Abbeydale Christian Fellowship, AB.

Upon entering the foyer of Abbeydale Christian Fellowship on February 18, 2024, it was obvious that something special was in the air. Each of the ten various displays set up there represented and encouraged a specific area of needed prayer. A globe invited prayer for our broken world. An image of a gnarled, storm-battered but well anchored tree was accompanied by a print-out of Psalm 121, reminding the viewer that “the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” A portrait photo board of both Abbeydale and EMC church leaders, assigning faces to names and names to faces, was accompanied by a written exhortation with specific leadership prayer requests.

One of the most poignant displays of prayer opportunities began with a picture of The Lord’s Prayer lovingly crocheted by a long-time church member years ago. During the children’s feature, Pastor Chris asked them to quickly run and look at the intricately crafted treasure in the foyer then come back and report the name of the prayer and the first two words to him. After a short explanation of both by him, the children were encouraged to visually present their prayer requests to “Our Father.”

Pastor Chris gave pads of large colourful sticky notes and felt pens to the children who remained in the service to participate in the blessing and honour of bringing our requests before Almighty God. Their prayer requests were to come in the form of either a drawn picture or printed words and then fixed to whiteboards or the wall in the sanctuary at any time during the service. The children eagerly presented their many requests throughout the morning.

What if Christians everywhere were to picture their prayers answered as the children did? When visualised tangibly through paper and ink, or merely in Churchesthe mind’s eye as already having been answered, would one become closer to having the faith of a child?

The various prayer reminder areas remained set up throughout the following week, giving opportunity for anyone to take more time to reflect and pray for the specified needs or to browse and borrow a book on prayer from the library’s special display.

-Ivy Plett