Meeting Prayers

With little or no preparation needed, this practical resource provides leaders of parish and school meetings with 47 prayer services. This book will ease the minds of those who lead prayer throughout the liturgical year, election of new leadership, monthly meetings, and more!

Twenty-two Gathering Prayers is the product of the author's conviction that inclusive language is essential in nourishing, strengthening, and expressing faith. He believes that inclusive language is a matter of justice and that the continued use of exclusive language is a serious injustice.

Prayer meetings are a vital aspect to the life and ministry of the church. But experience shows that taking prayer requests and conducting Bible study often crowd out time for actual prayer. In this booklet, Ryan McGraw highlights common pitfalls experienced in prayer meetings and offers practical remedies. By giving careful attention to the relationship between participants and the best manner of using our time, our prayer meetings can be better suited to glorify God, advance the gospel, and edify the saints.

Meeting Prayers is a practical compilation of prayers which set a spiritual atmosphere for the beginning and end of meetings. Meeting Prayers incorporates the needs of the faith community with the spiritual needs of participants at meetings. These prayers flow from a wide selection of scriptural and literary sources. Celebrating the unity and diversity of the members in the community, each prayer appeals to the often puzzling experience of individual needs conflicting with the needs of the community. Moving with each month of the year, Meeting Prayers lends support to the spiritual life of each participant who attends faith-building meetings. Each prayer includes a short introduction and background that follows the spirit of the liturgical year. The prayers bind the participant to the mystery and poetry that each season brings. A practical resource, Meeting Prayers can be used for all meetings of a church organization, special gatherings of the faith community, and for personal reflection. The collection is thematically arranged and indexed for use in a variety of gatherings. Chapters are Prayers for Each Month of the Year, *Prayers for the End of Meetings, - and *Prayers in Anticipation of a Critical Meeting. - Philip A. Verhalen, PhD, teaches Christian Life Cycles at Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, Washington. He is the author of Prayers for the Classroom, published by Liturgical Press.