Christ Church Prayer Life - Pointers for prayer from across the church - Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and ...

Christ Church Prayer Life

Pointers for prayer from across the church

   Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with
    all kinds of prayers and requests …..
    Be alert and always keep on praying
              for all God’s people.
                Ephesians 6. 18

             January/March 2020

Opportunities for prayer with others, to which all are
welcome:

Mondays at 9.15 – 9.45am Morning Prayer - a simple form of
prayer and reflection on a Bible passage following the
Church of England’s liturgical year. Each week 4 members of
our church family are remembered in prayer, responding to
specific needs they have highlighted. (Held in the Trinity
Chapel).

Wednesdays 7am – 7.30am #ThyKingdomCome prayer –
Open prayer for the issues facing our society and the needs
of our world. (Held in the Youth Hub)

Once a month - Prayer for Persecuted Christians, . An hour
of prayer with stories of specific situations highlighted by
Open Doors.

 Mahabba Prayer - monthly at 2pm on a Thursday. Please
contact the Office if you would like to come to this meeting
to pray for Muslims in our locality.

Before Worship and other events- There is prayer before the
10.30 service from 10.10 – 10.25am in the Trinity Chapel to
seek to listen to the Spirit. Gatherings for prayer happen
before Messy Church, Jigsaw and before and after each
youth evening too. Anyone is welcome to be part of these
times.

Prayer chain - If you have a specific prayer request you can
have it included on the prayer chain via Mary Freestone:
ianandmaryfreestone@gmail.com or 0117 9566630. These
requests will be circulated to a number of trusted church

members who will hold them in prayer before the Lord….
and then rejoice as prayer is answered!

Prayer and care – requests for prayer and practical support
can be given to our Care Co-ordinators on
carecoordinators@christchurchdownend.com

Kathy Prosser may be contacted on
chaplain@christchurchdownend.com in relation to home
Communion and hospital visits.

Personal Prayer – we want to encourage everyone to be
open to praying for one another after our services or in our
Life groups etc. There are a number of people with some
experience and training ready to pray with anyone after
10.30am service. They have PRAYER badges on and will
usually be near the Trinity Chapel.

If you would like to explore deeper prayer ministry, please
contact Pauline Pearce for a confidential appointment on
0117 9563917.

Discipleship

   Give thanks for the faithful work of home group leaders
    in 2019 and for all our Life groups, which are life- giving
    and help people in their faith, their sense of purpose in
    mission and in their sense of belonging to the body of
    Christ. Pray for more to join groups in 2020 and discover
    this life giving aspect of being at Christ Church.

 Lord, teach us to pray series Jan- Feb: pray for a deeper
   hunger for prayer as we learn, share and explore using
   Pete Grieg’s book How to Pray and the Prayer course
   online.

  Please continue to pray for Messy Church, that we will
   have enough adults as friendly faces and a Christ like
   presence among the many visitors. Otherwise we are
   just controlling crowds and not able to have time for
   fruitful conversations. We have a huge blessing in
   having so many people coming to worship or to explore
   faith for the first time, so we pray that the whole church
   will support us in prayer and practical ways. Specific
   prayer requests: a new warming trolley as the (very) old
   one has died and we desperately need an affordable
   replacement. Can we also dream of and pray for an
   industrial dishwasher as the work is so hard for the
   washing up team?!

Anita Dobson: anitadobson@christchurchdownend.com

Youth

  Give thanks for the huge success of the Up-Cycling
   Jumble Sale, the Christmas Craft Fayre and the Ashcroft
   Quintet Concert in opening the Church to so many
   people in our community and in raising nearly £2,000
   for Haven Home Orphanage.

 Give thanks that the Co-op has chosen Christ Church
    Youth Group as one of its 2020 causes and is
    considering making us a Food Share Partner.

   Please pray for wisdom and Holy Spirit guidance in
    managing growth in the numbers of young people
    attending all church youth groups and outreach groups
    in Downend Secondary School, particularly Thursday
    Ignite as we have 110 young people registered, and
    another 58 young people in Ignite+.

Diane Paddon: youth@christchurchdownend.com

Leadership Development and Worship

   Continued stream of new folk coming to worship for the
    first time at CCD

   January 5th – Beginning of an 8 week series ‘Lord, teach
    us to pray’ and launch of new podcast ‘Learning to Live
    the Life’

   To identify, train and release new leaders with a sense of
    calling as the church grows in numbers, especially in
    relation to young families, children and young people

Rev Jo Vickery: vicar@christchurchdownend.com

Mission and Outreach

   Pray for the PCC and Giving 4 Life Sub group as they
    explore how we might maximise income from our re-
    ordered parish church, whilst serving our community
    and maintaining the dignity of our worship space.

   Give thanks for the volunteers and support staff who
    work tirelessly behind the scenes to enable the ministry
    of Christ Church to flourish - the office team, the
    cleaners, wardens, welcomers, projection and sound
    teams, PCC members, book keeper, hall committees, etc.

   Give thanks for the outpouring of generosity through
    our planned giving schemes and pray for God's ongoing
    provision in 2020, to enable us to pay off outstanding
    loans for the Building4Life project.
Paul Peterson: paulpeterson@christchurchdownend.com

Children

  Pray for Tuesday Move It club – we need a new leader /
   second adult for 3 months Jan – March 2020. This role
   could be a job share/ be covered by a number of people
   or suit one person. Our TMIC Club is Tuesdays in term
   time 3.30-4.30. But if possible set up from 3pm and leave
   by 5pm after the washing up. Requirements: you need to
   like children & playing games, often outdoor if dry
   weather & be willing to have DBS check.

 Pray for the Bounce into Church in 2020 event Friday 3
   Jan 2020 2-4pm and the set up from 12pm and the tidy
   away from 4-5pm. Pray for us to all be safe, to have
   enough volunteers on team, and to really bless our local
   community. Pray most of all that families who come
   through the door to “bounce” will decide to start to
   come to church to explore and discover faith.

  Give thanks to God for the great numbers of children we
   are seeing in all our Sunday groups. Pray for the leaders
   in each of these groups. Pray for our crèche team and
   Sharon who organises the rota for us. Give thanks & pray
   for Belinda who oversees Sparklers and pray for Dave
   Prosser who plans our Connected & Connected + rotas.
   Thank you loving Father God for all those who serve in
   our children’s groups, faithfully turning up early to set up
   rooms, planning games and crafts and keeping our
   children safe while teaching them the most amazing
   truths from the Bible.

Helen Buick: children@christchurchdownend.com