This year the Lincoln & Grimsby circuits will have prayers on the day of their circuit number. The other days will have prayers for specific areas of work, and for our friends in the Tirunelveli Diocese of South India with whom we have a link For more information on the Diocese of Tirunelveli visit www.csitirunelveli.org

• ‘For it is by grace you are saved, through faith, through trusting him. It is not your own doing. It is God’s work.’ (Eph.2)

• Opportunities of welcome and hospitality to visitors
• The skills and callings of our members
• Preachers and teachers, for freshness of inspiration
• The celebrations for Charles Wesley through 2007

• Crowle – refurbished multi-purpose building to be used as a base for mission
• Haxey – seeking to re-energise its village presence
• Ealand – outreach into the community

• With migrant workers at Crowle and Owston Ferry
• Youth and children’s work at Epworth; also worship development and witness in the community
• Ecumenical work and schools work across the area
• Discipleship and confidence to take risks for the Gospel
• The Old Rectory, for all who guide and support this work.

• Leadership Team- for their focussed, visionary and supportive working. Pray for Spirit guided and inspired wisdom and insight as ministry needs, lay and ordained, are explored
• Give thanks for an encouraging number of preachers On Note and On Trial, and commit to the Lord their training, progress and development
• For the Ermine Community Group on Ermine West, that the parallel work with children and adults in Christian growth may continue to prosper
• Give thanks for encouraging work with children, and for those who lead it. Commit to the Lord work in the villages, that it may be fruitful among children and families
• Thanks for great encouragement in the introduction of Street Pastors to the City of Lincoln. Pray that this will be a positive witness to God’s love and care, and that He will protect the teams out on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights.

• Pray for the X-Factor Youth Project and Captain Rob Lowe, our Youth Missioner shared with the Church of England
• Pray for our new minister, Sara Cliff, as she explores her brief for mission in her own section and throughout the Circuit
• Pray for our Birchwood church, striving to maintain a witness amid the challenges of this large estate
• Pray for the Washingborough church as it embarks on an exciting project to open up the church to the community
• Pray for David Harris who is working with us for a year to help fill the gap left by the untimely death of Revd Judith Frost. Pray that his time with us will be fruitful both for him and for the churches he serves
• Give thanks for the faithfulness and patience of church members during the staff shortages and other problems of recent years.

• We give thanks for the friendships developing between us and the Spilsby circuit, and we pray for grace as we move towards uniting our circuit with theirs in September 2008
• We give thanks for the spirit of collaboration which has developed with the Horncastle (Anglican) Deanery. We pray for the Lay Ministry Programme to be offered together
• We give thanks for the completion of the new building in Coningsby., and pray that it might become a vital place of meeting within the town; also that we may speedily find alternative and appropriate uses for the property which has now become redundant
• We give thanks for the gifts and industry of our ordained staff and we pray for Jonathan (our Superintendent) and Geoff (our Deacon) as they each take a sabbatical this year
• We give thanks for the progress made by our local preachers on trial, and we pray for the successful completion of their studies.

• Prayers and support for the ever-increasing youth work at SideDoor, St Christophers, St Andrews, Keelby/Healing and Scartho, and others
• The NCH project involving dads and children at the Haven
• The prayer and care project at Scartho Methodist
• The increasing pressures on our ministers who are trying to focus on mission and new ways of being church
• Dan Haylett, our new probationer minister
• Michael Townsend, who steps down from being Leeds District Chair to become Super of our circuit
• For each congregation as it struggles to cope with being church in 2007-8.

• District Chair Rev David Perry, his wife and family
• Deputy Chair Rev Jenny Park; Synod Secretary Mike Childs, and members of the Leadership Team
• The District Office and the PA to the Chair, Alison McNish
• The work of the District Policy Committee.
• The work of the Web Teams

• Bishop Jeyapaul David, his wife and family
• Diocesan office-bearers including the Secretaries, Rev MGR Sugamar and Mr ADJC Thinakar; and Treasurer Mr B Jeyam Ponnaiah
• The Bishop’s Chaplain Rev A Raja Christopher, who has visited our District in 2006
• The work and witness of the Cathedral at Palayamkottai, the Senior Priest Rev M Rajasekharan, and other staff
• The Diocesan office and the publications which they produce through the Diocesan Press and Book Depot.

