Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
The speaker argues we “cannot pray well” until we reject individualistic Christianity: “the spiritual world does not revolve around me, but it revolves around us,” pointing to the plural pronouns (“give us,” “forgive us,” “lead us”)—what practical changes would happen in your praying if you treated the “us” as the church more than your immediate personal needs?
Another way to ask: If “give us” and “forgive us” means the whole church, how would your prayers change if you focused more on the church’s needs than just your own?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker’s logic, your prayers would shift from me-centered requests to church-shaped petitions that seek shared provision, shared forgiveness, and shared protection from temptation. You would also see prayer less as personal expression and more as participation in God forming a people and a kingdom.
- He says we “cannot pray well” until we change our theology and stop thinking the spiritual world “revolves around me.”
- He insists Jesus came “to save a people… create a nation,” not just isolated individuals.
- He points to the Lord’s Prayer’s grammar: “all the pronouns… are plural,” quoting “Give us… forgive us… lead us… deliver us.”
- He places the prayer inside a kingdom context: it’s “right… in the middle” of the Sermon on the Mount, which he calls the “constitution of this new nation.”
- He urges collective practice: “Let’s pray at 9, 12, and 3 every day,” expecting church-wide change.