 | Crows Nest Uniting Church |
Leading Prayers
- The minister will usually provide some resources based on the lectionary for the day - delivered by email during the week, unless requested otherwise.
- Read through the suggestions, and adapt them to your ‘voice’ and prayer style. If you would like to re-write the prayers entirely, please feel free to do so!
- If there are news items, or pastoral concerns raised in the congregation, you might like to include them at appropriate points in the prayer.
- During the introduction to our prayer time there will sometimes be suggestions or requests for prayer. If you feel confident to include them, make some notes and refer to them in an appropriate way.
- When the music for personal prayer concludes, move to the lectern and introduce the prayer. If there is a ‘bidding and response’, (Lord, hear us … Hear our prayer) invite the participation of the congregation. It’s also a good idea to rehearse the bidding and response before you begin the prayer itself.
- Speak fairly slowly, and pray the prayer yourself.
- At the end of the prayer, lead into the Lord’s Prayer with appropriate words (e.g. ‘We join in the Lord’s Prayer’…) Take a hymn book with you to read the prayer if that aids confidence.
Thanks for sharing in this ministry!
updated July 2014