On Sunday 3rd December we are unable to meet at Roseangle because of the Art Exhibition. As such, after discussion with Segun, we have arranged to meet in the white Dens Road church on the corner of Dens Road and Arthurstone Terrace. There is on street parking behind the church on Cunningham Street. The heating doesn’t work well so please wear warm clothing. There are toilets and a kitchen so we can have a cuppa. Segun and myself will lead the service together.
The 2024/2025 Methodist Prayer Handbook title and theme is: Praise and Protest.
Please use the following to craft and submit a prayer:
In her song of praise, the ‘Magnificat’ (Luke 1:46-55), Mary thanks God for the child Jesus, who will announce God’s kingdom which “brings down the powerful from their thrones and lifts up the lowly.”
To engage in God’s mission and be part of that transformation, we believe the Methodist Church is called to become an increasingly evangelistic, inclusive and justice-seeking Church.
Following the prophet Isaiah’s call, echoing through the ages to us and reflected in Mary’s prayer, the 2024/2025 Prayer Handbook will focus on how the Church can “learn to do right; seek justice and defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17a, NIV).
We invite you to offer prayers using Isaiah’s three key actions for becoming the justice-seeking Church we are called to be, in response to God’s love in Christ:
Learn
We invite prayers that we might be attentive to God’s ways, and discern how we go about learning to live justly in our local communities and churches.
Seek
Please offer prayers that seek God and God’s ways, and invite us to love God and to love our neighbours. Prayers could relate to looking actively for what God is showing us as the Body of Christ corporately, or more personally, to become people who recognise injustice and take action.
Defend
Finally, we welcome prayers for the Church to become more aware of the voices of the people we are called to defend – those who are marginalised and silenced. We welcome prayers that support others in their protest and prayers for how we get involved.
Prayers may be posted to: Prayer Handbook Editor, Methodist Church House, 25 Tavistock Place London WC1H 9SF
Prayers must not exceed 120 words.
Please submit no more than two prayers.
All prayer content must be appropriate for use from September 2024 to August 2025.
Specific prayers. To help users pray relevantly, please include specific information on:
named countries, regions, communities
needs or projects, eg praying for people with specific needs, care for the environment, or rural concerns, etc.
Creative prayers. Feel free to move beyond lists of information to form a more creative prayer. Visual prayers, such as drawings, may also be submitted (follow guidelines for photos below).
The Methodist Church is committed to becoming an ‘Inclusive Church’. Please use inclusive language in your prayers. For example, refer to people for who they are, not by their experience, ie ‘people experiencing poverty’ (not as ‘the poor’).
All prayers must be your copyright. They may have been used or published elsewhere, but you must have permission to reproduce them. Unless you indicate otherwise, on submission your prayer will become the copyright of Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Extracts from the Prayer Handbook are used for ‘Prayer for the Day‘ on the Methodist Church website and also in ‘Prayer Focus’, the prayer journal of the Methodist Church in Ireland.
Please note that all published prayers will be edited, more or less, depending on how they fit on the page and relate to other prayers in the Handbook. The editorial process also ensures all prayers use inclusive language. By submitting a prayer, you agree that it may be edited as the editor sees fit.
When submitting prayers, please give your postal address, your full name, and how you would like to be described (eg Jane Jones, local preacher, Townton).
Please note that it is not possible to include all prayers submitted for the Prayer Handbook or related online content.
Guidelines for submitting photographs
Photographs must support your prayer and help bring our theme to life. Photos most likely to be published will show people in action.
Please provide a caption so that the editor knows what the photo is, and state where it was taken. NB: if your photograph is used it may be given a different caption in order to fit the theme and the prayers on the page.
All photos must be sent as digital high-resolution files: JPEG, 300dpi. If your email gives you the option of sending a photo in a different size please choose ‘original size’ (or the biggest file size). If your email account will not allow you to send large files please use wetransfer.com to email to prayerhandbook@methodistchurch.org.uk
Images are reproduced small, so make sure photos are bold and clear, ie no group shots.
Make sure you have permission from the people shown in your photograph: and that they have given their consent for their image to be published. It is crucial that parents/guardians of children give writtenconsent. When you email in your photo(s), please forward permissions and consents.
Photographs must be your own copyright. If you take a photograph of a piece of artwork (eg a painting or sculpture) and that work is in copyright you must also send the artist’s written permission for their artwork to be used in the Prayer Handbook.
Unless you indicate otherwise, your photo will become the copyright of Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes.
Schools, children’s groups and young people
The deadline for submission of prayers and photos from schools, and children/young people is Friday 26 January 2024.
WRBF was conceived and established through the Broughty Ferry Churches Group and continues to act under the BFCG “umbrella” with its funds held within the BFCG accounts. It seeks to support work with refugees in the Dundee area, raise general awareness, and liaise, as appropriate, with national bodies.
The BFCG meeting this week received a report from WRBF as follows:
A sale of paintings has raised £580 to support ongoing work.
2 car-loads of warm clothes was collected for the large group of refugees arrived in Dundee.
Connection Café at The Steeple remains busy but the Panmurefield Ukrainian Café (on Baptist premises) will cease after Christmas.
The customary collection of ‘gift shoe boxes’ has been widely undertaken through churches and the local community.
December 2023
Dear Friends
Last month it was good to gather together in worship at Perth and welcome Rob Mackay as a recognised Local Preacher in the Circuit. Week by week the preachers lead us in our worship – the local preachers are a gift and proud tradition within the Methodist Church. Last week many of the preachers joined myself and church stewards to share in a day of continuing development regarding ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’. Whilst those words might feel as though they come out of a management handbook, in reality, they reflect a deep concern amongst the people called Methodists.
We like to say “All are Welcome” but how we live that out can be a different matter. We can belittle, disregard, or otherwise ignore people (often unwittingly). On the development day, the preachers and stewards began a journey together, recognising how much we don’t know and there is always more to learn. Part of our calling as Methodists is committing ourselves to keep on learning (and the preachers and stewards generally reflect the age of the congregations so I would hope no-one thinks they are too old!)
I know another strength of Methodism is the warm welcome people often receive and we want to celebrate that. On the development day we did learn that there were people within the Methodist Church who, for a variety of reasons, have felt excluded from that welcome. I know the congregations in this circuit would not want that – we want to break down the barriers that would divide us. This breaking down of barriers is what we celebrate at Christmas – the divine breaking through into the human and created order – the birth of Jesus. God’s gift to the world. We honour that gift when we respond with gratitude and try to follow breaking down the barriers of division in ways that are safe and just.
As we make our Advent journey I do encourage us to take some time to give thanks for the ministry of the preachers and stewards amongst us, to pray for them and to support them as they lead us working out afresh how we are to be congregations of welcome. That can mean challenge and change but, in the Spirit of Christmas, let us show an abundance of love and humility.
The new edition of Connexion is now out.
