LOCAL MISSION

Season of Prayer 2023

Sunday 10 September – Sunday 24 September

Each year the Local Mission department of the LCANZ facilitates a Season of Prayer, inviting and calling on congregations of the LCANZ to pray. This year the Season of Prayer is scheduled for 10 to 24 September, and the theme is ‘Lord, renew your church’.

You are invited to intentional prayer – individually and with others in your congregation – for:

spiritual revival, hope, and joy in your church
the mission of your local congregation
people to come to know Jesus through our congregations’ mission and ministry.

In Luke 10, as Jesus sends out 72 local missionaries, he tells them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out harvest workers into his harvest fields’.

Over the three Sundays (10, 17, 24 September), we hope this Season of Prayer will create ongoing, deepening prayer in our churches. Save the date, plan, and prepare to dwell in prayer with your congregation.

If you are moved to help your congregation engage in the Season of Prayer, you will find worship resources on the LCA Worship Planning Page for the relevant Sundays. The August–September edition of The Lutheran focused on prayer, so take a look for helpful resources there. On this page, you will find Bible studies, ideas for congregational prayer, events and activities.

Our praying precedes our going. Prayer is about being present in the presence of God, deepening our intimacy with the Father, listening to the Spirit, and walking with Jesus. As Paul writes in Colossians 4: ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.’

Together as the LCANZ, let’s seek God’s presence in prayer. Lord, renew your church!

Some resources to get you started

Ways to celebrate

Ideas for celebrating the Season of Prayer

Here are some suggestions for celebrating the Season of Prayer.

Bible studies and discussion-starters

The Lord’s Prayer for your city

These prayer studies began as a workshop on Praying for Canberra in 2021. They have been adapted for you to contextualise for your city.

Discovery Bible Method

The Discovery Bible Method is a three-week Bible study on prayer.

Dwelling in God’s word: mission-shaped prayer

One theologian has described mission as being caught up in the ‘heartbeat of God’. One of the most important ways in which we’re drawn into God’s heartbeat is prayer.

Worship resources

Head on over to the Worship Planning Page to find full worship orders for Sunday 10, 17 and 24 September.

Worship Planning Page

Prayer resources and testimonials

Prayer of blessing for a town, suburb or region

This prayer of blessing was developed to bless the UK as the Olympic Flame travelled across the country in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics. It has been taken up to bless local communities across the world.

Developing a prayer map

This simple but powerful tool of creating a prayer map can help you pray for people God has put you in contact with.

The harvest is plentiful so pray!

Do you long to see your local congregation playing a vital role in growing God’s kingdom? Would you love to see new people coming to faith in Jesus through your local church? Do you sense the call of God to be more focused on reaching out beyond your church walls and programs into the community?

‘United, lifted up and encouraged’

Kate Traeger shares her experience of the LCANZ’s first churchwide Season of Prayer for church planting in 2019.

Receiving affirmation in challenging times

Joanne Chamberlain shares a vision for the community of Gawler in South Australia to plant a church in a school.

Calling all Epaphrases!

What or who on earth is an Epaphras? Epaphras is a biblical character who is only mentioned in four verses of the New Testament. He is not exactly the most famous or glamourous person but for the little Christian church in the city of Colossae, he was one of the most important people!

How can you get involved in practical ways?

Contact your church council or worship planners to focus on prayer between September 10 and 24 – SAVE THE DATES!
Join the Epaphras project and participate with prayer warriors in every place.
Join the pre-existing fortnightly national prayer Zoom online meeting.
Organise a once-off prayer group or prayer vigil.
Start praying with a prayer partner or prayer triplet.
Pray with the resources provided in your family or small group.
Include one of the video testimonials about prayer in your public worship.
Pray for people by name who don’t know Jesus as Saviour and Lord using a downloadable prayer card.
Contact Local Mission to be updated.
Record a brief testimonial about specific answers to prayer on your smartphone.

Questions to reflect on – ask yourself …

Do I long to see my congregation reaching out more effectively with the good news of Jesus?
Do I experience the call to prayer as a burden or an invitation? Why do I think that is so?
What good news might Jesus want to bring me about my life of prayer?
What would it look like in practice if my congregation were ‘devoted to prayer’?
What is the Holy Spirit inviting me to pray for during the Season of Prayer?
For whom is the Spirit nudging me to pray, that they may grow closer to Jesus?
With whom might I deliberately spend time praying in the Season of Prayer?