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Neighbourhood Prayer Triplets This prayer guide is intended for people wanting

Neighbourhood Prayer Triplets This prayer guide is intended for people wanting to set up prayer triplets to pray for their neighbours. It is particularly aimed at people who want to improve their prayer life, and who have not in the past attended a regular prayer group, although many others will ﬁnd it helpful too. The guide lasts for twelve weeks and assumes that people meet once a week to pray. Each week has a theme, some Scripture about prayer and some prayer pointers relating to your neighbourhood. We encourage you to be ﬂexible and creative in the way you use the guide. You may wish to read out the Scriptures and written prayers, or just read them in silence and use them as a springboard for your own prayers. Let this material inspire you rather than restrict you. You may also ﬁnd it helpful to keep a prayer journal to record the prayers you pray and the answers you receive. We hope that after using this guide you will feel able to conﬁdently continue praying in your prayer triplet, if God leads you to do so. This guide has been reviewed by many people, to ensure that the content is acceptable across a range of denominations. We have, at every opportunity, tried to let scripture speak for itself. Why form a prayer triplet? Throughout the Scriptures, we read of God calling his people to work together. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob travelled with their families; Moses worked with Aaron to lead the captive Israelites to freedom; the prophets worked in ‘companies’; King David fought alongside his troop of mighty men ... and of course Jesus had 12 disciples. What’s more, the imagery the New Testament writers use to describe the Church is always plural: parts of a body, soldiers in an army, members of a Family, ambassadors on a mission. Jesus sent his disciples out in twos, and Paul always travelled with companions when he planted churches. Though our own individual relationship with God is vitally important, when it comes to reaching the world around us, the single-handed approach isn’t enough. We need each other, and we are at our most effective when we work together. Praying for our neighbourhoods is likely to be a long journey, and like any journey, it is better travelled together: • Companions encourage us when we get tired and discouraged • They help us dream bigger dreams than we might on our own • They help us hear God more clearly • They help us turn our prayers into actions In prayer, we’re using the authority God has given us as his children and ambassadors to bring change to our communities. Jesus said that authority should be used in groups praying in agreement. ‘“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”’ (Matthew 18:19-20) Forming a Prayer Triplet We suggest that a prayer triplet is formed representing, where possible, three different streets. You may choose to pray with people you already know in your church, or you may want to deliberately seek out people from other churches who live nearby. We don't believe any two groups will be the same! At the start of a group, agree together a regular time when you are going to meet, and how long you’re going to meet for. Also discuss how you would like to pray together. It is good to decide together how the meeting should run, so that while the theme may change, the format remains the same. This will help your group grow in conﬁdence. In an area with a particular problem such as high crime or antisocial behaviour, two or more triplets in the same church may want to meet together to pray. These gatherings will be less frequent than your weekly triplet meeting (perhaps once a month or once a quarter) and could happen in someone’s home or in a church building. Conﬁdentiality, Safety and safeguarding Please keep the prayers prayed in your group conﬁdential, except in dialogue with your church leadership. Gossip spreads fast and can be destructive to the people you want to help. Children and vulnerable adults: This guide is not suitable for children or vulnerable adults to use because of its emphasis on getting to know neighbours. While the vast majority of people living on our streets would not harm a child or vulnerable adult, we are concerned about the growing issues surrounding abuse. We would ask you to be vigilant about this risk when interacting with your neighbours. We strongly advise that, in getting to know your neighbours, you don’t put yourself in a position where you are on your own with a child, vulnerable adult or someone of the opposite sex. We also ask that all adults adhere to the safeguarding policies of your local church, and inform your church leader that you are using this guide. Thank you WEEK ONE Conversations with our Heavenly Father ‘For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.’ (Psalm 139:13-16) ‘”Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”’ (Matthew 10:29-31) ‘Jesus said to him: ”I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.”’ (John 14:6) ‘Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.’ (John 1:12-13 NIV) ‘For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.’ (Ephesians 2:18 NIV) Conversations with each other: In this ﬁrst session of your prayer triplet, why not spend some time getting to know each other more. You could start by telling the story of what brought you to live in the neighbourhood, and then share one thing you love about where you live and one thing you dislike. You are of inﬁnite value to God. He loved you so much that he sent his son Jesus to die on a cross for you. His greatest longing was that you should ‘have access’ to him (Eph 2:18). He doesn’t want you to have to pray to him from afar, saying the right words, practising the right rituals and hoping for the best. He wants you to come right up close and talk to him, just as you’d talk to a friend. God cares about every aspect of your life. While it is helpful to have structures for prayer, God loves to just talk with you about your day. If you didn't speak to your husband, wife, children, parents, brothers, sisters or friends, your relationship with them would not be very good. The same is true with God. If all you do is speak and listen to him once a week at church on Sunday, then your relationship with him will be shallow and frustrating. Prayer is simply listening and speaking to God. God has a vast number of ways to speak: he uses scripture, circumstances, dreams, visions, the words of other people; he sometimes puts a picture in your mind or causes a whole new idea to pop into your head; he stirs a feeling in you or causes you to see something in the world around you which reminds you of something. Never limit God by saying you can’t hear him. He can get through to you no matter who you are or how you tick. When praying together with others, often two or more people will have a similar thought. Usually, but not always, this is God speaking. Remember, God will never say anything that contradicts the Bible! In this ﬁrst prayer time, try to just speak to God as though He is physically there as a real person ... as the most important Person sitting with you. Don’t feel you have to use special language or complicated ideas. Just chat with him as you have been chatting with each other. Praying for your triplet: Spend some time thanking God for each other, and for bringing you together as a prayer triplet. Ask uploads/s3/ prayer-triplet-guide.pdf