Dear Friends,

I want to do two things in this letter. Firstly, I wish to convey thanks and secondly I want stress the importance of prayer.

On behalf of our deacons, I wish to express heartfelt thanks to all those who were involved in any way in our Alpha and Alpha Plus events. A large group of folk have rallied round as we have sought to implement the plans carefully laid down by the Alpha Steering Group and many hours of dedicated service have been offered up to God. Lives have been deeply touched by His Spirit and it has been a truly enriching experience for our church fellowship.

Much prayer went into Alpha and the Alpha Plus follow-up, and during the past seven months we have seen God graciously answer many of those specific petitions. Just recently a number of people have felt deeply convicted about the present urgent need for concerted prayer for our church, especially as we are seeking to address some very challenging matters, including our desire to see more families join us, and our future evangelism strategy. Prayer is an expression of our total dependence upon God and it is so vital if we are to achieve anything of eternal significance.

Jesus urged His disciples to pray with confidence: to keep on seeking and to keep on asking! He sets us such a wonderful example, reflected in His constant prayers when He was here on earth and by His ongoing intercessory ministry on our behalf in Heaven itself.

By the time you read this we will have had another Day of Prayer on 24th July but the call to pray goes on! The deacons have set aside a special evening in August to watch the highly stimulating ‘Dynamic Prayer’ DVD, produced by Alpha International, and to pray for a wide range of issues. We also hope to give that particular DVD wider exposure and to embark on further prayer initiatives.

Some of you will be aware that I have been regularly participating in a prayer triplet with Alan Mitchell, pastor of the Harbour Street Christian Fellowship and Simon Tillotson, the vicar of All Saints and St Peter’s churches. Over these past months, we have earnestly prayed for God’s wisdom and strength in our respective ministries. We have sought to bear each other up in prayer and our times together have proved so encouraging. It is my hope that others might enjoy this kind of close fellowship in prayer too. The Manse Prayer Meetings and the prayer times in the Home Groups have also provided this, but it would be good to see other prayer opportunities emerging within the life of our church.

In his classic book, ‘Purpose in Prayer’, E. M. Bounds wrote that "the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer". We long that His cause might advance mightily in our midst and in our community, but we will only see this if we pray!

Yours in Christ’s service,