Aug 7 – The prayers this week are focussed on Telford.

Father, thank You for the Borough of Telford & Wrekin, which includes the town where we live. As we consider it this week, may You reveal Your love for this place, and Your concern for its inhabitants to us.

We believe that You love Telford. It is a special place to live in. May You bless this Borough and all its towns and villages and people with Your salvation, hope and healing. May Your Spirit give us insight and understanding as we seek to pray effectively and inline with Your perfect will for Telford. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Aug 8 – Father, as we consider Telford’s origins, a new Town incorporated in 1968, we think of the way it was advertised as a welcoming place for people to come to build good lives in a good place set amongst some of the finest countryside in England.

People came from big cities looking for a better home, and from across the West Midlands for new jobs and better prospects.

Thank You that Telford is a place where the poor, the immigrant and the yearning can come and find a home, a new life, and a place to prosper in.

We pray for the development of a new community mindset in Telford that encourages a sense of belonging to a good place, of shared ownership of Telford’s future, greater engagement for the good of all its inhabitants and partnership in creating a wonderful Borough. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Aug 9 – Father, that Emma Lazarus poem on the plaque at the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island in New York, which spoke about the welcome immigrants received as they entered their new world in the United States, comes to mind.

‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

Lord, the poor, the broken and disenfranchised of Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester were sent to Telford. Thank You that You entrusted Telford with these people looking for a new life and a new start.

Forgive the Telford Church that it did not fully open its arms and give a prophetic welcome to these people offering them Your hope in Christ, and the blueprint for making a truly wonderful, righteous and Christ-honouring new life in Him here.

We pray for a new day to dawn wherein we can truly engage with Telford’s people and lead them into a better tomorrow in our Lord Jesus. Amen

Aug 10 – Father, we pray today about the original villages and towns that make up Telford & Wrekin. Many of the original inhabitants felt that Telford was imposed on them – that they did not want it nor had any say in how it was developed.

We pray for those who still feel that they had no voice, nor any input in the shaping of Telford’s development. May You bring wholeness and healing to them. May the pain that arose from ‘change being imposed’ against their wishes be finally fully understood, and a process begun whereby they can find wholeness and peace about Telford.

We pray that the Christian Church can give a lead on this, and use our church as an important part of this process. May the Telford Church as a whole grow as result of this engagement. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Aug 11 – Father, we acknowledge that You entrusted Telford with many of society’s poorest and least wanted people. Many were uprooted and sent out of the big cities by councils who wanted to get rid of the issues they had, including clearing their slum communities which although deprived, nevertheless were real communities.

So we pray for the healing and wholeness of those forced to move to Telford. Many had families and friends in Birmingham, Liverpool or Manchester that they no longer could easily see.

That sense of being torn from one’s hometown and moved into a new, alien place must have been very real for many. God we confess these issues before You and ask for a cleansing of the old wounds.

We pray for new Christ-honouring roots to be soundly established which allow them to fully integrate and fully contribute to the future prosperity and blessing of Telford & Wrekin as whole. In Jesus’ name. Amen 

Aug 12 – Isaiah 55:1-3, 11-13, NLT, ‘1Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink – even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free! 2Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good?

Listen to Me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. 3Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.

11It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it. 12You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands!

13Where once there were thorns, cypress trees will grow. Where nettles grew, myrtles will sprout up. These events will bring great honour to the Lord’s name; they will be an everlasting sign of His power and love.’

We prophetically proclaim these words aloud over Telford & Wrekin. May Telford become a city, a city filled with the hope of Christ. In His name and for His glory. Amen

Aug 13 – Psalm 24:7-10, NLT, ‘Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle.

Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies – He is the King of glory.’

We proclaim: the people of Telford, open up Your hearts and minds to Christ, repent, and believe into Him and His salvation.

Open the gates of the Borough to the King of Glory. Let Christ enter and you people give Him His rightful seat of authority in this Borough – He is the Lord and desires to be Your gracious and good Lord.

Amen Lord Jesus. May it come to pass. Amen