8 ways to prepare your heart for Easter

There will be many amazing opportunities to nurture our prayer lives together and promote prayer in GPC in the coming weeks.

The reason to get involved

Even though prayer doesn’t guarantee that we will get everything we want or that things will change immediately, it helps us remember that Jesus loves us and is with us even when things get messy. The Bible teaches us that prayer opens doors and can take us to places we have never even dreamt of. The simplest prayer can change our hearts and dramatically shape the course and outcome of any situation in our lives and the lives of those whom we hold dear.

Based on James 5 and many other passages in the Bible it's clear that:

Here are some fresh, creative ways for you to engage in prayer in the coming weeks:

Lent Prayer Challenge

The season of Lent in 2024 begins on Wednesday, 14th February and ends on Easter Sunday, 31st March. Those who observe Lent would traditionally associate it with fasting in preparation for the Easter celebration. This year, instead of ‘GIVING UP’ something we invite you to ‘FILL UP’ your heart with gratitude and your days with prayer. You can sign up for the 40-day-long prayer challenge by requesting your phone number to be added to the temporary, dedicated What’s App Group. Participants will share one or more reasons to be thankful to God for every day during Lent. Ask Mariann for more info and let her know if you want to sign up for this Lent gratitude challenge.

'Pray For Your Street' Initiative

This upcoming 'Pray For Your Street' project is all about interceding for people and families in our community. In partnership with Stormont and Castlereagh churches, we hope to deliver specially designed prayer cards to every house in our area, letting folks know that we keep them in our prayers. Join us for a united planning and training meeting on Monday, 26th February at 7.45 pm.

Prayer Space for GPS in St Dorothea’s

The Prayer Space event for Gilnahirk Primary School, supported by S.U.N.I. and

the Gilnahirk and Braniel Churches, will take place in St Dorothes's Church on

Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th of February. We hope to welcome children into a safe and special place where they can explore and experience prayer in an engaging and creative way. Those who are interested in joining us in this project are required to attend a safeguarding training on Tuesday, 20th March at 2 pm.

These new initiatives will run alongside some prayer activities that have already been taking place in GPC in some shape or form. We hope you will join us for the following prayer-focussed events:

Prayer Times before Café Church

This is a short prayer time in the cosy Meeting Room before the evening services. We normally spend about 15 minutes praying for our church and especially for the worship service that evening. We regularly pray for current events and different prayer points listed in PCI's Let's Pray resource that week.

Prayer Walk in Stormont Park

We plan to meet at the front gate of Stormont Park on Friday, 8th March at 10.30 am. We will enjoy an hour of light exercise, fresh air, good company and a time of prayer especially for our country and government.

Prayer Gathering in the Stye Brae

This is an hour of restful, guided prayer time with instrumental worship background music.

Easter Praise & Guided Prayer in the Church

Following the success of the 'Carolling for the King' Praise and Guided prayer event, we will meet again in a similar format to prepare our hearts for Easter. The 'He is Risen' praise and prayer event will be filled with carefully selected songs. Our quiet, meditative prayer time will be guided by prayer prompts.

Palm Sunday Prayer Walk

Join us for a United Gilnahirk & Braniel Churches Prayer Walk in our community on Sunday, 24th March. We will leave together from Braniel Community Church, and we plan to arrive at Gilnahirk Baptist Church at around 6 pm, just in time for refreshments before the evening service.