Dear Friends,

Prayer is a great privilege. It simply means going into the presence of God to enjoy his fellowship.
Corporate prayer is also a privilege; to come together with other Christians to seek God’s face together.
This is a command that God has given us, but sadly many Christians have slipped away from their
responsibility in this area. We see that it was put into practice by the early church; consider the following
verses, Acts 1:14, 2:42, 4:23-31, 12:1-24.

Corporate prayer is important because:
 it maintains the harmony and unity of the local church
 it demonstrates our complete and total dependence on the Lord for His power
 it trains us to be concerned about the ministries and fellowship of the church
 it gives us a greater sense of expectation of things that will happen.

Our January week of prayer has been a source of great blessing and encouragement in previous years. This year we will return to the model used in previous years but with the addition of some Zoom meetings
which proved to be a blessing during the 2021 Week of Prayer.

The plan is outlined below as a reminder and for the benefit of those who have joined the church more recently. We will meet together for some additional corporate prayer times and we will also set aside specific times each day - 8 AM and 8 PM - to join together in the spirit of prayer.

A calendar is provided with specific prayer points for each time of prayer. We will begin the week at 10 AM
on Sunday 30th of January, for an extended morning service which will include a time of corporate prayer
and a refreshment break. On each weekday I am asking you to pause at 8 AM and 8 PM, wherever you
happen to be, and spend time in prayer, in the knowledge that others are doing so at the same time. You
may be driving to work, dealing with household chores, shopping or walking the dog - it doesn’t matter!

Turn off the radio in the car, switch off the TV and take a few moments to pray – aloud or in the quietness
of your heart. At 8am pray alone or with others in your household. At 8pm repeat this or join the Zoom
Meeting Room which will be available for a short corporate prayer time from 8-8.15pm on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday. (Zoom Meeting No 606 268 4749 Passcode 345345 )

On Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 PM, and on Saturday at 10 AM, the church will be open for those that
can meet together to pray together. These gatherings will last for around 60 to 90 minutes, and if you are
unable to get there at the beginning do please slip in whenever you can, and leave when you must. Please
make every effort to be there for some or all of the time, remembering that it was when “They were all
together in one place,” (Acts 2v1) that Pentecost came. This was the beginning of accelerated growth and
blessing, and so we may be sure that prayer kickstarts blessing!

Thank you for your support of these ventures. Let’s go forward with confidence that our faithful God will
bless us as we commit this prayer week to Him.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Tim

Five counsels for praying in company:

1. Make it regular
Make regular prayer with company part of your weekly routine. Our weekly gathering as a church
for prayer is on Tuesday at 7:30pm. Plan to be there. In addition to this, have a planned time and
place to meet with fellow believers to pray – this might be with your family, with a small group of
fellow believers at your workplace or with some Christian friends.

2. Start with Scripture
Christian prayer at its truest comes in response to God’s self-revelation to us. It is fitting to begin
sessions od corporate prayer by reading a Bible passage as a kind of ‘call to prayer’. We inhale the
Scriptures and exhale in prayer.

3. Limit share time
It can be easy to let the sharing of requests cannibalise the actual praying together! When meeting
with others to pray keep introductions short, read a passage and go straight into prayer.

4. Be brief and focused.
Long, rambling prayers are not helpful in the corporate prayer setting – keep these for when you’re
on a long, lonely drive, or walking the dog or engaging in some mundane household task! Keep your
prayers in prayer meetings short and focused – even one sentence praises or thanksgiving prayers
are helpful and encouraging to others. If you are afraid of becoming tongue-tied write down the
things you want to pray for, jot down some headings to keep yourself on track, or rehearse and
memorise the prayer you will say aloud.

5. Pray without show and with regard for others
This is linked to the previous point – keeping your prayer short and focused allows others to
participate. Don’t hog the prayer time with long prayers covering several different topics –
remember others will want to pray too. Several short sharp contributions are much better than one
very long prayer which will challenge the attention and focus of others.e to edit.

Dear friends, When I was young, making New Year resolutions was always a given for just about everyone I knew. They said that it was a good time to look to the New Year, kicking the bad habits of the past and starting new habits. Often these habits related to health - like more exercise or less eating.