• Farmers who have lost crops due to flooding, which no insurer covers – hence no compensation – and are forced to sell up
• Dairy farmers who operate in an unfair market place
• Livestock farmers with the worry of foot-and-mouth disease
• The successful completion of the EPIC Building Project on the Lincs. Showground, embracing a low carbon future for research and demonstration of the latest technologies. Also for the church leading the contemplative spiritual element
• Integration Lincolnshire, working for solutions in housing, interpretation and translation services with and for indigenous and migrant workers; and working with gangmasters to improve relations and practices
• Lincolnshire Rural Stress Network supporting the farming and wider rural community, and looking to initiate some work in Nottinghamshire. For the 38 volunteers who are listening ears on the helpline on 0845 123 2306

• The new ecumenical Lay Training Course in which Methodists and Anglicans will be sharing at Horncastle, South Holland and Boston
• The International Mission Team at SideDoor in Grimsby for 1 year – Anna Weeber from Germany, Gorgi Gligorov and Ivana Ivanceva from Macedonia
• The transition from TDOs to Training Officers and District Development Enablers from September 2008
• Circuits and churches engaged in new work after reviewing their mission and ministry, and those about to do this
• Those engaging with the new scheme Exploring Vocation, Extending Discipleship and the challenges this may raise as to how and where they live out their calling.

In Tirunelveli please pray for the Lay Training Programme, Junior Ministers’ Programme, and the proposal to develop clergy gaining higher educational qualifications in their pastoral set-up. Pray for all the priests, catechists, Bible women and CSI sisters in the Diocese.

Give thanks for

• The work of Revd Liz Childs, Circuit Mission Enabler
• The new Ecumenical Partnership at Beckingham
• The recently appointed Ecumenical Family worker at Misterton
• New ventures at Gainsborough among children and families
• Discipleship development throughout the Circuit
• The Gainsborough Youth Group

May we have the courage to step out into the unknown In the faith that there is no place, no danger, no challenge and no difficulty That we cannot face in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Father God, we praise and worship you, offering our thanks for your presence with us.

As we journey on in the life of the Circuit give us a vision of your glory that we might be about your will and not our own.

We pray for the resources that we have within the Circuit to be used aright; and that as the hard questions are asked we might be ready to hear your word of hope and love within the turmoil of change.

Thus may we be prepared to repent and believe in the resurrection joy that only you can give.

Give thanks for

• Faithful people now relinquishing positions because of age/health concerns
• Local preachers, worship leaders and pastoral visitors
• Ecumenical teamwork
• Parenting classes, children’s clubs and youth initiatives
• The Brigg Passion Play

• New staff and stewards’ team
• Greater opportunities for circuit togetherness
• Ecumenical outreach in Kirton in Lindsey, and through other Yarborough Deanery connections
• Small chapels – for encouragement and vision
• Development of ‘Fresh Expressions’.

Give thanks for

• the commitment of Local Preachers and Pastoral Visitors as they share in the ministry of the Circuit and the local churches.

• People to recognise and respond to the call to become Local Preachers and Worship Leaders
• Rev. John Corrie, as he takes up his appointment as a Probationer Minister, and for his wife Jan
• The Circuit and local church Leadership Teams as they develop new ways of working and explore Fresh Expressions of being Church.

Please pray for

• Rev. Marty Presdee, our new Superintendent minister, and husband John
• The ecumenical mission outreach at New Toft
• People seeking to find new expressions of church in the rural communities of West Torrington and South Kelsey
• Continued growth in commitment to small fellowship groups
• Caistor C of E/ Methodist Primary School, celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2008 as the first joint school in the country; and all our links with other schools in our communities
• New opportunities to work with young people
• Mission opportunities afforded by the extensive housing developments across the circuit
• Each member of the Circuit Leadership Team as they begin their discussions on circuit boundaries.

