Spotlight on ... Prayer for Young Disciples

‘Pray continually’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is an invitation to make our prayer lives in step with our breathing. To be in constant communication with our Father in heaven about the needs of the day.

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ (Philippians 4:6) is a further invitation to bring our requests to the Lord with boldness and courage.

For the past nearly 2 and half years. A small group of St James people have gathered to pray on Monday mornings and more recently on Monday evenings to present our requests to God on behalf of our children and young people. The heart of this was to pray for growth both spiritually and numerically to match the Church of England’s vision to double the number of children active young disciples across the CofE by the year 2030.

This has been a joyous time to revel in the goodness of God towards his children and young people and pray critically for the events happening in their lives, for opportunities to know the Lord for themselves and to join the mission that is sharing the gospel with friends, family, teachers and many more.

We have seen the fruit of lifting projects like Easter Story Live, the Holiday Club and YouthFest up in prayer to the Lord. Children have been asking to bring their parents along to church to discover Jesus for themselves. Young people have been stepping out in faith to run CUs in their schools.

We want to continue in praying boldness into our children, youth and families and into the ministry at St James. We would love to have more people joining either on a Monday morning at 7am or Monday evening at 9pm for a mere 15 minutes on Zoom at each session, even infrequently. It also provides a chance to hear what is happening in the areas of ministry that might not be so widely known and to take prayer requests into the rest of the week. So do come and join us!