Prayer Cascade two: Thursday 14th April 2011

This week there are two new blog posts. One from, Rod Levene of Chapeltown and Harehills Churches Together group, is a list of suggestions for ways groups might like to pray together about the current spending cuts. The other is from Jonathan Dorsett from Leeds Churches Together in Mission that highlights the Church Action on Poverty ‘Close the Gap’ campaign and the impact the current cuts will have on inequality in the UK.

Suggestions for Prayer. This week please pray for…

• all in our city; that we will remember that we are connected, dependent on each other, and responsible for each other's well-being.
• those who are unemployed or facing redundancy; that the pressures facing them will be relieved, and that there will be supportive people, communities and structures around them.
• the Churches in our city; that we will find ways to respond to the increased needs of the poorest and most vulnerable in this time.

As ever please do let us know of other situations to include for future weeks at cutsarecosting@gmail.com. If you have received this from a friend and want to sign-up to receive it directly email cutsarecosting@gmail.com with 'sign-up' as the subject line.

Closing the Gap

Inequality is bad for everyone. The rich as well as the poor.

Research presented in the book ‘The Spirit Level’ shows that societies in which there is a greater parity between the most well-off and the least well-off are healthier than those with larger extremes of rich and poor.

In more unequal societies there is a greater occurrence of issues around mental health, teenage pregnancy, childhood obesity, imprisonment, domestic violence and a host of other indicators. Educational attainment is lower, physical health is worse and life expectancy lower in societies where there is a large division between the wealthiest and the poorest. (See www.equalitytrust.org.uk for more information and accompanying statistics)

The UK is already one of the most unequal countries in the world with the richest 20% being seven times better off than the poorest 20%. Since the 1980s the gap has continued to grow year on year.

The present public spending cuts will have a disproportional effect on the poorest people in the UK, and will only further widen this gap.

The recent budget commitments to see a £18bn cut in welfare and housing benefit are the largest proportional cuts in living memory, while £95bn remains lost to tax evasion and avoidance by businesses and wealthy individuals each year, with corporation tax reduced and a broken promise from the present government to clamp-down on tax avoidance.

Closing the gap between rich and poor will be better for everyone in the long run, but the present public spending cuts pointing us in the other direction. There are alternatives, and Church Action on Poverty are praying, campaigning and acting for this. If you want to know more visit the ‘Close the Gap’ section of the Church Action on Poverty website at www.church-poverty.org.uk/close-the-gap

(Information sourced from www.church-poverty.org.uk and www.pcs.org.uk)

Ways to pray - formats for prayer meetings from Rod Levene (Chapeltown and Harehills Churches Together)

Below are an assorted collection of thoughts and ideas for prayer sessions from various sources. I wouldn’t presume to be teaching folk how to pray but rather, regard them as suggestions and reminders for ways to pray and issues to focus on...

Rod Levene. (Chapeltown and Harehills Churches Together)

Some areas for prayer focus

The government, the services and armed forces, those facing redundancy,  those trying to continue businesses,  the unemployed,  the NHS and those who are ill,  families and youth, education, schools and colleges,  churches and charities,  town centres and high streets,  the increase in smoking, drinking and drug taking,  crime, the prison service and the police,  the financial institutions and their directors,  political groups which may be exploiting the cuts,  the effect on the world’s measures to control climate change,  the effects of the recession in other countries and civil unrest,  individuals to be prayed for confidentially.

Being aware of the latest news and researching the background to the cuts can give us important background knowledge. This will inform our prayers, making them more effective.
Take some time to consider the people involved- Those in authority, those in public services, those in and out of work, the different ways we are affected by the cuts and their families. Those who are trying to maintain a stable home for their families. Again, it is good to pray specifically, and hearing people speak on news broadcasts or reading quotes in our newspapers gives us a focus for prayer.

ACTS of prayer

Start with a short prayer of thanksgiving. Perhaps start with some worship songs that would quiet your spirit and prepare you as a group for intercession. Praise God for who He is, and for the privilege of engaging in the same wonderful ministry as the Lord Jesus
Praise God for the privilege of cooperating with Him in the affairs of men through prayer. A balanced session comes through the ‘ACTS’ structure of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. Submit your mind to be used by God...

