Monday

Thanksgiving – some ideas

• For who God is, for Jesus’ sacrifice to rescue us, for Holy Spirit’s constant Presence amongst us.
• For blessings and answers to prayers (fill in the blanks!)
• For each other, the church family, love and support and purpose
• For the privilege of living and working in the Kingdom of God
• For freedom to fulfil our God-given destiny and that we would claim it
• For Paul and Lou, their care for our fellowship, their enthusiasm and leadership
• Quite a few new people have started to come regularly on Sunday mornings

Prayer

• Communication between leaders, trustees, life groups, prayer groups, individuals so we’re all praying as one body for our church. Guidance on how to coordinate this info across the church
• Holy Spirit-inspired expectancy for our prayers to be heard and responded to by God
• Everyone in the church to catch the vision for prayer being the “boilerhouse” (ie. where we humbly receive God’s inspiration and energy) for the church and our mission in Chichester and beyond. (See “Outreach” section below for more on this.) Pray for inspiration and discernment for the small group, led by Richard and Jo Pope, dedicated to praying for our City.
• Depth and help in our personal prayer lives to deepen our relationship with God.
• Catching the vision of prayer ministry and laying on of hands on Sunday services, to be bold in requesting it for all sorts of reasons, especially for a closer relationship with Jesus.

Tuesday

24-1 and Encounter weekends

(these prayer points aren’t confined just to the 24-1/Encounter weekends but they are a focus for those weekends)

• Open our ears Lord so we may hear what you’re saying to us; earnestly seeking the gift of prophecy for everyone.
• A vision for powerful prayer for Immanuel in its mission to lead the family in the Way of Jesus (discipleship) and from there out into the world
• Worship in Spirit and Truth and submitting to God’s will for us
• Healing and deliverance, signs and wonders, learning and practising in order to bring the gifts to the mission field: “The disciples went around … anointing with oil and healing” (Mark 6:12-13)

4 Words from 24-1 Encounter weekends

Hospitality:

as a community - welcome and healing, stretching beyond Sunday morning interactions, listening to each other and our needs

Worship:

God is pleased

Abiding in Jesus:

spending quality time with him, learning to hear him and live in obedience; pray that members will grasp the opportunity to attend the Immanuel retreat on Jan 29th

Communication:

at all levels - leaders with the church (and vice versa) – with various groups and with individuals; coordinated prayer across the church. Ideas from members to be communicated to leaders. Thank God for much improved communication so far!

Immanuel Vision 4 Pillars

May God bless us all as we continually look for opportunities to put the Vision into practice, both corporately and individually. Please refer to the Vision leaflet and the two Vision explanation documents (they’re on the website; please contact Paul Dickson if you need help to access them.

• Attracting Others: inviting people to Immanuel events and services
• Growing Individuals: guidance on personal discipleship
• Changing Perspectives (= “metanoia”): how God sees us, changing priorities, and many other aspects
• Sacrificial Serving: externally, friends and neighbours, and within the church, spreading the workload.

Wednesday

Pastoral Needs

... that we all look out for each other
for blessing and energy for:

• Clergy,
• Life Group leaders,
• Jenny and Peter Evans who coordinate pastoral needs,
• the Prayer Warriors text group run by John Manning,
• for us all as we look out for each other.

Kids and Young People

• CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PASTOR – HIGH PRIORITY – pray for God’s chosen person to apply
• Kids and Young People’s Sunday morning sessions are currently held fortnightly because there aren’t yet enough helpers. More helpers needed urgently to teach and model Christianity to our children. Praise God that All Age services have restarted; pray for people to assist Lou Collins.
• Evening meetings – for fun and a sense of God’s presence. Pray for the leaders: Paul and Connie, Lee and Emma, Gary and Nimlet.
• Youth Alpha: next session on Friday 9th January + upcoming Holy Spirit weekend at Dalesdown.
• Conker Club – encouragement and opportunity to come to social events and Sunday morning services; do we start up an informal creche?

