prayer life of the church if every Christian family was committed to family prayer? Can you imagine the potential for impacting the world?

You can find out more about the church Charlie Cleverly leads here