St. John the Baptist, Burscough

Monthly Prayer Letter

This is the Prayer Letter for April.  Please use this list to target praying in your group over the next month.  The prayer requests focus on quality rather than quantity.

Sunday

Thank God for the 11 people who prayed the prayer of commitment to follow Jesus on the basics course. Pray for these new Christians as they start to meet at the home of Laura and Daniel Kelloway. Because they meet on Mondays, there will be interruptions owing to Bank Holidays; pray that their walk with Jesus will not be disrupted and that they will make great progress together, learning to trust God and love one another more and more. Pray for Daniel and Laura and ask for the Lord’s blessing on this new house church.

Monday

Bishop James will be holding a service of confirmation at St John’s on the 20th April. At the present time there will be 5 young people, plus 7 adults from St John’s and 3 others from another church to be confirmed but these numbers could change before then. Let’s thank God that every day He is adding to His church, in the face of so much secularism in the world, and that these people are so willing to publicly proclaim their faith, especially the children.. Pray for them as they prepare to take their vows; ask God to richly bless them on their special day and in their Christian walk and ministry, and may we encourage them by supporting them at this important service. Pray for Bishop James, that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit as he reaches out to friends and relatives (and us) on that day.

Tuesday

St John’s annual general meeting takes place on 22nd April, when we are all invited to come and take part in decisions about future plans and hear about the things that have happened throughout the past year. This has proved to be an enjoyable and sometimes exciting meeting over recent years; pray that all preparations (there are many who are involved in these) are undertaken reverently and prayerfully, knowing whom we serve. Thank God for all who are so willing to serve in the various ministries that a busy church encompasses, and ask the Lord to reveal to us where our future ministries should be.

Wednesday

Richard is now starting to make plans for his new ministry at St John’s; ask the Lord to be very close to him, so that he will be guided at all times by the Holy Spirit. Pray that we too will prepare our hearts and minds to be very open to listen and learn. We may all have to make adjustments and sometimes this can be uncomfortable so it is important that we keep our eyes fixed on our Lord Jesus and trust in Him. Pray that all practical matters (eg the house) will be satisfactorily taken care of for Richard and his family.

Thursday

Joanna and several other leaders will be taking a party of young people to St Andrews in Coniston during the weekend 25th-27th April, about 30 in all. Barry will be speaking. Pray for them all, that this will be a terrific time, drawing them all closer to our Lord and to each other. Pray for safety on the roads and during the various activities, also for lots of fun and great fellowship. These times away are important times for our children; thank God for the dedication and willingness of the leaders.

Friday

Jenny is hosting a pastoral weekend at Bryn y Groes Christian Conference Centre in Bala during the weekend commencing 25th April. There are over 30 of our pastoral workers attending; pray that this will be a very enjoyable time for them all, and that they will draw near to God and to each other. This will be a good opportunity for people to get to know one another better and possibly to learn from each other. Pray for Jenny as she leads and thank God for the huge amount of work these good people do in the parish.

Saturday

Pray for Eileen Heaney who has recently made the decision to go forward for ordination to the ministry on a non stipendiary basis. Thank God for her and others who have gone before her from St John’s to serve our Lord in ministry. Pray for the Lord’s blessing and encouragement for Eileen as she takes this important step. Thank God also for Eileen’s sister Elaine, who is at present on placement at Christ church Aughton. Let’s remember to faithfully uphold these servants regularly in our prayers.