Month of Praying for the Renewal of our Church: 31 prayers & a liturgy
- Marianne Musgrove
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 17
For the month of June, our congregation has been praying for the renewal of our church. We kicked off with a special service focussing on the story of Lazarus. Martha thought her brother was dead, and yet she also knew God could do anything. How might these internal competing voices affect our view of the church's future? Where do we place our trust, and how can we find hope in this story of resurrection and renewal?
Part of our worship also included decorating the pylons in the hall with green leaves to symbolise the promise of renewal, even in the depths of winter. Each Sunday, we will be adding more and more new leaves, flowers and vines so that, come the end of June, the hall will be a veritable forest!
A new prayer each day
We prepared a different envelope for every day of the month, with each containing a quote, Bible verse or Christian song lyric on the theme of renewal. These covered such aspects as:
respecting and releasing the past
encountering change
fostering patience
reaching out
getting along with one another
forgiving the past
practising hope
actively nourishing signs of new life.
Beneath the quote followed a short prayer on the theme of the day followed by space for the person to pray their own prayer for the renewal of the church, be that asking for something practical such as new musicians or a spiritual quality they feel the congregation needs such as courage or more trust in God.
Members of the congregation each selected a dated envelope then recorded their name and phone number on the sign-up sheet next to the appropriate date. The idea was that, on their designated day, the project coordinator would send them a text reminding them it's their day to pray.
So that everyone could enjoy all the the prayers, we also made a second copy of each prayer to be revealed around the church each day of the month, Advent-style.
Downloadable worship resources
If you would like to do something similar in your church, here are some resources:
31 prayers (adjust number depending on number of days in your chosen month)
4 extra prayers for children that can be swapped out (It's great to include the kids in this project as it's their church too.)
Sign-up sheet
A creative all-age liturgy to begin the month of prayer
A dramatised script based on the story of Lazarus
A short candle lighting liturgy that can be used at the start of every worship service during your month of prayer.
Let us join our prayers for renewal with yours!
You're welcome to use any of these resources with the accompanying credit:
© Marianne Musgrove, locustsandwildhoney.net
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