" The Church on its knees"

I have seen this title used in two contexts; firstly as the headline to a newspaper article on falling church attendance figures and secondly as the title of a book on Prayer. In this book the author suggested that it was our most powerful and appropriate response to the statistics being published in the media .that Christians should gather and seek God's guidance and blessing on their communities. Prayer is a two-way communication and when God gives us ideas we must be prepared to act on them and trust him to provide what we lack.
Looking back this has been our experience in the Benefice. In February 2003 a group of us met in Childs Ercall vicarage to pray for our Communities. At that time we had very few children or families in our churches. God gave us the idea of a week-long Summer Holiday Club, which seemed crazy with one vicar and a handful of willing but inexperienced volunteers. We shared the idea and prayed more. Next time we met our numbers doubled. The next time they doubled again. And so our Journey into childrens work began with "Kingdom Train".
Five years down the line. After Expedition Force, Kingdom Builders, Champions and Trailblazers(2007) we are in a very different place. Every village has families to serve through Sunday Schools or Family Services and there are two Toddler Church groups (Gems & Pebbles) running in the Benefice. More recently our Deanery Youth Worker, Ruth Holden has started an expanding Youth Club at Cheswardine. Whilst all this is a great blessing, it means that we are all a lot busier than we used to be.and more in need of prayer than ever! When Jesus' ministry was at its busiest and most pressured he sought out quiet places to pray and make sure He was working according to God's will and not being driven by the crowds!

Alongside prayer for children's work there has been a longer history of praying together for individual needs, personal illness, anxiety, accidents and bereavements.
Although these are often brought to God during the Sunday Intercessions in our parishes, we have a more focused time of prayer which is open to anyone in the Benefice on a Wednesday morning 9.30 ­ 10.15 at Stoke-on Tern church. Encouraged by the many answers to prayer, a group of people have felt guided to start praying more specifically for Healing needs at a time when others who work during the day can join them.

Reflecting on all this in the background of our busy modern lives, we decided that a "system" was needed to help us get into a routine of praying together which is open and accessible to everyone who wants to join us. After a short survey we arrived at Monday evenings and a fortnightly pattern alternating prayer for children/youth/families and prayers for healing. I realise that for many people the idea of a Prayer Meeting may sound daunting we don't know quite what to expect or what is expected of us! Our Meetings in church will have a structure to them and use some familiar prayers and hymns that we can all join in. The Sermon and Intercessions will be replaced by a sharing of needs for prayer and time for quiet reflection on those needs. It will last no longer than an hour! We do hope more people will come along and join us, especially as the Prayers for Children/Families will move around the Benefice, starting on Monday 3rd December at Childs Ercall where there is a real need to pray about the threatened closure of their village school. The Prayers for Youth will be a little more informal as we will meet in Carol Folkard's home and respond to the needs highlighted by Ruth, our Youth Worker.
Prayers for healing will be held on the third Monday of every month in the chapel at Cheswardine Church.