“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Ps.85v6)

I am now pleased to give much more detail about how this special month to start the New Year will work.

A Call to Pray is an opportunity to change some routines, still parts of our lives to strengthen our sense of shared fellowship through corporate prayer times as we seek to find and follow the Lord’s plan for our journey together. Alongside this invitation to pray the senior staff team will be working together on a new strategic planning process that will feed into all we do and seek to push forward together.

Some practical matters

1. The “Call to Pray” initiative will run from Wednesday 4th to Sunday 29th January.
2. The plan announced previously to run the next section of “Firestarters” in February is being deferred and will not now happen until after Easter.
3. Throughout January facilities are being made available for members of the church family to leave contributions they sense are, or may be from the Lord so that these can be pooled, weighed and tested to discern all that we can take from this time.
4. There will NOT be a meeting for DEEPER in February. Instead the next Deeper will be on Wednesday 14th March to give and share feedback on what we believe the Lord will have said to us in this important period.
5. With effect from Wednesday 4th January through to Friday 27th January the Call to Pray Initiative includes the opportunity for members of the church family to come into church during the day Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 4.00pm to pray individually, as prayer partners and triplets, or small groups.
6. Similarly from Wednesday 4th January the church will be accessible between 7.00pm and 8.00pm Mondays to Thursdays inclusive, until Thursday 26th January. Thereafter on those four nights of each week in January there will be corporate times of prayer from 8.00pm in a variety of styles and with particular emphases on different days.

Special elements in A Call to Pray

• On 3 Mondays – 9th,16thand 23rd January – Start the Week will run for 30 minutes in church (access from Vivian Road entrance) from 6.30am. This is intended to make a slot available for those with especially demanding “rest-of-life” schedules who want to participate in this initiative at a time that might work for them.
• There will be two periods of 48 hours > from 6.00pm Friday 6th to 6.00pm Sunday 8th January, then also from 6.00pm Friday 27th to 6.00pm Sunday 29th January < when there will be ongoing prayer in church and people can come and go at any time during the 48 hour periods to pray.
• There will be three sessions, on Tuesday mornings at 10.30am for World Prayer, led by Bob Dunnett.
• There will be special focus times for prayer in the evenings for our work with International visitors, The Crossway ministries, our Living Stones partners around the world; as well as an evening session led by our young people but open for all to attend.
• There will be special times in the day to pray for our St John’s Toddlers Group ministry – both for Toddlers team AND others.
• On Tuesdays and Thursdays the regular Staff Prayers will be in church and open to all.
• On Thursday 19th January we are privileged to have on the premises members of other Harborne churches praying together as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
• On Mondays and Tuesdays the main sanctuary will be open and staffed for “Sacred Space” between 1.00pm and 4.00pm.

The Evening Programme – Mondays to Thursdays

There will be a corporate and guided time together for about an hour from 8.00pm on each evening (starting Wednesday 4th January). The pattern will be:

• Mondays – Soaking Prayer and Prophesying
• Tuesdays – Corporate Intercession
• Wednesdays – Word, Worship and informal communion
• Thursdays – SPECIALS as mentioned above and shown in attached.
• THURSDAYS AT 9.15pm – Night Prayer (traditionally known as Compline).

Finally – 2 things

• A lot of detail is shown on the attached schedules and these will be widely available in church.
• Some have already mentioned they intend to fast during this period. Personal and professional counsel tells me that those using medication under a doctor’s prescription should seek the GP’s advice before deciding to miss meals. Fasting need not be just about missing meals – for some fasting can mean ceasing TV watching for a period etc. Fasting is a spiritual discipline intended to create more time for dedicated praying and enjoying consciously the presence of the Lord. For any who think a 24 hour fast once a week will be meaningful, my suggestion is to fast after an evening meal on day 1 and break the fast with the evening meal 24 hours later.

Nigel di Castiglione

Week 1 1st January 2012

Week 2 8th January 2012

Week 3 15th January 2012

Week 4 22nd January 2012