Welcome to our Week of Prayer!

By Tim StephensonUncategorised
Welcome to our Week of Prayer!

Next week (week commencing 12th Sept) is our annual week of prayer.

To help you get started, I have prepared some prayer points some of which are requests from those involved in the ministries and some of which are suggestions. This is not an exhaustive list, so please don’t be constrained by it but pray as the Spirit leads you. You may like to begin by reading a psalm of praise and praising God for all He is and has done for us in Christ. (Some suggestions – Psalm 8, 96, 103, 145, 146.)

Our vision is to be a “gospel-centred church”, aiming to make disciples, reach out to the local community with the love and truth of God and to play our part in taking the gospel to the “ends of the earth”. (Acts 1:8) With this in mind, let’s lift the ministries of our church to God in prayer!

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Eddie, Rob, Dan, Alan C, Alan K, Adrian P, Roger, Joan, Wendy, Martin S, Matt, Rhiannon, Paul

Pray for them in their

  • Leadership roles
  • Work life
  • Home life
  • Their walk with God

MEN’S MINISTRY

  • Men in our fellowship that God would increase in them the desire to know Him and to love Him more each day
  • Mike P, Paul K, Tom B, Tim H and Tim M as they take on more responsibility in leading this ministry alongside Ian H

PRISON MINISTRY

  • Those involved in leading Christianity Explored, Discipleship Explored, preaching and leading services
  • Those in prison

LADIES’ MINISTRY

  • Women in our fellowship that God would increase in them the desire to know Him and to love Him more each day
  • Those who lead, teach, prepare and serve refreshments, play music etc.

YOUTH & CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

  • Thank God for the many children and young people connected to the church
  • Praise God for the opportunities to witness in the school, the good relations established and pray that this will continue to grow
  • Christian Union in the school
  • The young people themselves as they stand up for Jesus in their schools
  • Dan, Rhiannon and the many teachers and helpers involved in this ministry
  • All the children and young people that they would continue to learn about God and grow in faith and love for Him
  • The two new groups – Engage (ages 7-10) and Energize (ages 10-12)
  • Pray that all our children and young people would desire to know God

TODDLER GROUP

  • Team will reflect God’s love and everyone will feel welcome and cared for
  • God will be at work in people’s hearts and will use the Bible verses and songs to speak to them
  • The children will be safe in their play and will have fun
  • Children and carers from the group will be encouraged to go along to The Ark and other church activities and will be drawn to God
  • God will raise up a new leader and enough helpers
  • Pray for the team – Sue, Kathy, Jenny, Heather, Helen C, Vanessa, Jean, Ted, Margaret, Zelda

THE ARK

  • That the love of Jesus would shine from the Ark team as they grow together and in their love of God
  • Visitors would feel Jesus’ love and the thankfulness that the team has for what God has done for us in Christ
  • People would come to realise what Jesus has done for them
  • All those involved in organising and running the ministry e.g. Alexa and Heather, Roz and the puppeteers, those providing refreshments, those involved in craft, music, sound, lighting etc.

MID-WEEK SERVICE, CORSHAM

  • Pray for those involved in leading and running the service e.g. Eric, David, keyboard players, tea and cake makers
  • Praise God for the mutual support and friendship that people have found there
  • Praise God for the baptisms and pray for more conversions and baptisms
  • Pray for the congregation to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

CHURCH ON THE GREEN, RUDLOE

  • That they would see new believers through gospel ministry in and around Rudloe
  • That they would not grow too comfortable but be increasingly bold for Christ.
  • That all their conversations in the community would be seasoned with grace
  • That they maintain faithfulness to the gospel and Christ above all things (and hold on lightly to everything else)
  • Toddler group on a Tuesday
  • Café on a Saturday – for people on the estate to come and that relationships would form and grow and that they would show them the love of Christ
  • Wisdom regarding the building
  • Their leaders and families – Rob, Adrian, Paul

WHERE NEXT? GOSPEL EXPANSION

  • Pewsham? Bradford-on-Avon? Somewhere else?
  • Doors to open and the courage to pursue opportunities when they arise
  • Pray that God would so fill our hearts with the love of Christ that it overflows to those around us
  • Thank God for Pat and Norman’s willingness to share the gospel in Wadswick Green. Pray that hearts would be softened and eyes opened in that community

