We are thanking God for the new people we are seeing come to church at our Sunday family service, men’s group and coffee mornings, but above all his faithfulness. When we write on our blog, we always emphasise how important it is to pray. Prayer is the key that will open the doors to any new initiative. Why? Well, it is simple, God is listening to our prayers.

Let’s look at a scripture that show just how important it is to pray to God. Firstly, let’s look at James 5 v 16.

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Whose prayers does God hear? Does He only listen to a select group of people—those who seem especially spiritual, never make mistakes, or live perfect lives? The Bible gives us a reassuring answer.

God hears prayer, but that does not mean every prayer is answered in the way we expect. Scripture teaches that there are principles that shape an effective prayer life and help us understand how God responds.

Let’s read it again James 5 v 16.

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

James then gives us an example in James 5 v 17 – 18, here is the scripture.

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

This passage is significant because Elijah was not a perfect man. Anyone familiar with his story can see that he had weaknesses and struggles just like we do. Although God used him powerfully, Elijah also experienced fear, discouragement, and moments of failure.

The effectiveness of Elijah’s prayers was not based on his perfection. It was based on God’s faithfulness.

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are made righteous in God’s sight. Righteousness is not something we earn through our own efforts; it is a gift that comes through Christ. Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we can approach God with confidence, knowing that He hears us and welcomes us into a relationship with Him.

Our confidence in prayer is not rooted in our performance, but in God’s character. He is faithful, and He keeps His promises.

Now let’s look at another important passage in John 15:7, here is the scripture.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

This verse contains both a clear instruction and a remarkable promise.

The instruction is to remain closely connected to Jesus and allow His words to shape your thoughts, attitudes, and daily life. Abiding in Christ means maintaining a close relationship with Him, trusting Him, and following His teaching.

The promise is that when our hearts are transformed by His Word, our desires begin to unite with God’s will. As our thinking becomes more like His, our prayers become more aligned with His purposes. When we ask according to His will, we can have confidence that He hears us and responds in ways that accomplish His perfect plan.

Prayer is not about convincing God to do what we want. It is about growing so close to Him that our hearts begin to desire what He desires. When that happens, prayer becomes a powerful expression of faith, trust, and partnership with God’s purposes.

The good news is that God is not looking for perfect people. He is looking for people who trust Him, remain in Him, and approach Him with faith. Through Jesus Christ, every believer has the privilege of coming boldly before the Father, knowing that He listens, cares, and answers according to His wisdom and love.

How is Canton Community Church growing?

There are many reasons why Canton Community Church is growing. One very important reason is because much prayer from righteous people are being petitioned to God and what you are seeing is God answering those prayers because He is listening to us.  

Here is a written prayer asking the Lord to grow Canton Community Church back in October 2024.

A prayer written in May 2025 continuing to ask the Lord to grow Canton Community Church.

Another short prayer (Prayers don’t have to be essays either) written in July 2025 asking the Lord to shape Canton Community Church.

Another prayer written later in July 2025.

Here is a video that shows our family service on 21^st of June 2026.

As you can see lots of people turning up and God answering prayers wonderfully, why?

Because a person’s prayer life is not contingent on them being good. It is because it is contingent on God being faithful and God being righteous. If you follow Gods instruction to stay closely connected to Jesus and let His word guide you, your heart will be shaped by His teachings, your desires will begin to match God’s will. As a result, the prayers you bring to Him will be heard and answered according to His purpose.

Baptism is one of the most significant moments in the life of a Christian. It is a public declaration that someone has placed their faith in Jesus Christ and desires to follow Him. It represents dying to the old life and being raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). It should never be treated as a marketing opportunity, a performance metric, or a way to impress people.

Imagine this scenario.

A man visits a church. He is warmly welcomed. He attends services, builds relationships, and eventually decides to be baptised. The church celebrates his decision publicly. Photos are taken. Social media posts are shared. The church proudly announces another baptism, another life supposedly transformed, another reason to celebrate.

Then, just weeks later, something changes.

The new believer raises a concern or disagrees with a decision made by church leadership. Rather than sitting down together, opening the scriptures, praying, listening, and lovingly working through the disagreement over a prolonged period of time, the leaders decide the easiest solution is simply to ask him to leave just weeks after the baptism.

