Prayer pointers was last updated in time for Sunday 11th May
This page offers prayer suggestions for personal use and for intercessions relating to the Benefice in our Sunday services. Don't feel obliged to use all of it!
Please pass on prayer requests to Stephen, via email. Please do not request prayers for the health or wellbeing of named individuals in this public space.
Easter Reflections
During Lent we asked churches to reflect on Stephen's Ash Wednesday sermon, which drew attention to the way in which, as local church, our burdens are multiplied and our resources are divided. During the Easter Season, as we hear from the Book of Acts about the early days of the church, the call is to reflect prayerfully about our mission. How might we renew our churches and our benefice, deal with that mismatch of burdens and resources and grow in faith and mission?
Please pray in particular for good attendance and fruitful discussion at our workshop on 17th May at which all the churches of our benefice will have a chance to talk openly, and without fear, about what our future might look like. Pray that we will have the courage to shape our church, rather than letting events, demography or outside influences toss us on their waves.
Ministry Team
We pray for Chris as he settles in and begins to experience the diversity of our area, its churches, schools and communities. Give thanks for the steadfast support of Bishop James and Sheila.
We give thanks for the successful conclusion of the process to recruit a successor to Joyce Keetley, as she retires. We look forward to making a public announcement soon (when the appointee has given notice to their current employer) and to praying for our new administrator by name. We give thanks for Joyce's service and ministry, and pray with her for discernment as to where God may be calling her next.
Funerals
We do not name individuals online, but this week we especially pray for church families in Bolton and Clifton, coming to the churches they know so well for the occasion of a family funeral. We pray for them, that they will know the comfort of God's promises, and join them in grateful and affectionate memory of their loved ones.
Our PCCs
As the season of APCMs is in full swing, we pray for all those who take on responsibilities and offices across our 8 parishes and 13 church buildings. We give thanks for Askham PCC, meeting last week, and Bampton PCC, meeting this week.
Growing Younger
We give thanks for a lively visit to church by Key Stage 1 at Crosby Ravensworth, learning about baptism, and express our thanks to Alex for making the church ready. We are thankful collective worship opportunities at Morland and Crosby Ravensworth, at which we explored last week's Gospel, 'Breakfast on the Beach'.
In the coming week we pray for JAM in Morland, and for all our youth groups. We pray for the children undertaking SATS this coming week and for the school staff at this stressful and disrupted time.
Please pray every week for our youth groups in Shap, Morland, Crosby Ravensworth/Maulds Meaburn and Bolton. Give thanks for the lay volunteers who make this huge undertaking possible, as well as Ruth, who is present at almost every session and prepares almost all of them.
Online presence
We give thanks for the use we are able to make of our website, WhatsApp Community, Facebook Page and now YouTube Channel. Help us Lord to prosper this work and reach out beyond our congregations. In this most hazardous of human activities, keep us on a straight and narrow path. May our corner of the internet always be one that glorifies you.
Ruth has a new computer thanks to national funding, capable of the sort of video editing we think we need to do in order to develop a high quality online presence. Please pray for her to find the time she needs to do more video creation.
Occasional offices
As Ruth develops new systems for the administration of baptisms, we pray for all the visits she will make to baptism families, that they may be fruitful, and the start of a journey of exploration in faith, however tentative.
About prayer pointers ThePrayer pointers page was a suggestion made at one of our Saturday morning training sessions on 15th February 2025. Talking about leading interecessions, we identified the importance of praying, as a benefice, for all the different needs and activities of our communities, churches, PCCs and congregations. In order to do this effectively, we need to know what each other are doing.