WELCOME AND IN-SERVICE MINISTRY

  • Praise God for the many services we have
  • Pray for the many people involved in serving before, during and after our services e.g.
    • The Welcome Team on the door
    • Those who prepare and clear away Communion
    • Those involved with taking up the offering and counting it afterwards
    • Those who serve teas and coffees
    • Those involved in prayer, leading worship, the overhead, the sound desk, preaching………..
    • The duty elders and deacons
  • Pray for Brenda as she oversees this ministry

PA MINISTRY

  • Those who record the sermons
  • The sound desk operators – Steve, Callum, John, Tom, Dom and Ben
  • Pray for new volunteers to join the team
  • Wisdom in deciding how to improve the system

WORSHIP AND MUSIC MINISTRY

  • Praise God for the many gifted musicians and worship leaders He has given us
  • Pray that they would all grow in their walk with God as they serve in this ministry
  • Ask God to raise up others gifted to serve in this way
  • Pray for David as he oversees the 11.15 worship teams and Matt as deacon for worship and music
  • Pray that we would all grow in worshiping God in spirit and truth

LIFE GROUPS

  • Praise God that we have so many Life Groups
  • Pray for the leaders of all the groups that they would grow in wisdom and strength: Sharon, Adrian and Jo, Paul, Pam, Natalie, Kathy, Vicky, Katherine, Edna and Terry, Esther and Nigel, Helen and Phil, Hannah and Reinier
  • Pray for the two new groups starting led by Sarah and Mike and Jen and Mike – for the new people joining these groups
  • Ask God to raise up more new leaders
  • A growing balance within the groups across all four areas in the vision statement i.e. Loving God, Individually known, Family and Evangelism

PASTORAL MINISTRY

  • Pray that God would help us all to reflect His love in caring for our brothers and sisters
  • Pray for the sick and housebound and those who visit them
  • For Joan as she seeks to oversee and meet the growing pastoral needs of the fellowship
  • Those organising, preparing and distributing meals

PRAYER MINISTRY

  • Praise God for the many opportunities to meet together to pray
  • The Prayer Chain – many answered prayers – those who administer it and those who pray
  • Those who lead us in intercessory prayer and those who pray with us after services
  • Pray that God would give us all the desire to draw closer to Him in prayer

MISSION AND THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

  • Steve and Ruth in Tanzania – with AIM
  • Gill and Steve in UK – with WEC
  • Neal and Lesley in Austria – with Oasis
  • Compassion and the children sponsored by church members
  • The Bible Society – Sue and Alan who work there
  • Persecuted Christians around the world

TRAIDCRAFT

  • Praise God for those who established Traidcraft as a Christian response to poverty
  • For wisdom for those working with marginalised, small scale producers to be able to provide for their families and communities
  • Julie as she seeks to support this work by purchasing and selling products

CORSHAM MONEY & DEBT ADVICE CENTRE

  • Thank God for new advisors – Brenda, John, Tom and Lucy, Colin – pray for them as they train for their new roles
  • Alan as he takes over from Alan in leading the ministry
  • Others involved – Dave, Michael and Roger
  • Keep the ministry rooted in prayer and gospel centred
  • Clients – their financial situations and opportunities to speak the gospel to them

CRAFT GROUP

  • Thank God for this opportunity for fellowship within the church and pray for more opportunities to reach out to non-church ladies
  • Pray for Pam and Kathy as they lead this group
  • Pray that the group project to make a quilt for an elderly lady in Tanzania will not only be a physical blessing but a spiritual one too

TUESDAY LUNCH CLUB (TLC)

  • Thank God for the fruit we have seen from this ministry
  • Pray for wisdom and guidance in the way forward

COMMUNICATIONS

  • For all those involved in assisting our church in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and giving God all the glory e.g. those who design and distribute flyers, those who provide information about our church and our ministries
  • Pray for Tim as he takes on greater responsibility for co-ordinating communications and in particular the web site
  • Pray that God would be glorified and that all our communications would always point to Him, not us!

HEALTH AND SAFETY

  • Praise God for a good health and safety record within our congregations
  • Tim as he oversees this ministry
  • Raise up others with the necessary gifts to serve in this ministry

OTHER ACTIVITIES

  • Christianity and Discipleship Explored groups, Connected, walking groups, one-to-ones etc.
  • Pray that in all our activities we would seek to point others to Jesus, to share the gospel with unbelievers, to encourage and disciple one another and to give all the glory to God

Photograph by Evan Courtney Creative Commons Attribution https://www.flickr.com/photos/mufan96/2741759137/in/photostream