St. Luke’s Clovelly Prayer Ministry Policies

Prayer Ministry at St. Luke’s normally functions at two levels:

Sunday Morning Prayer Ministry;
In- Depth Prayer Ministry.

Sunday Morning Prayer Ministry

It is intended to vary the current procedure.

After-service ministry call will be given on some, but not al,l Sundays. Sometimes a provision will be made directly following the Sermon, and this will probably relate to the content of the sermon (and sometimes will be related to healing).

The reasons for the change are as follows:

1 Understanding that the range of areas for prayer is very wide;

2 To avoid either an over-emphasis on or a trivializing of healing ministry;

3 All ministry is to point towards the Gospel as the centre. ministry includes within its variety conversion, repentance, forgiveness, assurance, breaking of bondages and various types of healing.

In-Depth Prayer Ministry

The following procedure is long-established. There have been some variations from it authorised or permitted in the past, but what is outlined here is reaffirmed as our procedure from now onwards.

Whenever a person needs in-depth ministry, the person should be encouraged to approach Lindsay as Pastor. The ministry will be conducted by Lindsay and Maria, or by one of them, who may choose to invite another person in the church to assist in that ministry.

In-Depth Prayer Ministry is not being delegated in any other way.

The reasons for this procedure are:

1 In-depth ministry requires a significant degree of experience, training, and “objectivity”;

2 The dynamics of in-depth prayer ministry can easily and unintentionally lead to a variety of complexities within parish relationships. It is easy for boundaries between ministry and friendship to become blurred, confusion to ensue, and relationships to be damaged and even broken.

3 Where members of the church have a distinct propensity for and gifting in this area (pastorally recognized), these giftings can be used alongside the pastor’s ministry, whilst providing the dynamics both for mentoring and accountability. The Pastor has been commissioned to “the cure (care) of souls” and is himself accountable.

I believe that this approach will best help us to meet the pastoral needs of people and in a manner that minimizes stress on all involved, and helps us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4: 3)

Lindsay Johnstone

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