Thursday

Sunday Mornings

• For everyone to be open and expectant with an encounter with God and thus worship Him in Spirit and Truth, and to leave the school changed and ready to go into the world outside the church during the week.
• All those taking part:- preacher, service leader, Bible reader, prayer-givers, kids and young people teams, worship team
• People providing practical help:- setup, pack down, worship, tech (AV, camera and…), coffee and hospitality, welcome, car park; for more people to offer to help even on an occasional basis …. see next point….
• For people to be flexible on the rotas as and when needed, as Covid and other illnesses affect those involved; for rapid recovery for everyone affected.
• Being open to Holy Spirit’s leading to change and variety, testimony and in-themoment prayer; more people will grasp the opportunity to receive the gift of prayer ministry
• An expectancy of the Holy Spirit’s presence, and a continued desire to hear from him including what he’s teaching through the preaching of the Word and through prophetic insight e.g. words of knowledge/pictures.

Paul, Lou and family

... and others in positions of responsibility. Pray for health, closeness to God and protection from over-busyness and commitment, with time to rest and “abide”.

Friday

Outreach and social events

Courses

• Parenting Teenagers (second course)
• Parenting primary age children (dates TBA)
• Adult Alpha (dates TBA)

Schools and Newbuilds

• Fostering and developing links with Rumboldswhyke Primary and Bishop Luffa
• Gaining a Christian foothold in the Whitehouse Farm development close up to Bishop Luffa School.

(See calendar on back page of this booklet for Immanuel social/outreach Events up to Easter. There are more details in the weekly email newsletter.)

Chichester and beyond

(i) General

• That we would shine the light of the gospel, both by church-based activities and our individual relationships with people in the City.
• That we would indeed, by God’s grace “Attract Others” and “Sacrificially Serve” out in the Chichester mission field.
• That we and other Chichester churches would join together in a unified message of hope to the people of Chichester.
• Consider whether to participate in the Prayer for Chichester group at Richard and Jo Pope’s home (contact Paul Dickson for details), whether occasionally or regularly.

(ii) Church Planting

• On Sunday 2nd Jan, Paul C outlined a brand new initiative – “Planting Home Churches”- which the leaders and a few others have been looking at during 2121. This initiative mirrors a new policy announced by the Church of England a few months ago (“Myriad”).
• Lee and Emma Nancarrow were commissioned on Sun 2nd to create and lead a core group of people who are tasked with seeking the Lord with a view to expanding the church through planting local “Home Church” groups which are accountable to Immanuel church leadership.
• The idea is to multiply these groups by organic, local growth as people reach out to their friends and neighbours in practical, loving friendship.
• Pray for everyone to listen to Holy Spirit and see if He’s calling them to be part of either the core, set-up group, or future Home Church groups.
• Pray for Richard and Jo Pope’s “Chichester” prayer group, for discernment and power.

Saturday & Sunday

Life Groups

• Expansion to include every member of Immanuel
• A place where members feel they belong and are supported in life’s highs and lows
• A place for sharing experience of the discipleship journey
• A renewing and increasing focus on discipleship, teaching and mission, where members encourage and support each other to invite friends and family to Immanuel events.
• Wisdom to know how to grasp and follow Immanuel’s Vision for the church
• Pray for leaders and for new leaders to come forward and offered mentoring and training

Serving and Volunteers

• Inspiration and encouragement for more people – those who aren’t currently serving the church – to step up and support the various teams in Immanuel and thus discover their role, purpose and new relationships in the church family ...
• ... that everyone’s involvement will be so much appreciated and indeed needed so that the workload is shared fairly.
• Each member of Immanuel has a God-given task for him/her in the church, whether it’s something using their innate skills, or something more general which is nonetheless helpful.

Praise God that he blesses us richly when we work together for the Kingdom. Pray for His Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

Immanuel Events 2022

Events planned as at 31.12.21. More events to be announced shortly.