Parish Prayer Program - When? Why?
Saturday, August 4th, 2007The proposals for the Parish Prayer Programme (PPP) by the PPP Working Group were received enthusiastically by the PCC at their meeting on 18th June, and we are now moving ahead with the scheduled launch in September. It was clear at the meeting that Roy, Ros and the rest of the ministry team are particularly excited about the prospects that this initiative offers for developing our spiritual lives and supporting the many activities in the parish with prayer. The purpose of this article is to give you some more information in advance of next month’s PPP Launch, at which stage you will receive a detailed ‘PPP Launch Leaflet’ explaining the different elements of the ‘menu’ of prayer offerings available to you, and how to sign up.
The PPP Launch will be spread over several weeks in September and early October. A series of three sermons focusing on aspects of prayer will be preached in both churches. In order to schedule this most efficiently, and work around All Age Worship, Harvest (23 Sept) and Back-to-Church Sunday (30 Sept), the sermons and dates will be as follows, and I suggest you make a note so you don’t accidentally hear the same sermon twice!
q Sermon 1: ‘Persistent prayer’ (Luke 18:1-18) at P&J 2 Sept, All Saints 9 Sept
q Sermon 2: ‘Praying with faith’ (James 1 & 5) at P&J 9 Sept, All Saints 16 Sept
q Sermon 3: ‘When two or three agree’ (Matt 18:15-20 and Hebrews 10:19-25) at P&J 7 Oct, All Saints 14 Ocober
PPP Launch Leaflets and Parish Prayer Diaries will be handed out at each of these services. We are also hoping to involve young people in a ‘prayer’ theme at the All Age Worship services that fall in this period.
Finally, I hope that you will understand our enthusiasm if I finish with a summary of the objectives of the PPP initiative, which are as follows:
q To underpin in prayer:
o the establishment of a shared vision
o the decisions that we make
o every event that we organise
o our mission to those outside the church
q To support in prayer:
o our ministry team
o one another
o new Christians
q To provide support for the prayer lives of our congregations:
o through learning experiences (courses, literature etc)
o by providing information on prayer needs
q To develop, grow and evolve:
o more ‘specific’ prayer lives
o deeper prayer experiences
o our relationship with God.
Robert Smith
Chair of the PPP Working Group