PRAYING FOR PEACE AROUND THE GLOBE

How to Use in Churches

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For prayers of petition (“Prayers of the Faithful”)                 Structure of Each Prayer Page

Use the shorter prayer of petition in your weekly                    * A short description of the Situation

and/or daily worship services.                                                        for each country/issue

                                                                                                        * A prayer for that country/issue

For church bulletins                                                                    * Action suggestions        

Put the short description of the situation and one                                    * Shorter prayer of petition              

or more of the action suggestions in the weekly bulletin,

when the shorter prayer of petition is being used in worship.  Also consider making the whole prayer page a bulletin insert on occasion.

 

For preaching

Because each prayer page is associated with a pertinent event and date, it will often be appropriate to incorporate the situation, prayer, and/or action suggestions into weekly sermons.  The spirituality of peacemaking that is spelled out in the “Introduction” offers additional insights for sermons.

 

For Christian education/formation

The integration of prayer and action makes the prayer pages for this book ideal for putting one’s faith into practice. The spirituality of peacemaking that is spelled out in the “Introduction” offers additional insights for Christian formation.  The websites for the action suggestions and the annotated list of films for each country/issue – found in the Supplements on the website of the Institute for Peace and Justice, www.ipj-ppj.org/prayingforpeace.htm - are excellent teaching tools.

 

For social ministry groups and/or liturgy committees

Consider ordering copies of PRAYING FOR PEACE for all the members of the church’s social ministry group or liturgy committee and encourage them to integrate the book into their committees’ work as well as into their individual lives. 

 

For group as well as individual use

·         One way to combine both personal use and group reflection would be to read and discuss as a group the Introduction, which offers a spirituality of peacemaking with suggestions for integrating these prayers into our daily faith journeys. 

·         Then decide as a group which prayer page(s) to focus on for the next week or month and covenant with one another to be faithful to those prayers.

·         Consider a group showing of one of the films listed with each prayer page (see “Annotated Film List” in the Supplements to the book at www.ipj-ppj.org/prayingforpeace.htm) as a way of deepening our understanding of the situation and our willingness to act.

·         As individuals and/or as a group, decide on one of the action suggestions for each prayer page.