The same person who was celebrated in front of the congregation suddenly becomes an inconvenience.

The question has to be asked: Was the church celebrating a soul, or were they celebrating a statistic?

Numbers Can Never Replace People

Churches often celebrate attendance figures, baptisms, membership growth, giving, and social media reach. While there is nothing wrong with rejoicing when people come to Christ, these numbers should never become more important than the people behind them.

Jesus never viewed people as statistics.

He left the ninety-nine to search for the one lost sheep (Luke 15:4). He spent time with individuals whom society rejected. He restored those who failed. He patiently corrected His disciples when they misunderstood Him.

Jesus invested in people, not simply outcomes.

If a church becomes more concerned about posting photographs of baptisms than walking alongside those people after baptism, something has gone seriously wrong.

Baptism Is the Beginning, Not the Finish

Many churches place enormous emphasis on getting people baptised but far less emphasis on discipling them afterwards.

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 is not simply:

“Go and baptise.”

It is:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Baptism is the starting line of discipleship, not the finish line.

A church should be asking:

• How do we help this new believer grow?
• How do we support them when they struggle?
• How do we lovingly correct and encourage them?
• How do we keep pointing them to Christ?

These questions matter far more than adding another number to an annual report.

Avoiding Conflict Is Not Biblical Leadership

Every church experiences disagreements.

The New Testament is full of churches dealing with conflict, misunderstandings, personality differences, and doctrinal questions.

The biblical response was never to remove people simply because they became difficult.

Leaders are called to shepherd the flock, not abandon it.

That doesn’t mean every disagreement ends with everyone staying together. Sometimes separation is sadly necessary. But biblical leadership first seeks restoration, reconciliation, and understanding.

It asks:

“What does Christ want?”

Not:

“What is easiest for us?”

When someone is dismissed simply because they become inconvenient, leadership has chosen comfort over shepherding. They have passed on the disagreement to people who can be bothered and understand biblical leadership.

The Danger of Reputation

In Revelation 3, Jesus spoke to the church in Sardis:

“I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Sardis had a good reputation.

People probably admired the church.

It likely appeared successful from the outside.

But Jesus saw something completely different.

He looked beyond appearances and examined the heart.

A church can have modern buildings, polished services, exciting worship, impressive baptism services, and growing attendance, yet still lose sight of its first responsibility—to love and care for people.

The Shepherd Leaves the Ninety-Nine

Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepherd.

When one sheep wandered away, He went looking for it.

He didn’t write it off.

He didn’t celebrate the ninety-nine while forgetting the one.

He pursued it because every individual mattered.

If someone has recently been baptised and is already struggling, that person should receive even more care, not less.

The early weeks of a believer’s journey are often the most important. They need encouragement, patience, teaching, and love.

They do not need to feel disposable.

What This Reveals

If a church proudly celebrates baptisms but quickly abandons those same people when difficulties arise, it raises difficult questions.

Was the baptism truly about welcoming someone into the family of God? Was that person ready for baptism?

Or was it about maintaining an image of success?

Only God knows the motives of the heart, and it would be wrong to assume the intentions of any particular church or leader without clear evidence. Yet the principle remains true: when image becomes more important than people, a church has drifted from Christ’s example.

A Final Thought

Every church will make mistakes because every church is led by imperfect people.

The measure of a healthy church is not whether it experiences problems, but how it responds to them.

Jesus calls His Church to love, restore, disciple, forgive, and patiently walk with people as they grow in faith.

Baptism should never be the end of a church’s investment in someone—it should be the beginning of a lifelong commitment to help them become more like Christ.

People are not numbers.

They are not social media content.

They are not growth statistics.

They are precious souls for whom Christ gave His life.

If the Church remembers that simple truth, it will never lose sight of its true mission.

We have said it once and have said it again. Pray and pray some more. The relationship between you and God is established through intimate prayer. He wants to know about every detail of your life whether good or bad. So, keep praying and enjoy your relationship with your heavenly Father who Jesus as enabled you to have.

We prayed for a person who had thyroid cancer. We can let you know that this person is now healed and healthy. Here is one of many prayers prayed for the lady who had thyroid cancer.