The Bible talks about the importance of keeping check on one’s spiritual health, where we need to kick bad habits and start good ones. Let me suggest some of them:

First, the habit of starting the day building your relationship with Christ. The tools God has given us for building our relationship with the Lord are prayer and Bible reading. Bible reading is God talking to us, prayer is talking to the Lord.

I know prayer is very challenging. Concentration, time making and living busy lives are battles we have to overcome. Let me suggest some practical ideas. Go out for a walk and speak aloud to the Lord. Write down your requests, things that are bothering you, even your sins (of course don’t let anyone else see them!)

Bible reading is God speaking to you and you build that relationship as you hear the voice of God through the Holy Spirit and let Him guide, comfort, teach, rebuke, counsel and convict.

When this happens, our relationship will deepen and we will grow.

Secondly, see the importance of Church life and keep in the habit of worship, corporate prayer, activities and fellowship. Again, these are tools that God has given us for growth. Remember the Hebrew writer was concerned that some Christians had given up on the habit of meeting together Hebrews 10v25.

A third resolution is simply put away any undesirable habit, sin or addiction you have. Too many of us start here with our resolutions. We try to treat the symptom without addressing the root cause. The only way that this can be done is by the power of Christ’s blood. That’s why we ask for Christ’s blood to wash us by confession and repentance and then we pray for grace and strength to overcome all sin.

The fourth and final habit. Always have it in your heart to tell others about Christ and the gospel. I believe this is not only biblical and good for the unconverted to hear, but its good to keep ourselves alert and always be prepared to give an answer of hope 1Pet 3v15. As we contrive our walk with the Lord, pray that we may continue to dedicate ourselves to live more for the glory of the Master.

Happy New Year,
Pastor Tim

Dear Friends,

People like to invest in things.

They like to invest their money, shares. But what about investing in time?

Time is the very fabric of life - we all have 24 hours a day. How we use our time reveals what is truly important to us.

 Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ‘There is a time for everything’. It’s worrying when Christians don’t invest in time for their spiritual lives. They think about everything else but their spiritual walk with the Lord. Time with the family, with work or leisure, comes before time with the Lord. But how is that an investment?

Jesus says, “store up your treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). Jesus makes clear, the importance of investing your time for eternity. Investing time for eternity is putting the things of God first. Daily Bible readings, personal prayer times with the Lord, and prayer times with God’s people. Attending the place of worship, reading good theological books, seeking to help and encourage each other and telling others of the Lord Jesus Christ is investing for our future.

So, let us invest our time for eternity, by doing all we can to put God first, so that we may wisely invest for our future.
​
Yours in Christ, Pastor

The nation's prayer meetings are getting smaller and smaller, but is joint prayer, with other Christians, more important than we give it credit for?
​Donald Trump is one of the most controversial and divisive characters in world politics in a very long time, but definitely in my lifetime. Having said that though, his policies often point towards the desire to reinstate Christian principles back into the heart of Americans.

This was seen last month where he reinstated the observation of a National Day of Prayer, to be held annually in America. Although a commendable step towards a more ‘Christian’ nation, the idea of holding a National Day of Prayer is not new. On 26th May 1940, King George VI urged men and women up and down the country to pray for the deliverance of the British Army that was trapped in France.

Hundreds of thousands of people headed to churches and chapels, with the purpose of praying for the soldiers who were trapped at Dunkirk. The original estimation was that the Royal Navy would be able to get 20-30,000 men off the beaches, but after the evacuation was complete, that number stood at more than 300,000.

The National Day of Prayer, one of the largest demonstrations of corporate prayer that we have ever seen, was heard by God.

But that was over 70 years ago, and prayer meetings up and down the country are getting smaller, but are they more important than we give them credit for?

When Paul was in prison, writing to the Philippians he said, “I know that through your prayers and the help of the spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance” (Phil 1 v 19).

But Paul was not just talking of an individual’s prayers in their private time, but also of the prayers of the church for Paul, about the interceding prayers of the Philippians. This leads to the question that we must ask ourselves, can we insert the name of this church into the sentence: “I know that through the prayers of Wigmore Free Church” God will act?

