Sept 26 – The focus of the first five days of this week’s prayers, is our September’s month of prayer, fasting, and abstinence. The prayers are taken from our month of prayer booklet. The final two prayers, starting off in October, are focussed on church membership, and the new people coming into membership in our church.

Shropshire Hope [SH] by Pastor Leslie

Father, thank You for SH. As we look forward to next year and the 10th anniversary of its launch – we give thanks and praise for the many Kingdom Building initiatives that have occurred through it. Thank You that it is a Kingdom Building ministry.

Covid has had a huge impact on many Christian para-church ministries, and SH is no different. Thank You for some of the initiatives that SH ran or enabled during the Pandemic.

We pray that as the team consider the future direction of SH, and seek to hear from You about what it should be doing – grant the SH team prophetic insight and understanding.

As we minister according to Your way of doing things – thank You for these verses from Isaiah 58:11-12, CSB, ‘The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.’

We stand on these words and declare them over Shropshire / Telford & Wrekin. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Sept 27 – Telford Christians Together [TCT] by Revd Chris Densham

Loving Father, thank You that right from the outset of Telford, the Churches agreed to work together in Unity to reach this new Town with the Good News of Jesus. We honour You for the faithful prayers and work of those who have gone ahead of us, thank You for the foundation that they laid.

We know that You love unity between Your people and that unity commands a blessing. But loving God, how the landscape has shifted and changed as a result of the Pandemic.

We ask You for wisdom for the Trustees as they work together to discern Your priorities and purposes for this new season. Release Your strategy to see Your new things come into being.

We pray that You would show us anew how to partner with You and Your churches to see the transformation of all things in Telford & Wrekin, for the Glory of Jesus’ Name. Amen

Sept 28 – Telford Area Mission [TAM] by Revd Chris Densham

Father, thank You for the fruitfulness of past initiatives of TAM: One Bright Day, One Bright Week, Trypraying and #DoyouknowHimtelford? Thank You for the strong relationships and trust built between church leaders from different traditions, and for the other good things this has led to.

As the TAM Team gathers this autumn, we pray that You would unveil the next steps in our journey together. Reveal to us where the openings for Your Good News are, and how we should step into them. Open up new patterns of praying together.

Thank you for Helen Watson, protect and guide her as she starts the Evangelism Hub in September. Lord of the Harvest, we pray for a new hunger amongst Your people for the lost. We cry out to You for increased fruitfulness in evangelism and disciple-making.

Lord Jesus, may many in our town come to know and love You, we pray. Amen

Sept 29 – Serve Team by Pastor Leslie

Father, as we are praying this month into Kingdom Building and Making Disciples – Your Son commanded His Church to Make Disciples, and disciple-making is a foundational thing for our church to focus on and work towards. Christ also set the example of a life filled with worship which enabled Him to serve Your purposes making disciples through His ministry.

We ask for the same success for the whole Telford Church. May many individual churches across our Borough become excellent Disciple Making Churches. May it lead to a dramatic increase in the number of spiritually mature Christians who also possess great godly character, a deep commitment to mission, and a vibrant spirituality in the Telford Church.

We pray that many more Serve Teams will be raised up across the Borough in the years to come leading to a growing, flourishing and dynamic Telford & Wrekin, and Shropshire Church. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Sept 30 – Father, we want to say, ‘together we will make this church a vibrant, worshipping, serving, giving, witnessing Kingdom building church which glorifies the Lord Jesus.’

Our vision is ‘following Jesus inspires us to dream big and attempt the impossible.’ To do this we need to create Kingdom builders who follow Jesus, expanding His Kingdom here – may our vision run and be successful in Your Kingdom’s purposes in and through Telford Elim, in person and online.

Kingdom builders say: I have died with Christ, it is no longer I but Christ who lives in me; therefore, ‘here I am to worship and serve alongside you.’

Kingdom builders answer Your call, belong because You have placed them in the local church, and therefore they call it their spiritual home. As my spiritual home, I am all in. In Jesus’ name, and for His glory. Amen

Oct 1 – Church Membership: We recognise that becoming a local church member may seem strange for some, especially when everyone who is a believer is already a member of the body of Christ.

However, each local Elim church is also part of the national Movement, and is therefore an important constituent part. At the heart of both our governance, and Constitution, as a Movement, is the recognition of the important part each individual has to play in the worship, mission and ministry of a local Elim church.

Local church membership is an important element in our DNA as a Movement, and is a commitment by the individual to their local Elim church as their ‘spiritual home.’

Father, we pray for those coming into membership tomorrow – may Telford Elim be their ‘spiritual home,’ a local church each one can belong to, settle in, and move forward following Jesus in. You call and place us in local churches for a time and season; as the new members join may it be a fruitful, spiritually enriching and strengthening time in their lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Oct 2 – In Exodus 33, Moses recognised that in order to be able to overcome the difficulties of leading Israel, and undertake the journey they were about to face, he needed Your presence in his own life, and for the Your presence to go with the nation.

You responded to Moses’ entreaties by promising that Your presence would go with them. Moses also asked for a greater encounter with Your presence, a life-changing encounter. We pray for our church members to have life-changing and enriching encounters with You in and through our church, in person and online.

We pray for Your Spirit’s presence and power, Christ’s favour and grace to be in each of the lives of those coming into membership today, indeed in the lives of all in our church. Go before us, Lord, and lead us in the pathway You choose for us. We ask to be a local church filled with Your Holy Spirit. Amen.