Page 21 - Contact Autumn 2020

Saturday Morning
Prayer Meeting
The ministries of HK have been supported
faithfully in prayer by prayer warriors over the
years. Many of those have seldom missed a
Saturday morning until the Covid19 pandemic
entered all our lives.
This pandemic led to the shutdown of all
church related ministries on 20 March. During
the shutdown a group of the regular Saturday
prayer meeting attendees set aside Saturday
mornings from 8.30 to 9.30 to pray in our own
homes following a format of worship songs,
devotions and prayer topics which was
coordinated using text messages. This time
was very special for all of us with many prayer
requests being shared at such a unique time in
the history of the UK.
When Government restrictions were lifted and
churches were allowed to open, the first face
to face meeting to start in the church was the
prayer meeting on Saturday 4th July in the
Birney room with a maximum of 13 people to
enable social distancing rules. It was a meeting
like no other, one I don’t think any of the eleven
who were there will ever forget. Such a sense
of joy that God had protected us and allowed
us to meet together once again. Each person
was able to share about their experiences
during lockdown, some had known great times
of nearness to God and others, myself
included had found it a very difficult and
challenging time. Sadly, not all who have
prayed faithfully for so many years have been
able to return for health reasons so the
average attendance has been 10 so, there is
still room for a few more or indeed any
number more if we introduce a rota.
Perhaps as you read this you think that those
who attend are some sort of super spiritual
elite. You could not be further from the truth
but one thing that we do share is a deep love
and desire to meet to share and pray together
for ourselves, our own and the wider church
families, our staff and missionaries, our land
and the world. We have a deep conviction that
prayer is the single most important ministry
in our church and that none of the wonderful
work that goes on within and outside the walls
of High Kirk can flourish and be a blessing
without prayer behind it.
As the leader, one of my greatest encourage-
ments has been to see people who have
come to faith recently through Alpha join the
Saturday morning prayer time. It has also been
an encouragement for everyone in the group
to see the development of a second corporate
prayer group PUSH within the church. It is
impossible to read either the Old or New
Testaments without realising the vital
importance of God’s people meeting together
to worship and pray and call out to God to send
His Holy Spirit to come and heal our people
and our land.
Trevor McIlroy