We rejoice in this answered prayer and thank God for the joy this healing has brought.

Visit us here at Canton Community Church

If you are in a situation where a loved one or friend is unwell, we are happy to pray and petition to the Lord for healing. Sometimes healing doesn’t come over night, but we can also pray for comfort and strength for your families and friends as you go through tough trials.

You are also welcome to join us at church being around people ensuring you are not alone. Join us at our family service that takes place every Sunday where doors open from 10.45am serving hot drinks and treats.

On this blog over the years, we have always reported the victories we have seen in prayer. We have another victory to declare in Gods mercy, grace and all for His glory.

We were at a funeral recently and a lady we prayed for who had cervical cancer in 2021 was in attendance. We prayed for this woman back in 2021. Here is the written prayer in a journal of many.

This lady has been completely healed of cervical cancer and is healthy.

The message and inspiration to take from this is to never give up in prayer, the Lord knows every prayer you have prayed, and he is working through them as he did with this lady. Here is Luke 18 v 1 – 8 that encourages us all not to give up in prayer.

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

We rejoice in this answered prayer and thank God for the joy this healing has brought.

Visit us here at Canton Community Church

If you are in a situation where a loved one or friend is unwell we are happy to pray and petition to the Lord for healing. Sometimes healing doesn’t come over night but we can also pray for comfort and strength for your families as you go through tough trials.

You are also welcome to join us at church being around people ensuring you are not alone. Join us at our family service that takes place every Sunday where doors open from 10.45am serving hot drinks and treats.

We have been talking about the Church of Sardis this last 12 months. The tactics a church of Sardis could use appearing alive but in reality the majority were in fact spiritually dead. We talked of how the pulpit has been abused hearing from man and not God and so many other acts of the flesh.

When we read Revelation 3 where Jesus called out the church of Sardis, how could someone respond to scripture like this? It could be that one would look inwards examining their heart and would ask and pray to God to reveal their short comings, to help them to change and to be obedient to follow, they may not heed the warning and the conviction that scripture can bring, and carry on in acts of the flesh.

There is nothing new under the sun. God has many times in the past done things to grab the attention of His people so that they would repent and turn toward him. But when they do not turn toward Him they can try to protect themselves in their own strength, setting up elaborate schemes thinking they are safe in those schemes that were not Gods design.

Lets look at Isaiah 30. In this chapter the Lord is calling out His people for making alliances with other countries that were not of Gods spirit. Here is that scripture.

Isaiah 30 v 1 – 2

1 “Woe to the obstinate children,”declares the Lord,

“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,

forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,

heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt

without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection”

In Isaiah God is telling His people to turn to Him to avoid destruction, and if they do not they will be exiled to another land. God was the one who ultimately brought the exile in love for His people so that they would turn from their idols and turn to Him. The exile did come to pass and lead to 70 years in Babylon.

What we need to consider is God trying to get your attention? Is He trying to show you the correct way to go, or are you creating your own strategies to protect yourselves when in fact you are doing exactly what the Jewish people did before the exile to Babylon, you make allies with others, when infact God wants you to turn to Him to do the right thing.

We talked of the dangers of self-deception a while back. Church leaders will say we are blessed, we have wealth, we have numbers and this shows why we should not be questioned, because God blessed us. But God is not interested in material wealth and what the outside looks like, He cares what is on the inside, and if we have gone astray He is going to jealously fight to bring us back for we are His children.

So the moral of this article is this. Is God trying to get your attention? Are you coming up with elaborate schemes making allies to protect yourselves who are no match for God? When Israel turned to Egypt did they bring peace to Israel, no they were exiled in the end.

What God wants is for you to turn to Him and do the right thing, to repent and turn the other away, before you go down a path that was not Gods design and a path that will only take you to a dead end. Think on this and pray to God and listen carefully, because Gods way is always the best way and He wants to protect you because He loves you and you are His child.

Click the link below to read Isaiah 30 it does not pull any punches.

Isaiah 30 NIV – Woe to the Obstinate Nation – “Woe to – Bible Gateway

One thing that stood out to us was this scripture in Isaiah 30 v 17.

“A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill.”