'During the week, 97 people asked for prayer' 
 

Daniel Pulham reports on an Easter outreach that asked passers by if they would like the church to pray something on their behalf

We are Stour Valley Baptist Church in Shipston on Stour, a small South Warwickshire market town and we had a really exciting Holy Week! We work closely with the other Churches in the town and we spotted an idea that has been used elsewhere called 'Say one for me'.

The idea is that the churches go to the centre of the town and ask passers by if they would like the Church to pray something on their behalf. It had been fruitful elsewhere and I thought it could work here.

So, we produced a banner and printed 'prayer cards' for people to fill in. We organised a rota (everything needs a rota!) with two people standing outside our local co op 11am - 1pm on the Monday to Friday of Holy Week.

The brief was to ask passers by 'If you could pray one prayer what would it be?' 

We would then explain we had a service on Good Friday afternoon and we would be praying for all the things people had asked prayer for.

By the end of the week we were overwhelmed by the response! Each 'team' reported incredible conversations. Several people burst into tears when asked the question... One lady said 'I have been waiting for this!'

On the shift I took part in I asked one young lad, and he said he had to go somewhere and would come back. I thought that would be the last I saw of him. But ten minutes later he was back and asked for prayer for his sister in law. In all during the week, 97 people asked for prayer!

The majority asked for prayer for world peace and our nation, was followed by requests for healing of one sort or another and then a general swathe of requests ranging from 'I want a pony',  'Get rid of Trump', to praying for our town's local challenges. 

Inevitably we had a few people who didn't want to talk. But  that was fine and the 'teams' took this in their stride. But we also had a few people who stopped just to say they were really pleased to see the churches 'doing something'.

We had a joint Churches service on Good Friday afternoon when all the prayers were prayed for in silence by members of the congregation - who then walked up to the altar and laid them there. It was very powerful.

Almost immediately, people were saying we should do it again next year. It has really given people confidence and is a very non-threatening way of 'reaching out' - both for Christians - and passers by.

I warmly recommend it. Praise God!  
 

Daniel Pulham is the minister of Stour Valley Baptist Church