 
2 Corinthians. 10: 3-5  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Admit to God that His thoughts are much higher than our thoughts and that you should be prepared to change your ideas of how you thought the prayer time should go. God might have other plans for the session.

James 4:7- Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Deal firmly with the enemy. Come against him in the all-powerful Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the "sword of the Spirit"--the Word of God.

Wait on the Lord, in silence for a few minutes. Expect the Lord to speak to the group.

John 10:27-  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. It might be good to ask someone to have a pen and paper handy to write down anything they feel God is saying to them. It could even be shared among our partnership later.

Ask the Lord for protection as you pray. Rebuke the enemy and remind yourself of your authority in Christ...
Some suggested formats for prayer

Try varying the format of prayer meetings - involving praise, silence, praying in twos, or fours, or all together as a church listening, petitioning for those in need. The wonderful reality of God's character is that He wants to communicate with us in many different ways. All too often, it's us who restrict the conversation!

Prayerwalking
Prayerwalking is an effective way of praying for your neighbourhood. This can be in small groups praying as they walk around your small local area, or more structured prayer campaigns aimed at particular aspects concerning streets and homes. Prayerwalking can also give us insights on our city as the Spirit provides insight as we walk the streets. I know we are told not to pray loudly in public so discretion is important.

Group Prayer
Group prayer was a characteristic of the early Christians:

Acts 12:12 - Peter went to the house of Mary where others gathered for prayer.

Acts 1:13-14 - scripture records that all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer. Remember that the purpose of your prayer time is to communicate with God. It's not merely a ritual to get done or for preaching at each other.

It is good to have something to focus on or remind the group about the topics for prayer. Sheets can be stuck to a notice board or wall or written and projected from an OHP. These can be changed as the session progresses.

Take a newspaper from that day or week and find issues and people to pray for who are being affected by the cuts. Remember those in other countries who may be having a worse time of it than us. Get info. from charities and churches to find out how they are managing and what their current problems are. Then, pray with this info. displayed, projected or close at hand. Perhaps it could be made clear that members are free to get up and read some information from a wall or table during the prayer.

Take some time waiting on God individually to see what is on His heart about how He wants the group to pray or what aspects should get particular attention. Come back together and write on a dry erase board what God impressed on them. Split up the prayers among the group members and take turns praying them.

For some of the time, play a CD of worship music softly in the background while praying or better- live music from your church’s music group or pianist. This can itself be a source of inspiration. It can also be used to mark the end of a portion of the prayer.

The whole group can pray out loud, together, their individual prayers about one aspect of the cuts. The leader starts the prayer and after say, 4 minutes the leader signals with a bell or music and then moves the prayer to the next aspect.

It’s good if a prayer group actually discusses what you're going to pray about before the session starts. Have people share their thoughts and burdens concerning the cuts, encouraging them to be specific rather than general. This enables the group to pray "in agreement". The different aspects of the prayer can then be assigned to different people. That's not to say that the prayers should be limited only to what's been discussed. Believers are often moved by the Spirit to take a different direction. The pre-prayer discussion is not there to put a straightjacket on prayer time, but to better inform and clarify.
Conversational Prayer
During conversational prayer group members should talk to God as they would talk to a friend. Encourage the group (especially a group unfamiliar with group prayer) to feel free to pray sentence prayers. Everyone is free to pray, or not to pray, as the Spirit directs. Don't worry about silence. Allow God to speak to everyone in the group during times of silence.
Introduce a prayer topic one at a time, then allow the group a few minutes to pray for it. When finished, the leader introduces another aspect. Designate a specific person to close at the end of each time. This helps insure that the prayer time will not bog down when everyone has had the opportunity to pray if they so desire.

Show how to pray ‘conversationally’ in a group. Imagine the group sitting at the table talking with Jesus. Rather than one person telling Jesus every part of the need while everyone else is left out of the conversation, several people can each tell Jesus different aspects by interrupting or agreeing or adding comments as we would do when chatting.

