Matthew's Table prepping for citywide prayer walks
Mar. 26—In the coming weeks, there will be prayers being said along the streets and in the neighborhoods of Owensboro.
Roger Chilton, co-pastor of Matthew's Table, said the city has been mapped out and divided up into nine prayer areas.
"We're assigning sections to small groups of our people to be responsible for literally walking all of those streets — praying over them; praying for the people," Chilton said. "We would also like to pray with people — even the businesses, the schools and any organization that's in that area."
Matthew's Table is now in the former Buena Vista Baptist Church at 102 W. 23rd St.
The remaining membership of Buena Vista gifted the church property in September 2021 to Matthew's Table, which began five years ago as a small congregation.
According to Chilton, there were multiple motivations for taking on this endeavor, which includes returning God's blessings to the community.
"Our vision statement is that we're a church in the heart of the city with a heart for the city," Chilton said. "And because we have a heart for the city, we like to focus on Owensboro mainly. One way we want to fulfill that mission is being in the community, serving, praying and doing whatever we can."
Chilton admits that this will be a large task, but it's a familiar challenge for a church that began with nothing but faith.
"It's probably a really big undertaking, but up to this point that's what we feel God continues to do with us — like getting a building for free; starting a church with no microphone, no money, never preached ... and going from 20 to 350 people," Chilton said.
Another motivation is to bring prayer to the community.
"It's the idea that the majority of people assume that you only go to church to pray, when the church should be in the community with and for the people," Chilton said. "There are people who can't come to church for different reasons, and so the church should go to them."
The plan is to start the prayer walk in April or May and go until October.
Team members will carry signs and wear clothing to alert people in the neighborhoods as to who they are.
Chilton added that the goal is to cover all of the Owensboro areas more than once during that time period.
"The signs will not have Matthew's Table on them; we just want to be available to pray," Chilton said. "This is just a real nonintrusive way of being in the community, being seen and being able to pray with people if they want to."
Chilton said other churches and non-Matthew's Table members are invited to join and pray with the teams when they're in the area.
"We're committing to praying over all of Owensboro, because I'm not sure why we wouldn't," Chilton said. "We're not as concerned about it being a Matthew's Table-thing as it being a church thing."
Anyone interested in more information or joining the prayer can contact Matthew's Table through its Facebook page — www.facebook.com/matthewstableky/.
Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7299
