Archive for December, 2013

The Prayer of A Righteous Person is Powerful and Effective

December 31, 2013

 

Calvin prayer

 Photograph courtesy of Graham Jones

One of my key highlights from 2013 was this prayer written and prayed out by 12 year old Calvin Strong of Saint Helens.  In a one minute prayer – alongside 7 leaders from a wide spectrum of churches, Calvin captured the heart of prayer for Oneness and the hope of what the Church might be in the days ahead.. as you read this, would you pray along in agreement?

 Father God,

I pray for our churches, that there will be unity between the generations.

Help us to build strong relationships in You, which demonstrate Your love, to others.

As we face challenges let us be ready to support each other and offer comfort in difficult times.

May we be accepting of each other’s experiences and individuality.

In the sharing of wisdom and talents help us to show respect.

Through Your power help us, as a church family, to bring faith and hope to those who have none.

In Your mercy hear our prayer.

(hear our prayer)

Watch here as Calvin leads the stadium prayer gathering with his prayer

 

Standing together. On what basis?

December 31, 2013

    8 Representatives Together

You Tube video of 8 leaders prayer together 

With all that has separated the Body of Christ over hundreds of years there is a mountain of disunity that we need to deal with. At Saints in the Stadium thousands of Christians from all traditions and backgrounds came together to call on God to seek His help for the United Kingdom. Eight people from different denominations of the Church stood and prayed for Oneness in the Body in the United Kingdom.

There is only one God and Father. Centuries of separateness amongst believers for countless reasons does not change the unity of God. Standing together and singing or praying does not change the separation in our hearts. Issues of truth do not become flexible with us simply holding hands.

We can, however, take heart from the increasing number of leaders and church representatives who want to see a change and want to stand together on the basis that Jesus is Lord. We prayed for God’s help in the matter of heart oneness. God is answering this prayer.

Standing together declaring the Lordship of Jesus

The representatives praying at Saints in the Stadium:

Leading – Dennis Wrigley – co-founder of the Maranatha Community

Bishop Geoff Pearson – Church of England Bishop of Lancaster
Father Bill Keogh – Roman Catholic itinerant priest
Rosie Critchlow – Co-ordinator of Network Manchester
Pastor Phil Jump – Chairman of North West Free Church Council
Mr John Cavanagh – Prayer Co-ordinator for Together for the Harvest
Pastor Ayo Akinsanya – Senior Pastor of Deeper Life Church Merseyside
Steve Clifford – Director of the Evangelical Alliance
Calvin Strong – Young People’s Representative
 
Watch here

Catholics and Protestants, Israel, Human Sexuality debate, The End Times…..

December 8, 2013

We can talk forever about unity and togetherness but what about the reality? We can gather, talk and sing about oneness but the real evidence is the way we treat each other. One way to stir up division is to mention controversies – so usually we don’t. We avoid difficult subjects in the pursuit of ‘unity’ but if we want authentic unity with Truth at the centre, we need to face the difficulties between us.

At the Saints in the Stadium national prayer gathering in October 2013 we asked God to help the Church with the problem topics amongst us. We named 8 examples of controversies and with each one we prayed for God to help us:

“Help us to listen in love, and to seek truth together.”

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMa4HtaQNtA&feature=youtu.be