St Stephen’s in Redditch are inviting their local community to come inside and pray during the ten days of Thy Kingdom Come from Ascension Day to Pentecost. The team have set up 12 Covid-safe prayer stations inside the church and will be open for people to come and visit from 10-12 and 2 - 4 on Monday to Friday as well as 10 - 12 on Saturday.
Churchwarden, Elaine Whitfield, said: “We felt it was really important to be open for people to be able to come in and pray during Thy Kingdom Come. We’ve put bags together with all the resources needed for the prayer stations which have been quarantined for a couple of days so people can safely pick one up when they arrive. They can then go around the stations at their own pace – and of course, it’s also a good opportunity to come in and see our beautiful church!”
Each station around the church has a different prayer activity. People can write a prayer on a piece of paper which will dissolve in water as they pray; names of people needing prayer can be written on paper feet which will then be laid at the foot of the altar; in the bag will be five paper hearts on which initials can be written to create a ‘wall of hearts’ in the church and people can make a small payer cross to take home as well as an origami dove or prayer spiral to hang up in church.
Elaine continues: “Many of the activities are based around the ‘pray for 5’ theme of Thy Kingdom Come, encouraging people to pray for others to come to faith. We’ve also created a display in our porch for Ascension Day, which will be changed ahead of Pentecost and we really hope that our porch will also be filled with prayer doves and spirals as a sign of the strength of prayer in Redditch.”
All are welcome to pop into the Church in Redditch town centre to pray.