Prayer Diary September 2020 Sunday 30 AUGUST Trinity 12 Effectively resourcing ministry Please pray for all those who Following the open conversations held around the Diocese at the start of the year, minister across our diocese. in September we are offering a series of further opportunities to engage with the That they may feel supported process as we look at how we can effectively resource a healthy and sustainable and sustained in their faith, Church into the future. able to help more people Foreword from Bishop Martin It will be a chance to hear more about the strategy for mission and ministry know the love of God. What a strange year this has been! As 2020 across the Diocese and think about how it might impact on your own church. began no one could have predicted that the Only by working together can we ensure that God’s Kingdom continues to grow in Covid-19 Coronavirus would sweep across Worcestershire and Dudley. Bromsgrove Deanery our world with such devastating effect. At Do not worry about anything, These meetings will be held Rural Dean: Paul Lawlor online using Zoom, but will a local, national and international level all but in everything by prayer and York: Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, follow a similar format to the our lives have been affected. We may have supplication with thanksgiving let with Bishops Paul Ferguson (Whitby), previous open conversations, been very ill ourselves, or lost loved ones your requests be made known to John Thomson (Selby), Alison White with opportunities for people to or neighbours. As a diocese we are facing God. And the peace of God, which (Hull) and Glyn Webster (Beverley) contribute in small groups. unprecedented financial challenges, as surpasses all understanding, will Turku (Finland): To find out more about the Archbishop Tapio Luoma, are so many businesses large and small. guard your hearts and your minds dates and times, or to book a with Bishop Kaarlo Kalliala Everyone, in different ways is facing new in Christ Jesus. place, please visit our website. South Kerala (India): levels of uncertainty and insecurity with people in our poorer areas Philippians 4.6-7 Bishop Dharmaraj Rasalam and amongst our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities often the worst hit of all. Mon 31 Bromsgrove Deanery At times like this we need to pray. Jesus said, ‘How blessed are Kimberley & Kuruman (South M Africa): Bishop Oswald Swartz those who know their need of God, for theirs is the Kingdom of Please pray for us as we come to terms with the sudden death of David Hargreaves, our Lay Chair and loyal servant of Christ and His Church. We pray for the Holy Spirit Kindu (Congo): Heaven.’ In praying for others and for ourselves we bring our Bishop Zacharie Masimango Katanda to guide us as we look to the future. Rural Dean: Paul Lawlor. emptiness to God for him to fill with his love and promise. We bring Kinkiizi (Uganda): our despair to God for him to fill with his boundless stores of hope. Tue 1 September Bromsgrove Team Ministry Bishop Dan Zoreka We bring our grief to God that all may know the peace that comes Please pray for a continued safe return to worship at All Saints’ church and to all the Ondo (Nigeria): T from God alone. In lockdown I needed a routine of daily prayer activities that take place in our community hall. Also that we might have a clearer Bishop Stephen Oni at home to bring me through, and millions of people in England vision for outreach and growth. Clergy: David Ford; Reader: Rosemary Sumner Calabar (Nigeria): began to connect with God through private or family prayer and Bishop Tunde Adeleye through worship online or by phone in their homes. How can that Wed 2 Diocese of Peru Kinshasa (Congo): Bishop Achille Mutshindu connection continue? As one small part of the answer this prayer Lockdown has meant that the Anglican Church of Peru has very little income and diary gives some structure to our prayers at home, and joins us clergy are not being paid. Pray for the clergy and their families as they struggle to Ontario (Canada): W together as one family in this Diocese of Worcester. I commend it survive without their stipend, and for Bishop Jorge as he tries to support them and Bishop Michael Oulton to your use. guide the Anglican Church through these difficult times. Calcutta (India): Bishop Probal Kanto Dutta Thur 3 Bromsgrove Team Ministry Ogbomoso (Nigeria): Th Pray for St John the Baptist w St Andrew Charford. For the safe restart of our Bishop Titus Babtunde Olayinka community hall and worship in church. We especially pray for renewed vision and Caledonia (Canada): At the moment we will continue to produce the prayer diary purpose in the coming months. Clergy: Ray Khan, Janet Hatton, David