I urge you to join us on Tuesday nights here, at the church, between 7.30-9pm, to join together with your brothers and sisters in prayer and to study God’s word further.

​Thomas

This post was orignally written and archived from our previous website. Dates may not match the actual date written

Dear Friends,
​
We would all have to admit that none of us knows the day on which Jesus was born. No one knows the time or the date.

According to tradition, the early Christian Church chose the 25th of December as the day to remember his birth because it coincided with the pageant festivals. The early Christians did not want all the pagan festivals to have all the say, so they chose the 25th of December to celebrate the incarnation.

Yet I believe December is a good month to celebrate Christmas. It’s the darkest month of the year when the days are short, and the nights are long. The lights that illuminate shopping centres and houses in an attempt to defy darkness.

Remember when Christ came into the world, Israel was suffering from real spiritual darkness. The religious leaders of the day were corrupt. The king was corrupt, and the people had little say. But the light came when Jesus was born. He came to bring light into this dark world, He came to destroy the forces of evil that enslave us in sin. In Jesus, light overcame darkness. And that is why Christians celebrate his coming at Christmas time. We rejoice that he became man to deliver us from darkness. He died in the place of sinners to bring us back to God.

Now Jesus says to all who will listen, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have eternal life.” (John 8:12) It is just as we sing it, in the words of the carols:

"Silent night, holy night! Son of God love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face With dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus Lord, at Thy birth"

I trust and hope that you will have a good Christmas,
Yours in Christ,
Pastor

Why do we have a prayer meeting? Why is it important that we go? From an older 'In Touch' magazine, Geoff Gobbett discusses why we should attend the prayer meetings.

What makes the prayer meeting missable? Why is it low on the order of priorities? Why does it seem to some it not that urgent, not that important? To what extent is there the connection between Spiritual blessing and prayer?

This is to me personally a very important issue and to all engaged in the Lord's work.

1) Prayer comes before spiritual blessing. Prayer is seeking God. It is enquiring of the Lord. Trace through the history of the Bible and the history of the Church, and see if you can discern any spiritual blessing that has come which was unheralded by prayer.

2) Prayer is the representative of spiritual blessing. When a king or queen is due to appear, there is often a fanfare of trumpets. When the new Parliament is opened, before the Queen comes, the trumpets herald her arrival. Thus before the Lord comes in blessing, prayer is the herald, the representative of blessing. What a mercy of the Lord to say here in Ezekiel 36 "I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel, to "do it for them; I will increase them with men"".

3) Prayer is an expression of spiritual blessing. We cannot but feel that if God has given a heart to pray, then he has blessings to give generously. There is a very strong connection. We pray. God hears and blesses. How come? He has ordered it to be so. He delights to hear prayer. And he measures out his blessings so that we come again and again and ask him. When we are burdened beyond our ability to cope, and we follow the injunction of 1 Peter 5 v 7, God answers even in the midst of our praying. Prayer is neglected because we have no sense of need. That is natural to us to not feel any need of the Lord. A sense of need is a divine gift. No pastor, no preacher can nag his church into this. It cannot be done. I’ve tried as a pastor and failed in this respect. I think this is where we are lacking. We need to plead for this.

​ Imagine this – if we received blessings without prayer what would happen?
Three things;
i) we believe that those blessings were common things, and that somehow we deserved them.
ii) We would take them for granted.
iii) God would not be sought earnestly.

4) Prayer is God's will to grant spiritual blessing. We need not ask if we are doing what the Lord wants us to do, in seeking him. The time is never wasted as we come to prayer. Can churches make greater use of the time afforded? It should be lively! We need to ask ourselves some questions at this point. Do I discern those areas of special need of prayer? Why is it that some prayer meetings can be 'heaven on earth' and others simply drag? Do cold hearts help or hinder? What can I do to realise the purposes of God for me in terms of prayer? Have I made it an idol? This needs some honest reflections and self examination at this point. If the Lord does not give to us a spirit of prayer, we are in dire straights.

Remember it does not come through nagging, but Him giving.

~ Geoff Gobbett