Spiritual Development
“For when two or three gather together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20
Prayer is core to our faith. It is the basis of our relationship with the Divine, as well as contributing to our connections to one another. The Spiritual Development Committee (SDC) of our diocese was created to foster deepening spirituality through the various spiritual disciplines, like prayer and study. The deeper our connection to God, the more capable we are to sense God’s desires for this community of Anglicans gathered in the south-eastern corner of BC.
How does the SDC support and uphold the ongoing life of our diocese? One way has been the development of a team of Diocesan Prayer Companions. This group is dedicated to praying for events and situations in our diocese that are in need of support.
Here is an excerpt from our poster seeking Companions to join us.
“The Diocesan Spiritual Development Committee invites people of the diocese to join together spiritually in upholding the life of the diocese in intentional prayer. Those who graciously accept our invitation would commit to:
- Praying for our annual Synod on the day of Synod;
- Praying at times of specific individual events, happenings, and/or need in our diocese as requested / identified by the Diocesan leadership.”
That’s it! We believe that having a company of “prayers” during these times will be a way of connecting the life of our church and regions as well as asking collectively for God’s guidance. Our intention is to invite prayer requests from our Diocesan leadership — Bishop, Executive Archdeacon, Regional Deans and Committee Chairs — at times of specific need and special events, and to send out these prayer requests through a ‘blind’ email list of prayer (companions). The requests themselves will not be confidential, neither will they be publicized. Examples could be at times of a leadership change, the launch of a new ministry, the deconsecration of a building or for a particular meeting of a committee.
We had about 7 companions praying during Synod. We have 8 more companions from the SDC, but many of them were delegates. I was a delegate myself and I really appreciated knowing that the proceedings were being offered to God to guide and uphold us throughout the day. The slide that was kept up during breaks, alerted us all to the fact that we were being prayed for was very helpful.
If you are interested in joining our Diocesan Prayer Companions, please get in touch by emailing: [email protected].