Sentence prayers

Each person, one at a time, offers a certain aspect, ending with "Amen" or some other refrain. No explaining it, just saying it and leaving it. (Allow those who don't want to share to say just "Amen" so it passes on to the next person.)

Silent intercessions

The leader briefly reads some information about an aspect (such as cuts to the NHS), and is then silent. Time is then taken to silently pray for it. After a while, the leader then moves on to the next aspect.

Tray of prayers

Each person writes just one aspect or concern that is most on their heart, onto a slip of paper. The papers are gathered on a tray and the group prays over them as each paper is taken and read out or leaving them unread, all together on the tray. Candles could also be lit as each prayer is contributed or read out. Pinning the papers to a cross at the end helps to symbolise leaving those issues with Jesus.

Written responsory prayers

A petition about one aspect of the cuts is offered and then ended with a clear ending like, "O Lord" or "in Jesus' name", followed by a standard response spoken by all, such as "Oh Lord hear our prayer" or "let it happen, Lord". Then the next written petition is spoken, and so on. Members can each be given a paper with the petition written beforehand, so they can take turns reading them and maybe enlarging on them.

Other logistics

I wouldn’t think of organising a special prayer meeting without refreshments at the end. It’s a good time to enjoy fellowship especially if other churches are involved and to discuss the prayers and the cuts themselves. It might be that leaders can find leaflets from various organisations / charities which are helping those in need at this time. These can be seen at refreshments time.

It’s good to have and publicise a definite approximate ending and refreshments time. It’s unfair for those attending not to have an idea of when they will be leaving.

Prayer Cascade one: Thursday 7th April 2011

There are lots of issues and situations to pray for in the blog posts below, so please do read through what is on here and use the prayer resources already posted up. However a few specific points of prayer for the coming week are -  

• All those losing their jobs and livelihoods as a result of the new public sector budgets that have come into effect this week.
• People with mental health and counselling needs who can no longer access the services formally provided by MIND, The Market Place and Leeds Crisis Centre.
• Those who have to make the difficult decisions of where and what to cut spending on.
• For creative solutions to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in the city.

Please hold these and other situations you know about it your individual and corporate prayers this coming week, and please do let us know of other situations to include for future weeks at cutsarecosting@gmail.com

Cuts are costing the Third Sector - by Ann Nichol

I am on management committees and a trustee of a variety of voluntary organisations throughout our City of Leeds – it is a worthwhile and energising task, but over the past few months it is clear that so many of the Third Sector organisations are struggling due to lack of funds.

• First thing in the morning, on a regular basis, there is a line up outside the Citizens Advice Bureau building in Kirkgate – people desperate for advice and support, particularly in the area of debt - yet funding for debt advisers is on a knife-edge!
• Mind, a most well respected organisation in Leeds, has to cut three quarters of their counselling service.
• The Leeds Crisis centre is now closed.
• Relate Leeds have had to increase costs for counselling in order to continue their service.
• The Market Place, drop in and counselling for young people are decreasing hours of service – yet the need of the service by young people is increasing.
• Neighbourhood groups serving the needs of the elderly in the East and South of the City, who for years have offered luncheon clubs, visiting, holidays, days out and in general helping to relieve the isolation experienced by some elderly folk, are facing a cessation or drastic curtailment of their service.
• Healthy Living centres, having lost funding from the PCT’s and the NHS are now offering fewer activities for helping the health of the people of Leeds.

These are just a small number of examples of third sector organisations who are having to cut down or cease altogether their work due to lack of statutory funding, the diminishing of grant funding and trusts funds being much tighter in their criteria for giving. If we lose these organisations, the burden of care falls back on the state and it will be costly to build back the Third Sector once again.

We all know that the country has to address the huge deficit which has been built up over the years but does this have to be at the expense of those who are the most vulnerable?

Any answers???

(taken from a reflection piece written for Leeds Christian Community Trust, Project Development email March 2011)