Prayer Sheet October/November 2008

For St Cuthbert's

• Special services & events - Prayer Breakfast (18 October); Colour Evening (22 October); Bible Sunday with shared lunch (2 November); MAP meeting (3 November); Remembrance Parade & Remembering Loved Ones (9 November); Saturday Night Alive (22 November) & Safari Supper (29 November)
• The ongoing development of our church's life - prayer & worship; evangelism & social action; world mission; fellowship & pastoral care; discipleship & teaching and buildings & resources - particularly the development of the next generation of church leaders, re-vitalisation of our outreach programme, development of church music, improved systems & co-ordination & the development of gifts and the involvement of more in our many ministries.

Partners in Mission

• High Lane churches running a Monday After School Club
• All Hallows & St Philips as they seek to appoint a new Vicar
• St Mary's as the Upper Room is closed & work finally commences
• St John the Evangelist, Pamplona Baja, base for Paul & Sarah
• Paul, Grace & Isobel Robinson now living in Vietnam
• Dean & Paula Finnie as they seek God's will for future ministry
• Shemil & Becky Mathew as they being ministry in Sri Lanka
• Adam & the Locdown team
• Patches Chabala who has started training at St John's, Nottingham

For individuals and those in need

• Joyce & Ruth as they continue their Foundations for Ministry Course
• For all who suffer and those who seek to care for them, particularly members of the Pastoral Visiting Team
• For those who are seeking work and/or new direction in life
• For family life with both the joys, pressures & sorrows that it brings
• For daily living, particularly for those engaged in full time employment

Lord, you give us this good earth,
yet we take your generous gifts
for granted.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, you give us this good earth,
but we squander its rich resources.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, you give us this good earth,
but we fail to share your bounty with all of your children.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

East Africa is facing a severe food crisis. Tearfund church partners are already distributing food and have ongoing projects helping communities to be more resilient to drought.

Ethiopia, Somalia, northern Kenya and Uganda are the worst hit areas with around 17 million people in need of emergency food aid. Drought, poor harvests and the continuing rises in food prices are the main factors driving a worsening humanitarian situation. Earlier this year vital rains failed, devastating staple crops and leaving millions at risk in a region still recovering from previous droughts.

Please pray for

• RAIN: The right amount of rain needs to fall at the right time to secure a harvest.
• WISDOM: Tearfund need wisdom to ensure our response effectively benefits as many people as possible.
• SECURITY: Fighting in Somalia is contributing to the crisis and severely hindering the safe delivery of aid.
• THE FUTURE: Tearfund have long-term projects in East Africa helping communities to be more resilient to drought.

Haiti storms
The winds of 100mph and the lashing rain may have blown through but it's becoming clear that Haiti's recovery from being hit by four tropical storms will take many months.

• Please pray for the survivors of the storms and that they receive enough help to rebuild homes and livelihoods.
• Pray for adequate food supplies to get through, especially to the 160,000 people the UN estimates are now living in the open and susceptible to malnutrition and disease.
• Pray for Tearfund partners as they work to reopen 100 schools and churches.

Sri Lanka
The government's offensive against the separatist Tamil Tigers has left many thousands in the northern Vanni area in peril. Since January, the Sri Lankan government has been using army, navy and air power to try and take land held by the Tamil Tigers for several decades. As a result there are reckoned to be around 150,000 displaced people gathering in the Kilinochchi area who have become dependent on aid agencies for food and shelter.

• Please pray for the civilian population affected by the fighting.
• Pray for local churches and Tearfund's partners as they try and bring help to those in need.
• Pray for an end to aggression and the beginning of dialogue, for roads to reopen so that there can be freedom of movement for people and for supplies, for an end to this conflict and a commitment on all sides to work for peace.

St Cuthbert's Life - Past

• In the September Prayer Focus service, we prayed about church life - how far we've come over the last few years, where we are today and what we might do in the future
• We gave thanks for St Cuthbert's, for all the church has done and for the life and witness of its members over the last 121 years

St Cuthbert's Life - Present

• For the work of the ministries happening each week.
• For new initiatives & the development of existing ones.
• For the willingness to share jobs & just do things.
• For our wonderful facilities.
• For our diversity in age, opinion, background & experience
• For the people who give up their time every week

St Cuthbert's Life - Future

• For more involvement of the younger people in the leadership of St Cuthbert's
• For discernment, wisdom & imagination in communicating the Good News in the 21 Century
• That people will become interested in evangelism / social action & get involved
• That, as a church, we will be more outward looking and more focussed on the needs of people outside the building than those inside.