Prayer Resources – Five Fresh Ways to pray
for Cumbria
Fresh Expressions Enabler Richard Passmore details five fresh ways to pray for Cumbria adapted
from various Fresh Expressions around the UK
Fresh Expressions is part of the ongoing story of Christianity. Many of the ideas and ways of praying
that different Fresh Expressions use are a new spin on what has been happening for the last 1000
years or so.
So I have suggested five ideas for prayer as part of the lead up to the Pentecost prayer initiative,
along with a short example of where the idea came from. Several of the ideas would work really well
with children and young people, so book up your slot on the 24 hour prayer day and if you fancy
trying something different here’s a few ideas. Several of the ideas would work really well with
children and young people.
Take a large note book and candles into the town centre and ask passers-by to write down prayers
or the names of people they would like you to pray for. People will often light a candle in a church
or cathedral so it’s not a huge step to take this idea to the streets. When friends did this in Coventry it
started something that went onto become a new church with young people who used to hang around
the city centre.
Sit quietly in the local park with your back against a large tree. Imagine the roots going down deep
into the soil and pray that God’s story would take root in people across Cumbria. Forest Church is a
network of Fresh Expressions of Church across the UK that seek to find ways to connect with God in
nature.
Take a kite up to your local hill that overlooks your town and as you fly it ask that the wind of the
Holy Spirit moves through the town. Often in the Bible we see people praying for their towns and
cities and when one Fresh Expression in Gloucestershire tried this some young people from the local
estate, a young lad commented “cushty moosch; that was better than nicking cars!”
Make a piece of craft that represents your prayers for a local area and place it in a local public
place. In churches we regularly pray for our community leaders and government, one group I know
uses craft as a form of activism and instead of presenting councillors with a dull petition will make
something truly beautiful like a cross stitch to give to local leaders, and pray for them as they discuss
how they made it and why.
Bake some cupcakes to give to your neighbours, rough sleepers, the local emergency service or
passers-by, and pray for the people who you gave them to. Monasteries were about practical
service as well as prayer. A friend and baptist minister on the south coast developing a Fresh
Expression of church with people on the margins of society regularly bakes cupcakes to take out to
local sex workers and into brothels.