Pulse
16 Mar 2026

The modern evangelical church must be alert to two separate but not distinct misconceptions about prayer and action, and how the one is related to the other.

The first misconception is to regard prayer as a substitute for action – which can also be a disguise for treating prayer as an excuse for inaction.

We respond to the plight of our fellow Christians with the promise, ‘We’ll pray for you’, but often fail to follow through with any concrete engagement. In the context of social media, we often place the prayer hands emoji to a message of distress, but do little else to offer assistance to its sender.

We witness this in national tragedies as well. For example, after school shootings or incidents of racial injustices in the US, we often find social media abuzz with the phrase ‘thoughts and prayers.’ Critics have rightly decried the hollowness of such expressions when they are not accompanied by compassionate action or advocacy.

The opposite mistake that Christians sometimes make is to embrace a form of pragmatic activism with its focus on programmes, strategies, efficiencies and tangible results. Prayer is reduced to a perfunctory role or serve merely as ‘bookends’ to open and close meetings.

Some churches place an inordinate emphasis on strategic planning, five-year plans, mission statements, and marketing – at the expense of prayer and discernment. This very often results in an activism that on the surface is impressive, but spiritually superficial.

Both these opposite tendencies share the same problem. They fail to understand the profound relationship between prayer and action, and consequently also fail to grasp the true nature of the church’s being and mission, which is a participation of God’s life and work.

Both Scripture and the rich theological and spiritual traditions of the Church emphasise the profound and inseparable relationship between prayer and Christian action.

Christian prayer can never be reduced to rituals and words. It is, at the most fundamental level, a relationship between the believer and God, made possible only because of the gracious divine invitation. As relationship with God, prayer is foundational to the Christian life, the very basis for that life-giving communion between creature and Creator.

The eminent theologian and liturgical scholar, Don Saliers, underscores the importance of prayer for the Christian by pointing to Jesus’ prayer life. He writes that prayer:

… constitutes the focal point of Christian existence: Christ’s own life is one of active prayer and prayerful action. It is thus fitting to speak of his whole life as a prayer – a continual self-offering in love and obedience to the Father.

Jesus Christ is indeed our example par excellence, whose life demonstrates the relationship between prayer and action, or, as Saliers puts it, whose life displays ‘active prayer’ and ‘prayerful action.’ In Jesus, we witness a seamless integration of deep communication with God and self-less service to others.

Consider the following examples.

• Before embarking on his public ministry, Jesus spent an extended time in prayer and fasting during which he resisted the most intense temptations by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11).
• Jesus spent the entire night in solitary prayer and discernment before choosing his disciples (Luke 6:12-13).
• Most significantly, before his arrest, passion and death on the cross, Jesus struggled in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood (Matthew 26:36-46).

The early Church also integrated prayer and action, following the example and pattern of her Lord. In Acts 13:2-3, the Church at Antioch fasted and prayed before sending Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey.

The results of this decision, made after much intense prayer and devotion, is staggering. It led to the establishment of churches across the key urban centres across Cyprus (Salamis, Paphos) and central Asia Minor (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe).

Not only do the life of Jesus and the practice of the early Church underscore the profound relationship between prayer and action, they also clearly emphasised the priority of prayer above all Christian action.

In his profound book, Love Alone is Credible, the Roman Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar explains this lucidly when he writes:

Prayer, both ecclesial and personal prayer … ranks higher than all action, not in the first place as a source of psychological energy (‘refueling’, as they say today), but as the act of worship and glorification that befits love, the act in which one makes the most fundamental attempt to answer with selflessness and thereby shows that one has understood the divine proclamation. It is as tragic as it is ridiculous to see Christians today giving up this fundamental priority.

The great Catholic philosopher of the last century, Josef Pieper, emphasises the importance of contemplative prayer, which must undergird all actions. He writes that ‘an activity which is meaningful in itself … cannot be accomplished except with an attitude of receptive openness and attentive silence.’

All this means that every Christian action and service must receive their inspiration and energy from the intimate communion with the living God – the source of strength and wisdom. They flow not from human ingenuity and capability, but from the life of prayer that is transformed by God’s grace and empowered by his Spirit.

From a philosophical perspective, this truth is articulated in Thomas Aquinas’ maxim agere sequitur esse – that action flows from being. From a spiritual perspective, it finds expression in Mother Teresa’s simple yet profound reminder: ‘Our first work is prayer.’

The being of the Christian is shaped in the place of prayer, and thus, all subsequent action is an overflow of that transformed identity. The lives and ministries of the servants of the Lord across the centuries testify to this. They embody the unity of prayer and service.

Before beginning his public ministry, Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) spent many long hours in solitary prayer in the hills around Assisi. It was when he was in prayer in the ruins of the chapel of San Damiano that he received his call from Christ to ‘go and rebuild my Church.’

The German-born evangelist and founder of several orphanages in Bristol, England, George Mueller (1805-1989), built his extensive ministry of caring for more than 10,000 orphans on persevering prayer.

John Sung, arguably the most influential Chinese Christian evangelist of the twentieth century, also undergirded his profoundly impactful revival meetings with prayer. His external ministry and his internal prayer life were mutually reinforcing.

The inseparable relationship between prayer and action lies at the heart of the Christian vocation. In prayer, we enter into communion with the living God; in action, we participate in his redeeming work in the world.

The one cannot be divorced from the other without impoverishing the Christian life. Prayer without action becomes sterile pietism; action without prayer degenerates into hollow activism.

The Church’s mission, therefore, must always flow from its worship. It is only when the people of God dwell in the presence of God that their actions can truly bear witness to his kingdom.

In the end, prayer and action are not two separate movements, but one rhythm of grace – the rhythm of love that begins and ends in God.

Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore) and Theological and Research Advisor of the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.