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced. (1 Chronicles 16.8,11-12)

Give thanks for

• The faithful witness of rural Methodism
• Ministers and Lay Pastors; preachers, organists and stewards
• The Nichol’s Youth Project

• Our Fresh Expressions of Church: Café Church, Daybreak, TGI Saturday and X:PRESS
• Our Circuit Leadership Team
• Jane and the CLT as we go through the stationing process
• Opportunities to extend the work in the community
• Our mission and ministry to be purposeful and distinctive
• A greater freedom and joy in the Spirit.

Give thanks for

• Times of celebration and sharing in church and circuit life
• Work amongst tots and carers; and links with schools through assemblies and after-school clubs
• Those who support one another across the churches; and those who serve God through voluntary agencies
• The continuation of the Boat Ministry
• The faithfulness of congregations growing older and the awareness that we need to do some things differently.

• A deepening of faith through prayer and Bible
• For those facing serious illness, and for their families and churches as they try to support them
• Circuit staff and supernumerary ministers; and office holders
• Local Preachers, those in training, and Worship Leaders
• Local churches facing the challenges of mission
• Stronger ecumenical links in some rural areas
• Opportunities to befriend those coming to live and work here
• Space 4 U – a listening and counselling centre established through churches in Spalding and professional counsellors
• The launch of the Lay Ministry course.

Give thanks for encouraging signs of new ecumenical activity around the District, especially in the Brumby area of Scunthorpe (St Mark’s Methodist and St Andrew’s URC); the United Church at Kirton-in-Lindsey (Anglican/Methodist/Baptist); and the Gainsborough Circuit.

Please pray for:

• Circuits and deaneries meeting to discuss common issues
• Existing partnerships struggling for a way forward, such as Boston and Westcliff (Scunthorpe).
• Discernment for those with responsibility and authority for decision-making, that Christ’s will for his people to be one is not overlooked; and that possibilities of LEPs are explored.

• For the Leaders’ Conference at Kanyakumari in September
• That the Lord will call more missionaries to the field
• That this year 100 new congregations may be formed
• That the financial budget of Rs 8 million will be met.

Please pray for

• The growth of corporate and personal prayer in the circuit
• The developing relationship with the Market Deeping area as we work towards the creation of the new South Lincolnshire Circuit in September 2008
• Those bearing the responsibility of ‘midwifery’ in the birth of the new circuit, and the appointment of an additional minister
• The Circuit Leadership Team and the people of Billingborough in the development of its redundant site and of a ‘Fresh Expression’
• The ongoing work with schools and the Livewire initiative
• The church leadership teams, as their vision and plans unfold to make church premises fit for the future of the community and for coming generations.

- serving the Lincolnshire Coast, including agricultural and livestock farming, coastal activities and tourism. We also have pockets of severe deprivation and unemployment, together with the highest concentration of mobile home occupation in Europe.

• The Circuit as it seeks to implement its newly adopted mission strategy and develop projects to identify a profile fostering both community development and further pastoral care
• Continuing strength and fortitude, matched by wisdom to discern when to relinquish unsustainable patterns of work
• Those within this area facing financial difficulty, poverty or unemployment, or suffering from deprivation
• Those suffering from recent flooding, especially where, as a result, house insurance is no longer available or at a premium
• The ongoing model children’s work being undertaken at the Children’s Centre and at Magdalene C of E/Methodist Primary School, both at Wainfleet
• The Circuit Staff and Leadership Team.

As we continue to prepare for our merger with the Mid-Lincolnshire Circuit in 2008, we pray that our Circuit – now diminished by the closure of the Ashby-by-Partney Chapel and the transfer of the Great Steeping Chapel to the Alford, Skegness and Wainfleet Circuit – will be able to offer with courage and conviction the following Collect:-

Please pray for:

• Existing children’s and youth groups across the District, that they may experience spiritual and numerical growth this year
• For the leaders, that God will grant them wisdom and patience
• For churches in the District, that each congregation will seek to realise a vision for working with children and young people, and for the courage to start new ventures
• For the part-time/full-time youth workers in the District, that their ministry would bear fruit.

