Prayer Sunday 9 March 2025

Our Lord and our God, we thank you for this, and every, opportunity to approach

You in prayer. As we read Your word, we see and understand how faithful You are to

Your promises and plan, kept throughout many centuries. Father, this church has

only existed for 100 years, yet in this time we clearly see how faithful You’ve been to

the people who have gathered here to worship and follow You. We thank You for

Your faithfulness, and we praise You for Your goodness and provision for Your

church. Thank you for the blessings You have poured out on this church family, and

on us individually.

Help us to be a people of humility and repentance, without gatekeepers and without

inflated egos. Help us to simply be enduring disciples of You, loving and supporting

each other as we together try to follow in Your footsteps. Grant us love for each

other, the love that demonstrates to all that we follow You. And when differences

arise, may we ignore the inconsequential ones and willingly and openly talk through

the larger ones, collectively seeking Your will and following it as we discover it

together.

Thank you for your continued faithfulness to this church family in these ways.

Lord, we thank You for the pastors and ministry teams that You have blessed us with

over the past 100 years. We thank You for their faith and their different strengths.

We pray for Justin, Rees, and Katie and their families. Thank You for each of them

and for everything they bring to Your ministry in this place. Bless them, and bless

their families. May we love and support all of them, and may they and their families

continue to grow in their knowledge, understanding, and experience of You.

We pray too that we might discern and understand Your vision for Your church here.

Grant us the appropriate words that call us to live for You and step out for You. And

help us to live the vision.

Father, we pray that You will grow us to be fuller disciples of You. That we would not

simply acknowledge You and know Your word, but that we would imitate You and

actively walk in Your footsteps, in whatever path of Life You have placed us. We ask

You to lead each of us, individually, to have an impact for You, and that collectively

we as a church may have a significant impact for You in the communities of Epping

and Telopea. We seek to actively serve You. Strengthen, support, and lead us in

this, we pray.

Lord, we pray for the children and youth as they seek to learn more about You. Be

with the younger ones today as they learn about the heart of God. What a great and

encouraging lesson to learn. Be with the youth as they meet on Friday evenings and

Sunday mornings. Grant them fun, good fellowship, supportive and understanding

discussions, and a common desire to draw closer to You.

We pray for the various arms of Your church. We pray for Hope Connect, its staff,

Management Committee, and activities. Help us to take an active interest in, and

support Hope Connect. We pray too, for their current need to replenish their

emergency food supplies – help us to work to meet this need. We also pray for

Wazzas and The Shed, and for Mainly Music, that we will grow to more deeply

understand and support these works of Yours.

We pray for our Mission Partners. We thank You for opportunities to hear about

them and to know them better. May we continue to pray for them and strive to

support them.

Father, we pray for all of our church family who are sick, grieving, or in need of

support in some way. Help us to reach out to them and love, encourage, and provide

for them. We also think of, and thank You for, the life of Elaine Middleton, who is

now with You. Elaine was a long-standing member here at Epping, along with her

husband John. We thank You for her life and for her work and friendship in this

family. We pray for her memorial service on Thursday, and for Brett and his siblings

as they remember and celebrate their Mum’s life.

We pray to for our upcoming Church Camp, and for Graeme Anderson as he leads

us and shares his insights around Spiritual Formation. Help us to come away from

camp being a little more like Jesus – with the beginnings of a plan for each of us to

intentionally grow to better reflect the character, values, and actions of Jesus.

Lord, we thank you for all who volunteer in many roles across this church – in

welcoming, communion preparation, serving, and cleanup, in the worship and Safe

Spaces teams, serving morning tea, and with property maintenance, SMK, Youth,

and other areas. And we ask for Your blessing on the recent grant applications to

undertake roof repairs here at Epping, and kitchen and interior work at Telopea.

Finally Father, we ask for your presence and leading as the church seeks to be a

helpful and supportive presence in the Epping and Telopea communities and as we

invite people to get to know Your Son, Jesus.

In His precious name we pray. Amen.