Methodists Mobilise Church to "Pray Without Ceasing"

"Pray Without Ceasing" - an initiative backed by the Methodist Conference 2004 will be launched in late June. It is a 14-month non-stop prayer initiative that aims to mobilise all Methodist Churches across Britain to experience the vital prayer life of a Christian and to renew the spirit of individuals as well as the Church.

The continuous prayer will be maintained through a relay between 33 Methodist Districts in the UK, each of them will take a one - or two-week period until 1st September 2006 as 14 months are fulfilled.

2005-2006 has been declared as the year of prayer at the Methodist Conference 2004. The idea is inspired by the non-denominational 24-7 Prayer movement, which encourages churches to pray 24 hours a day for seven days. Some Methodist Churches have already adopted this form of prayer.

Some have in fact questioned the significance of Pray Without Ceasing because it is obvious that Churches or individuals do pray. The Rev Michaela Youngson, Methodist Secretary for Pastoral Care and Spirituality explained, "Things we do routinely can lose their freshness, so raising the profile of prayer will help us come to it anew. I hope that Pray Without Ceasing will be an opportunity to look again at what we believe about prayer and an encouragement to people to pray in ways new to them."

"Prayer is at the heart of the Christian experience. The Christian ideal is to be in relationship with God - relationships thrive through mutual communication and it is in prayer that we can express our love for God and create space to listen to God's word to us," she added.

The four major aims of the prayer programme are: to celebrate prayer as a gift from God; to affirm prayer that is already happening; and to resource prayer by providing ideas and inspiration to help people pray in ways that are new to them.

All the prayer resources for the event have been put on the website: www.praywithoutceasing.org.uk. Although aimed at Methodists, the website will be developed to be a rich prayer resource for all churches according to the needs of all ages, gender, culture and theology.

"Continuous prayer is not a Methodist invention and we celebrate the prayers of all Christians worldwide," said Michaela. "The Priorities of the Methodist Church urge us to take seriously the need for God centred worship and prayer. We have a rich tradition of liturgical and free prayer in which we express our devotion to God and bring before God the concerns of our churches and communities."

"This year the Methodist Church is committed to the Make Poverty History campaign and this is one reminder of our calling to pray for the needs of the world in which we live," she added.

The Rev Graham Horsley, Secretary for Evangelism, in support of Pray Without Ceasing, highlighted the fundamental importance of prayer to Christian life. "It can be hard to find time to pray in today’s busy world," he said.

"If Pray Without Ceasing brings us into the life-changing presence of God for even a few minutes more than we are used to, it will have been time well spent."