We believe God is leading us as a congregation to set the month of May aside for a focus for prayer with fasting and worship. We are calling this “Amplified”.
Our aim is that we might quieten the noise of our life and amplify the voice of God! Across our church we will be making space to hear his voice again, praying, worshipping, and fasting as we press into His presence and His purposes for us as church. We appreciate for some life is busy and complex as you work from home and homeschool, for others the pace of life has slowed right down but we hope all of us will set time to pray and listen, we really want to hear from Father God in these days as we spend time being with Jesus and listen to Holy Spirit.
Over the next few weeks we are going to walk through The Lord’s Prayer, pausing each day to practise different types of prayer using our familiar format of
- P: PAUSING to be still.
- R: REJOICING with a psalm and REFLECTING on a scripture.
- A: ASKING God to help us and others, and
- Y: YIELDING to God’s will in our lives.
The crisis of coronavirus has drawn many people to desire a deeper prayer life. Our hope is to arrive at Pentecost in five weeks’ time with deeper prayer lives; hearing God more clearly, interceding with greater authority, and having processed some of our disappointments too.
We are so excited to begin this journey with you.
What we shall do
Gather to pray
We shall gather online at 9.00 am, 12.00 noon and 7.00 pm Mon to Friday online live beginning on Monday 4th May and join Andy on the YouVersion ‘How to pray’ reading plan.
Use helpful apps
We shall encourage the use of a couple of Apps – YouVersion Bible and Lectio365 to help people to regular read their Bible and pray.
A weekly focus
We shall have a weekly “prayer focus” highlighted in our live stream and in an email from Sue with some specific prayer pointers on each theme.
Follow the Prayer Course
We shall highlight the Prayer Course, which you can watch online and discuss in your missional communities. We encourage you to purchase and read ‘How to pray’ by Pete Greig.
Pray for our friends
We encourage you to pray for at least 5 of your non-Christian friends, your People of Peace.
Gather online as a church
We shall hold some corporate times of worship and prayer e.g. Encounter evening on 10 May.
Fast each week
We shall have a Fasting Focus for 24 hours each week from 7.00 pm on Monday to 7.00 pm on Tuesday, beginning and ending with 7.00 pm online prayer.
Prayer Watch and World Focus
We shall hold a Prayer Watch on Monday 4 May and a World Focus on 11 May.
Encourage missional communities to gather
We shall encourage the MCs to gather on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month in May to discuss the Prayer Course and spend time praying together.
Prayer walking
Over the month we encourage you to try Prayer Walking as part of your daily exercise, or go on a virtual prayer walk around your neighbourhood using Google Maps!
Thy Kingdom Come
Thy Kingdom Come will run from Thursday 21 to Sunday 31 May. We will engage in this 10-day period linking in with the wider church in Chester as we pray and seek God together.
Pentecost
Sunday 31 May is Pentecost Sunday and a 5th Sunday, so we shall live stream with Storehouse Church for a special invite a friend to #trychurch and then at 7pm gather with the wider church in Chester online Worship and Prayer event.