Stretching our prayer wings
Great minds think alike (LOL). Either that, or the Holy Spirit is behind this newest endeavor!
Some of us who are members of Prayer Fellowship at the Church on the Pike subscribe to Pray! Magazine, a publication chock-full of useful information for intercessors (check it out here). This month's issue was no exception. One article I really liked dealt with prayer stations, a way of bringing prayer to people on the street. Prayer teams station themselves at public events and offer prayer for anyone who requests it, or offer to place names on a list for intercessory prayer later. I was intrigued by this idea, even though I have never been especially good at spontaneous prayer.
Now, as it happens, our town festival takes place early in October, and the Church on the Pike sets up a booth and mans it with volunteers who sell homemade goodies, answer any questions about our church, and pass out brochures with information about our service times, ministries, etc. So I thought: why not a prayer station too? The idea was scary but exciting.
At church this past Sunday, I discovered a few of my friends had read the same material, and were having the same thoughts. So it seems we will be putting out the ever-popular and ubiquitous sign-up sheet and asking for volunteers.
But none of us is sure we can really pull this off. This, after all, smacks of the "e-word" (evangelism). We are Episcopalians, remember ("God's frozen people"; "Many are cold, but few are frozen"; I have a million of these jokes!). We have never been really good at the e-word. And it's going to be a real shame if passersby hear us offering to pray for them while we're huddled in a lump underneath the booth, out of sight, or fearfully peering over the top!
Clearly we have to get to work on this. And it won't be easy!
Some of us who are members of Prayer Fellowship at the Church on the Pike subscribe to Pray! Magazine, a publication chock-full of useful information for intercessors (check it out here). This month's issue was no exception. One article I really liked dealt with prayer stations, a way of bringing prayer to people on the street. Prayer teams station themselves at public events and offer prayer for anyone who requests it, or offer to place names on a list for intercessory prayer later. I was intrigued by this idea, even though I have never been especially good at spontaneous prayer.
Now, as it happens, our town festival takes place early in October, and the Church on the Pike sets up a booth and mans it with volunteers who sell homemade goodies, answer any questions about our church, and pass out brochures with information about our service times, ministries, etc. So I thought: why not a prayer station too? The idea was scary but exciting.
At church this past Sunday, I discovered a few of my friends had read the same material, and were having the same thoughts. So it seems we will be putting out the ever-popular and ubiquitous sign-up sheet and asking for volunteers.
But none of us is sure we can really pull this off. This, after all, smacks of the "e-word" (evangelism). We are Episcopalians, remember ("God's frozen people"; "Many are cold, but few are frozen"; I have a million of these jokes!). We have never been really good at the e-word. And it's going to be a real shame if passersby hear us offering to pray for them while we're huddled in a lump underneath the booth, out of sight, or fearfully peering over the top!
Clearly we have to get to work on this. And it won't be easy!
Comments
I learned to pray spontaneously with much less difficulty than I imagined possible this summer in CPE... If I can do it, believe me, anybody can!