Prayer Meetings during COVID-19

From Gary Webb, On behalf of Pastor Jeff and the church leadership.

1Thessalonians 5

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Hi church family;

Firstly, let me apologise for adding another email into the mix…but at this point in time it is a convenient and effective way to communicate. Going forward, if this situation continues, it is hoped that communication can also happen via “virtual church and (at least once a week) Video blogs (Vlogs) for those that can access this technology.

We are also working on ‘whole of church” bible studies and ways to care for our people in this time – and going forward.

However, the reason for this email is to establish church-wide prayer.

In the first instance, the idea is that we as a church (as often as you can participate) would pray in our homes at specific times, for specific things. We can still be “gathered in His name” (even if not physically gathered in the same locale) and be assured Christ is with us. Of course, where possible, we encourage you to do this as couples/families and maybe organise face-time, zoom or skype meetings to do this, if you have access to such technologies.

In the first instance, we are proposing 2 sessions per day, praying for specific things. They are

  • 7:00am to 7:15am –
  • Praise God for his gift of life, His presence in our lives and our country.
  • Prayer for our Prime minister, Scott Morrison, the government – both federal and state (especially for God’s wisdom at this time)
  • Praise God for the frontline medical staff (Drs, nurses, hospitals and aged care staff, pharmacists and medical researchers) working on vaccines. For their protection and God’s guiding hand of wisdom at this time
  • Also for our nation as a whole.
  • 7:30pm – 7:45 pm –
  • Focus on prayer for the people of our church, community and of this nation
  • For protection from the spread of this virus and for God’s healing hand on those already infected.
  • For the nations really struggling with the pandemic.
  • For God’s church (including us) to wisely be led by the Holy Spirit, as we find ways to support one another, care for each other and those in the community.
  • For God’s light to shine brightly in the darkness and for Jesus to be glorified through us and our response.

Of course, you may choose to pray longer than 15 minutes / for many other things, and you may not be able to pray twice a day, but if when we pray in these 15-minute blocks, it would be great if we were praying the same things generally.

As need arises or other things come to mind, we may expand our lists / suggested prayers and at some time into the future, it would be great to stream a prayer meeting via one or other of the video chat services…but let’s start here.

And of course, any prayer at this time (at all times really), is a vitally important communication and relationship builder with our heavenly Father, Jesus our redeemer, and with the blessed Holy Spirit – who will help guide you.

Finally, if you have a specific prayer request you would like the leadership or the entire church to pray for, please contact myself, Ps Jeff, or Jason or Richard.

Stay safe,

Set, Set, Put, Put, Let, Let and PRAY (with us)

Bless ya!

On behalf of Ps Jeff and the leadership,

Gary