Lingwood; Bishop David TJ Lehmann monthly in electronic format. In this diary we’re praying for Reader: Hilda Roxborough Calgary (Canada): the Deanery of Malvern. We try to pray for those with a licence Bishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson Fri 4 Bromsgrove Team Ministry from the Bishop by name, but please do remember all Oregon (USA): F We give thanks for the members of the congregation of Christ Church, Catshill who minister and witness with them in each parish. Bishop Michael Hanley who have been ensuring our older people are safe, well and have all they need, California (USA): and for being so patient as we wait for a return to normality. Clergy: Bev Robertson; Bishop Marc Andrus Reader: Geoffrey Westwood Orlu (Nigeria): S Sat 5 Bromsgrove Team Ministry Bishop Bennett Okoro Cameroon (West Africa): Bishop Please pray for a continued safe return to worship in church at St Godwald in Dibo Thomas-Babyngton Elango On Sundays we are offering a monthly prayer for you to pray for your baptism families and we also Finstall and to all the activities that take place in our community hall. Please also Kirinyaga (Kenya): continue to pray for dioceses around the world through the Poorvoo prayer calendar (Sundays) and pray for vision for our ministry amongst children and young families. Clergy: David Bishop Joseph Kibichwa the Anglican Cycle of Prayer. These are all placed in a column, on the side edge of each page. Ford; Reader: Janet Hewe Trinity 13 Sunday 6 SEPTEMBER Sunday 13 SEPTEMBER Trinity 14 Lord, We give thanks for your Today marks the first Sunday in the Readers’ Licensing annual season of Creationtide. This wonderful creation and pray that On 19 September, five people will be admitted to the office of Reader in a special year, as part of a new initiative to you grant us wisdom and energy to service. combat climate change, A Rocha be better stewards of our world. Readers are also known as Licensed Lay Ministers (LLMs) and are authorised in UK are encouraging Christian Please pray for our new Readers churches of all denominations particular to exercise a ministry of preaching and teaching. They undergo a two-year as they begin a new chapter in Bromsgrove Deanery to take action before a national Climate Sunday event on 5 September 2021. training course, which ends with the award of a Certificate in Higher Education. their ministerial journeys. Rural Dean: Paul Lawlor Churches are invited to do one or more of the following three things: After being licensed they carry out a wide range of tasks within their parishes and beyond, especially helping others to reflect on their faith and how it relates to their Praying for our Baptism families • Hold a Climate-focused service, thinking about and praying for creation care. - Loving Father, thank you for the daily lives. This year’s new lay ministers are: Bromsgrove Deanery • Make a commitment as a church community to take long-term action in reducing parents of children waiting to be • Sue Hiscocks who will serve at St John’s Charlton in the benefice of Fladbury, Rural Dean: Paul Lawlor greenhouse gas emissions. baptised. Help them to know your Wyre Piddle, Hill & Moor, Cropthorne and Charlton presence in their lives and to share • Call for the UK government to be bold and courageous in leading the UK’s • Alison Lewis who will serve at St Leonard’s, Clent in the benefice of Holy Cross North that love and care with their families response to climate change. The Anglican Church of South America: and those they meet. Amen. • Charles Morgan who will serve at St John the Baptist, Halesowen in the Halas Team The Bishop of Salisbury, Nicholas Holtam, said: “Climate Sunday will be a brilliant Archbishop Gregory Venables • Carol Morris who will serve at St George’s in the Kidderminster East team Salisbury: Bishop Nicholas Holtam, resource to help Church of England parishes understand and respond to the climate Bath and Wells: with Bishops Andrew Rumsey (Ramsbury) crisis. As we work out how to cut our carbon emissions every year to reach net • Sally Spencer who will also serve at St John the Baptist, Halesowen in the Halas Bishop Peter Hancock, & Karen Gorham (Sherborne) zero emissions by 2030, Climate Sunday will motivate, encourage and inspire our Team with Bishop Ruth Worsley (Taunton) Cape Town (Southern Africa): churches to keep going on this journey.” At the same time, Yukiko Johnson, who will be licensed in the Diocese of London Tuam, Killala and Achonry (Ireland): Archbishop Thabo Makgoba where she works with a Japanese congregation, will be welcomed with Permission Bishop Patrick Rooke St Asaph (Wales): Find out more and register on their website: www.climatesunday.org Bishop Gregory Cameron to Officiate in our diocese.