Tips for Departmental Prayer Groups

Starting a Prayer Group

PRAY - Spend time in prayer asking for God's help and guidance.

CONTACT any other Christians you know in your department to see if they are interested in getting involved. If you don't know anyone within your department or want to get more names contact departmentprayer@luucu.com.

TIME - Decide on a time which is convenient for you and which seems to be available to other people. It is important that you feel you can commit to being free at this time most weeks. Remember: not everyone will be able to meet at the same time but a meeting with only part of the group is better than no meeting at all!

PLACE - Go to your department office and ask if there is a space available within your department building which you could use on a weekly basis at your chosen time. If you are not able to access a room within your department, you could try other buildings such as the ARC upstairs in the student union, or the chaplaincy.

OUTREACH - Ask your department office if it is possible to send out an email to students in you department with the details of your prayer meeting. If this is not possible don't worry as there are other ways to let people know about the meeting:

• Posters around the department and university
• CU email
• CU Friday night meetings
• Word of mouth

GO - Email the contacts that you have already and arrange when your first meeting is going to be. Go for it!

Tips for Leading a Prayer Meeting

The vision for department prayer is to see every person involved with Leeds University prayed for. Therefore the main emphasis of meeting with fellow Christians in your department should be to pray for fellow students and those who are involved within your department (lecturers, admin. staff, researchers etc.).

Although this is true, department prayer is also an invaluable opportunity to meet with people you are studying alongside, and a chance to pray with students who may experience many of the challenges you yourself face.

Leading a prayer meeting can be a daunting prospect but here are a few tips to help:

PRAY - Before all else pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you in leading.

PLAN - It is essential that you have a brief plan for the meeting. This doesn't need to be strictly stuck to but it will help you to be prepared and it will also help those attending know what to expect. Be creative!

WORSHIP - It is good to have a brief time of worship in order to allow individuals to come before God and also to clear the mind of the days events. This can be a CD, someone playing an instrument or simply a time of quiet and personal reflective praise.

IDEAS- There are a lot of topics to be prayed for within department prayer. For this reason it can be a good idea to spread them over a couple of weeks and then return to them again. For example:

• Lecturers
• Other staff
• Students
• Exchange students
• Specific course friends
• Ourselves - our lives witnessing to those around us, etc.

TOPICAL ISSUES - It can be good to look at difficult issues that may arise in your course as a group e.g. evolution in Biology.

PRAYER FOR INDIVIDUALS - An important part of department prayer is the support we can offer each other. At the end of the meeting people can write a few personal prayer points down on a piece of paper. These can then be passed around and each member of the group prays for another member every day using these prayer points.

SOCIALS - Having a social once a month/term can be really good fun and is also a great opportunity to bring course friends along to.

RELAX - Department prayer meetings should have a relaxed environment, especially if they are during the lunch hour of a stressful day!

Have fun and above all, GET PRAYING!

If you need any help at all or want to know details of other department prayer meetings that are already happening don't hesitate to contact departmentprayer@luucu.com.