• For the ministry of Child Evangelism and Christian Education, especially for Vacation Bible Schools and their follow-up work
• For the ministry among tribal children in N.India
• For the Diocesan Youth Ministry, its leader and full-time workers among over 100 youth fellowships.
• For Youth For Christ, Scripture Union and other volunteers
• For the Human Resource Programme for young people, giving training for future careers and for ministry.

We give thanks for:

• Signs of renewal and growth…Holiday Clubs at Kirton, Swineshead, Wrangle and Zion; Centenary Nurture Group; Alpha courses; Alpha Bites at Wrangle; Lay Training
• Stronger links through Churches Together in Boston, and the promise offered by HOPE 08 as we work together.

• Rev Helen Freeston and daughter Alex as they prepare to move on – that the Lord will place them where they can grow together
• Replacement for the Circuit Administrator who retires in March
• Rev Julie Doddrell as she prepares for Ordination – for God’s blessing and protection on Julie and her family as she seeks to do His will
• Rev Neil Vickers and his family – for freedom from health concerns and a more settled period for the children at school
• New Worship Leaders and Local Preachers, as we seek to make worship more relevant and helpful in today’s world, and to glorify God in all we do and are
• Pete and Sam Taylor with Rose (aged 2), former mission partners in Bulgaria, now undertaking Foundation Training at Queen’s, Birmingham.

We thank God for the faithful service and commitment of many over the years; and for the response of those who answer the call to be local preachers or worship leaders. Please pray for:

Please pray for

• More people to come forward as preachers and worship leaders, and to serve God in these ways
• Our ‘experienced’ preachers to continue in their spiritual and academic development, to be better equipped for the task
• Those in training, and for Faith & Worship tutors
• District LP secretary Dinah Smedley, and all circuit LP secretaries throughout our District.
• The care offered and provided for residents at the LWPT care home Westerley at Woodhall Spa; for the dedicated Home Manager Jayne Tewnion and her staff, and the support team members. We ask for a sense of God’s presence and blessing on all who live, work and visit there.

Give thanks for

• The District Mission Network sharing and praying for one another’s mission initiatives across the District
• The many and varied Fresh Expressions starting up and developing throughout Lincolnshire
• The enthusiastic support for the Fresh Expressions Vision Day and the Mission-Shaped Ministry Course.

• Increased confidence in the love of Jesus for all people
• Development of personal discipleship in all our congregations
• The Mission-Shaped Intro Course – that God will use it to increase awareness of the need and opportunity for mission in every Lincolnshire town and village.

At At Stones Place MHA we give thanks for:

• The continuing care and support given to the residents
• Good attendance at lunchtime prayers, Friday evening and Sunday afternoon services, and memorial services
• The support group and other volunteers who help staff to provide the extras which residents appreciate so much

• Home Manager Carole Kus, care staff and other workers caring for increasingly frail and ageing residents
• Staff who are caused stress by government demands and regulations which leave less time for people
• The chaplaincy team, that they might deal with both residents and staff in a caring way.

• The Shalom Home for elderly men and women, and the Kirubai Illam (Home of Grace) for destitute women
• Day centres for elderly and needy people and other programmes, especially the Eliza Caldwell Day-Care Centre for the elderly at Idaiyangudi
• The home for elderly deaf people at Palayamkottai.

Please pray for the members of the Tirunelveli Link Committee, a sub-group of CTAL, remembering them as they work with the CSI Diocese of Tirunelveli to exchange information and prayer points, plan visits from S.India to Lincolnshire (and visits back), and provide educational and prayer material for use in the County by Anglicans, members of the URC and Methodists.

Give thanks for outgoing secretary Elaine Robinson and her work in furthering the Link; and pray for her successor, Rosemary Gaskill.

In Tirunelveli, we pray for the growing number of those who have visited us here, and shared so much with us:-

• Sylvia, Mano and Reginald; Revs Jessie and Anand Asir
• Drs Prem and Ida Joseph
• Rev Thomas, Getzy and David, and the late Arputharaj
• Joseph Koilpitchai; Dr Mercy Henry
• Rev Vethanbu Dasan; Bishop Jeyapaul David and wife Violet
• Rev Isaac Sutherson and wife Florence
• Rev Raja Christopher, Dr Jacob, and Dr Irene Edwin

Please pray for

• The officers of Network in our District, and the Connexional Network Team as they prepare to work in different ways
• Network’s main issues at this time – against the Trafficking of Women; and for care of the environment and of mothers with children across the world.
• All those who through age, infirmity, lack of transport, home or work duties cannot get to meetings, yet are part of Network
• Equipping, enabling and encouraging to continue.

