Dear Church Family

I have been reminded recently of the words of Augustine who observed, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” It was the testimony of Augustine’s life that if he ran from God, his heart was restless, anxious, striving and scheming. But his words remind us we were created as relational beings, and there will always be an incompleteness until we turn back toward God with open hearts. Nothing captures that experience of turning toward God more than prayer. In prayer, we enter into relationship with God, fulfilling the most fundamental need of our life.

We have set aside 21-28 July as a week of prayer for our church. We will have several opportunities for you to join together as a body to turn our hearts toward God, to posture ourselves individually and corporately toward God, to listen to his voice, seek his face, and draw near to him. Here are a few ways you can join with us:

First, we have prepared a booklet which will be available in print and through our church app. We encourage you to follow along each day with the themes and the prompts as we pray together. You will notice the prayer booklet will be following the themes of our church values—Formational, Relational and Missional—as well as focusing on some of the particular needs of our church at this time.

Second, we will have two nights for people to come and pray together:

We encourage you to come to one or both of those and pray with others in our church.

Third, we have organised a 24-7 prayer calendar. Our aim during this time is at least one person from The Vine will be praying at all hours of the day and night. You can find the calendar on our church app. Please sign up for prayer blocks as often as you wish. Our desire is to have people praying around the clock, so please fill those less popular slots if you feel you can.

We are looking forward to this special time of prayer, and trust God will move in our lives, families, congregation, and community, as we draw near to Him, as individuals and as a church. If you feel particularly led, you may wish to spend one or two days during the week in fasting as well.

Please join our pastors, church council and the rest of the church family as we seek God together for our church, our community, and our world.

Tom Kimber
On behalf of the Pastoral Team and Church Council