Week of Prayer 2022

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.