• The Women’s Fellowship with many branches across the Diocese; for President Mrs Violet Jeyapaul, and other officers
• Their special ministries among widows, blind, deaf, destitute, beggars and women in need; and their fasting prayer days
• The Women’s Workers Training Centre at Pottalpatti, and the larger centre at Nagalapuram in the Tuticorin-Nazareth Diocese, where women are enabled to work in health care, child care, education, agriculture and evangelism.

Give thanks for Christian missionaries who began most of this work. Please pray especially for:

• CSI Rhenius Project, Dr Premkumar Joseph and all his staff – for the Mission hospitals and the Eye-Care Hospital, in their outreach to those of all faiths through medical care
• Ministry among those with learning difficulties at Bishop Sargent Home and other homes; for the agricultural projects
• Ministry among visually handicapped at Askwith Centre High School for the Blind; and their all-age vocational programmes
• Ministry among the deaf and dumb at Florence Swainson Centre and School, and the Chittenden Deaf Centre. Pray for the Chaplain for deaf people, Rev Isaac Sutherson and his wife Florence, seeking to bring dignity and empowerment
• In Tuticorin-Nazareth, for the ministry among leprosy sufferers at St Luke’s Leprosarium. Remember the Diocesan Medical Superintendent Dr GMJeyabalan and his staff. Give thanks for the imaginative and creative use made of money gifts from this country and worldwide, sponsoring feeding and rehabilitation programmes.

Churches Together in All Lincolnshire continues to work closely with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership and encourages you to pray for safety on the roads.

• Give thanks for God’s loving protection as we travel about day by day
• Give thanks for the continued reduction in the ‘killed and seriously injured’ figures over the last 5 years, and pray that this will continue
• Acknowledge and ask God’s forgiveness for the times when we have acted rashly or without due care, putting ourselves and others at risk
• Pray for God’s mercy on all who travel on the roads, especially that many innocent victims may not suffer because of other people’s folly
• Pray for all those on the ‘front line’ when an incident occurs
• Pray for all those bereaved or injured, and for the perpetrators
• Thank God for all that is being done to make travel safer, particularly for the work of the Road Safety Partnership in Lincolnshire.

Please pray for schools and colleges in our District:

• Church and county schools striving to provide the best education for their pupils and students
• Head teachers, staff and governors in all schools
• Nurseries and pre-schools; colleges and University colleges
• Involvement through school assemblies and lessons

• Educational mission in all types of institutions, that they may witness to the community through excellence
• Staff and students in developing schools and colleges
• Dr Ida Joseph and staff, Sarah Tucker College for Women
• Dr RK Jacob and staff, St John’s Men’s College

• the ecumenical Chaplaincy which continues to grow within secular institutions of our communities
• new opportunities and interest in chaplaincy
• the resourcefulness of the Chaplains as they respond to the fast-changing needs of community and church.

• LCS as it seeks to develop new chaplaincy and oversee the existing work, with Andrew Vaughan as Chaplaincy Director and Alison McNish as Business Manager
• Chaplains in the Rural Economy: Alan Robson (Agriculture), Terry Miller (Environment), David de Verny (Migrant Workers), Maurice Perry (Waterways)
• Chaplains in Industry: Andrew Vaughan (Lincoln), Lynne Ward (Lincoln Retail Sector), Les Whitfield(Lincoln Electronics Sector), John Radley and Eric Poole (Voluntary Chaplains), Mike Cooney and Aileen Walker (Scunthorpe), Stuart Bidmead (Grimsby)
• Chaplains in Education: Mike Ward (Grimsby Institute), Susan Walker (Scunthorpe Colleges), Les Acklam (University of Lincoln), David Edgar (Lincoln College)
• The Board Members of LCS as they seek to give direction and support.