Dear All

As well as our usual information I include a prayer written by Rev Paul Davis, Chair of the Lancashire District and Superintendent of our Circuit.

In this time across our county and country we pray for the following, for the

Leaders of our government at national and local level. Agricultural community, for farmers and farm workers and all who produce our food. National Health Service and all who work in it and all other key workers. Care Homes, their staff and residents. Airlines, and all who work in travel, hospitality and deliveries. Schools, colleges and universities, pupils, teachers and students. Homes of our loved ones we cannot be with at the moment. Isolated and the lonely and the unwell. Remembering of those we have lost. Encouragement as we emerge from this in a better shape to be servants of the gospel.

Gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Saturday 20^th June is World Refugee Day

Readings for the week commencing 14^th June – The Glory of the Lamb

*Not everyone will have a *STF hymn book so we have put the first line of the hymn alongside so that you can look it up in another hymn book or google it or play it on You Tube.

If you would like some background on the readings and points to ponder please go to https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/the-bible/a-word-in-time/  

You may want to read all three elements at once or others may prefer to space them out during the day – breakfast, dinner and tea. What works for you?  Some may need to set an alarm on their phone so that they don’t forget, while others will not be able to do anything else until readings are read and prayers shared. You will find a pattern that works for you and gives a framework for your day.

Following the recent announcement to allow churches to open for private prayer from the 15th June the Superintendents of the eleven Lancashire Circuits met to decide a unified response.

We have decided that at this point we will not be opening the Methodist Churches across Lancashire for private prayer even though we will have the permission of the government to do so.

There are several reasons for this: –

1. The Methodist Church in Britain has decided not to make any change to its position until after the Methodist Conference has met at the end of June so there is no change in the guidance from the Connexion.
2. Methodist Churches are places where we gather in community to worship and pray and not a place where we commonly go as individuals. We recognise there has been an increase in recent years for our buildings to be used for 24/7 prayer, but this has often been in specific locations.
3. The risk assessment for every church has not been carried out.
4. There are cleaning, distancing, and movement through the building issues that will need to be in place for when we resume to meet together, and these have not been resolved at this stage.
5. We need to ensure that those opening and managing our buildings are not those in the ‘highest risk’ categories, and we can’t be sure of that at this stage.
6. The Reinfection rate (R Number) in the North West is the highest in the country at the moment and we remain cautious about the spread of infection in our region.

Paul Davis 10^th June 2020

We hope to have more positive news soon and will keep you notified of any changes.

Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. 

The wave of prayer starts in May for 11 days between the Christian festivals of Ascension and Pentecost from 21st May to 31st May 2020.

It’s not complicated – we’re simply asking people to pray in whatever way they want and with whoever they choose for others to come to know Jesus Christ.

Click Here to view Lancashire District page.