Prayer, prayer, prayer

It's about 4:45PM Manchester time, but it has already been one full day!

This morning, my host and I attended a prayer meeting at the Ivy Church Sharston building, which is home to The Message Trust - a Christian organization which, from my understanding, does a bit of everything. There was a bit of worship time, a speaker, and then everyone broke up into prayer groups. The speaker's message was centered primarily around Philippians 2:14, which talks about doing everything "without grumbling or complaining," and a lot of this actually has to do with how we deal with people that we don't always get along with. He tied this in with Colossians 3:23, which encourages us to work as if we are working for the Lord, which, in reality, we already are if we are focused on following His call. The reason the speaker tied these two together is because God sees everyone as extremely valuable, so if we are grumbling and complaining about the people we work with, God sees this as us grumbling or complaining about someone that Jesus died for. It was very profound and powerful, which gave us a lot to pray about in our groups.

After the prayer meeting, I got to sit in on an Eden Network meeting with many other team leaders, all of whom were extremely kind. We met at the cafe (and small business hub) owned by The Message, so we were able to share breakfast and tea together. There is a new team leader joining Eden, so everyone went around and shared about their communities, which was nice since I got to learn more as well. After everyone shared, we broke up into pairs to pray for each other. The woman I prayed with was super nice, and it was a pleasure getting to pray over her. Her prayer for me was so encouraging, so I was really thankful for that opportunity.

When we were through, we went to The Den (Eden Merseybank's cafe) to catch the end of an Ivy staff meeting. Everyone greeted me with applause when I was introduced, which honestly nearly made me cry. Everyone has been extremely welcoming to me so far, and it has been so uplifting. When the meeting ended, we broke up into prayer groups. (Are you sensing a theme here?) The group I prayed with was incredible, and most everyone needed prayer for similar things, so it was a really powerful moment. Afterwards, I was invited to a Grow Group (small group) this evening, which I am greatly looking forward to. Two of the people from Eden met us in the cafe a bit later, one of whom is the new member, so he got to see what Eden Merseybank does with the cafe in the estate. Since then, I've been back at Ivy Church Kingsway where I am now blogging from. I got to connect face-to-face with one of the people I had Skyped with back in December, so talking with her has been a lot of fun.

What I love so much about this day is that it has reminded me (as I often am) about the power of prayer. When people are gathered in the name of Christ and are able to appeal to Him, it is just such a powerful experience that doesn't compare to anything else. How amazing is it that our God wants a relationship with us, and actually listens when we pray?? It has also been reminding me of the sheer importance of the fact. As it tells us in Scripture, we truly need to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING. Prayer changes things, and especially in a ministry environment, we need to pray over each decision, each interaction, each event, each moment. Our mission of sharing the Gospel is what's at stake, so why wouldn't we be reaching out to the One who has commissioned us to go and share it for everything? Having a prayerful heart is critical to the mission.

And so, I will ask again, please keep praying for Ivy, Eden, and the people of Manchester. Please pray specifically for the new Eden member and his community that he will be reaching out to. And please continue to pray for me as I take all of this in.

Thanks for reading and for praying!

Blessings,
Lindsay

PS: Since I've now been surrounded by British accents for several days, I feel like I've been starting to think in a British accent. Any bets about when I start slipping and speaking in it?