Corrie Ten Boom, famous for her courage in the Second World War asked “Is prayer your steering wheel or spare tyre?”.

There are magnificent prayers in the Bible and prayer was a vital part of the young church in Jerusalem and it remains a defining characteristic of the church. We’re told in the book of Acts that the Chrstians prayed with vitality and expectancy as they took decisions and told others about the good news of Jesus that transformed lives.

The opportunities for prayer are many - “And pray in the Spirit on ALL occasions with ALL kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and ALWAYS keep on praying for ALL the saints.” Ephesians 6 v 18

Here’s a flavour of prayer in church life at Woodgreen and the ways that you can engage in it.

We’re a large church so the logistics and timings can be a challenge but we encourage everyone to join together in prayer on two Wednesday evenings a month, especially our ‘First Wednesdays’ when people can come and go at times they find convenient.

And there are small group prayer times. Growth Groups include prayer on a more personal level, some meet to pray on Monday mornings, there’s a women’s prayer group on Tuesday mornings and leaders of groups pray around their activities and when they meet in their teams.

We encourage prayer in family life at home, especially where parents spend that time teaching and training their children. And informal prayer triplets are formed as supporting friendships are developed.

Prayer demonstrates our utter dependence on God for all we seek to be and do both as individual Christians and as a church. Revival in the church has often flowed from times of prayer so don’t let prayer be your spare tyre. Make it central to your life as a growing disciple of Jesus Christ.

See our calendar for the next opportunity you can meet with others to pray.