Now available free
you only pay postage
Praying should be one of the most natural things we do together as members of a congregation. But prayer is also hard work. Some members find it hard to find their voice in prayer. Sometimes we just don’t know what to pray for. More often our prayers default to the most current and immediate needs and can become little more than a shopping list of our own wants and desires, rather than a seeking after God’s ways and will for us.
Many contemporary approaches to prayer are big on initial excitement, but offer little by way of the exhausting reality of sustaining vibrant congregational prayer. That demands time, commitment, and creativity.
Because prayer life is the activity often least organised in church life, we know what it is like for it to grow stale and go cold. Yet at its heart, congregational prayer is a simple thing. We take the promises God gives to us and the desires He unfolds for us in His Word and turn them back to Him. These are the things we need to ask for and seek, knocking that the doors of His grace might be opened to us as His will is done among us as His people.
ASK is a simple resource offered to help us refocus, refresh and renew congregational prayer life.
What is ASK?
ASK is a series of twelve postcard-sized prayer prompts for use by members in private prayer and in Sunday worship. They unfold the following themes in simple, scripture based ways to help inspire and focus prayer for congregational life and witness.
Depending | Reaping | Knowing | Presence | Expectation | Encouragement
Light | Hope | Humility | Growing | Rest | Wisdom
A sample card appears below.
Why use ASK?
To sharpen the focus of our prayers as a congregation
Each card offers a theme for prayer for your church intended to help the whole congregation pray together for its life and witness.
To suggest particular aspects of prayer for church life
At the top of each card, four words or phrases of a short section of Scripture are highlighted in colour. These are unpacked in four sections below to become prompts for prayer for aspects of your church’s life and witness.
To scatter prayer throughout the church year
The twelve cards are undated, but can be used on a monthly basis to correspond with the changing seasons of the church year (a suggested running order can be found below). One of the four prayer prompts could then act as a weekly focus for prayer. Alternatively, one theme could become the focus for a quarter, a special season of prayer, or even a whole year.
| September: |
Depending – as we start a new church year |
| October: |
Reaping – as we enter harvest season |
| November: |
Knowing – as the busyness of the church year takes hold, having eyes to see what God is doing |
| December: |
Presence – as we remember Jesus coming among us |
| January: |
Expectation – as the second phase of the church year commences |
| February: |
Encouragement – as we work through those cold, dark nights |
| March: |
Light – as the clocks change and brighter nights begin to appear |
| April: |
Hope – as we remember the resurrection of Christ either before or after celebrating Easter |
| May: |
Humility – as we begin to look back over a year’s work |
| June: |
Growing – as we continue to look back, asking that God would continue to enable progress in depth, love, power and unity |
| July: |
Rest – as the summer invites a slower pace |
| August: |
Wisdom – as we try to discern God’s ways for the year ahead |
To set prayer in the rhythms of church and everyday life
PowerPoint slides with the same content as each card are available from the Downloads box on this page. These can be used to reinforce each theme in the settings of worship or gatherings for prayer. Cards can also be distributed to members for use as daily prompts for prayer when displayed at home, used as a Bible bookmark or photographed and set as a screensaver on their mobile phone.
How to order
Each of the twelve individual themes are available to order FREE – you only pay postage which will be invoiced with your order.
Just complete the order form below or contact the Congregational Life and Witness office at clw@presbyterianireland.org
