On 1 April the Diocese of London became the official sponsor of PrayerMate, an app which helps people pray for the people and causes they care about. This sponsorship is part of the London’s Capital Vision 2020 strategy to create a Diocese which is confident, compassionate and in this case, creative.
The app was developed by Andy Geers, a member of Euston Church in the Diocese of London. He designed the app a few years ago, wanting to find a creative and easy way of praying for family and friends. Already downloaded over 16,000 times, the app has been nominated for awards at the Christian New Media Awards.
The app is available for iPhone and Android and is free and quick to download. After the app has been downloaded, you can import contacts from your address book and easily identify seven people to pray for. Additional features enable you to pray through the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, add other prayers which you regularly use, and people or organisations for whom you wish to pray.
Following on from the successful 24/7 prayer week which was held in the run-up to the launch of Capital Vision 2020 last year, the Diocese of London is now gearing up for a second 24/7 prayer week, which will be from 9 to 15 June. PrayerMate will play an integral part in this 24/7 prayer week, providing an easy way help those involved to pray for seven people and connect them across London.
As with last year, all will be invited to book slots of one hour (the booking can be made online) to pray in one of the chapels in the Cathedral with guided prayer during daytime hours, or in local parishes and places during the evening, night and early morning. For those praying locally, resources with ideas for your time of prayer will be made available. Booking will open after Easter.
In a message to the Diocese of London, the Bishop of Fulham asked people to join him in praving for seven people:
“Capital Vision 2020 promises that ‘We will be more creative in reaching new people and places with the Good News in the power of the Spirit.’ The final commitment we make in seeking to achieve this objective concerns prayer. Perhaps it should be the first.
“Each of us is invited to pray for at least seven people, that we may share with them the story of our faith. During Lent, a season set apart for deeper prayer, for the refreshment of our souls, it is right that the Capital Vision Pray for Seven initiative should move to the foreground.
“Prayer is the work of the whole People of God; it is not for specialists alone. Will you join me in starting to pray for seven people?”
Brian Heasley, National Director 24-7 Prayer, said:
“The PrayerMate app is a wonderful tool for your prayer life, we would highly recommend it to you as a way to enhance your prayer life, to focus your prayers and to inform your intercession. In today’s busy world we need all the assistance we can to facilitate our connection with the Divine the PrayerMate app definitely helps with this.”
PrayerMate can be downloaded from www.geero.net/prayermate. Available for iPhone and Android.
