Prayer
It goes without saying that prayer is at the heart of all we do at St Mark’s. The act of bringing our community and our world before God is where two elements of our vision meet - ‘Worshipping God’ and ‘Sharing his love’. As such there are a number of prayer ministries at St Mark’s involving dozens of volunteers.
There is a prayer stand in the South Aisle where you can light a candle and say a prayer, before or after any of our services.
If you would to be prayed for in confidence by our Prayer Support Group , or would like to receive prayer in person in church from our Prayer Ministry team, please scroll down to the relevant section below for more details.
If you would like to download our Diocese's Prayer Diary please click here.
Prayer Ministry
Prayer for healing or support is an important part of our ministry at St Mark’s. Twice a month towards the end of our communion services we invite people to come for the laying on of hands by members of the Prayer Ministry team, to ask them to pray for special concerns for ourselves.
People may wonder why this is offered when intercessions and personal prayers already happen. Sometimes we may feel the need for more than these, perhaps God prompts us because he wants to guide us or help in a particular way.
For some this may feel like a difficult step to take. We might feel anxious or unsure about it, but having others pray for us in these circumstances can be very powerful and real insight can result.
We may be healed or comforted in ways we hadn't expected. We can be helped to understand what God wants for us, or just be given acceptance and peace - the greatest comfort of all. This may happen in God's time rather than ours - we can try to be patient and trust in the Lord for his healing in his time.
Healing Prayer is offered at our 6pm evening service on the second Sunday of each month, and at our 10am service on the third Sunday.
Prayer Support Group
St Mark’s Prayer Support Group is a group of people from the congregation who are committed to praying regularly for others. In the footsteps of Christ, whose ministry on earth involved many acts of healing, we pray in confidence for those in need of both urgent and long term prayer.
In contrast to the Healing Prayer team, who pray with individuals in person, the Prayer Support Group operates through requests which are passed on via email or phone to our members. Requests for prayer come from many sources and are treated with strict confidentiality.
If you would like to make a prayer request or would like to join the Prayer Support Group, please email stmarksprayergroup@gmail.com or phone Joy on 01788 810794.
Please note - We must have the permission of the person who the request is for, or the next of kin if they are unable to do so themselves.