Join Our PRAYER & PROPHECY Team
Prayer is one of our particular Priorities at the moment. We have a Parish Prayer Meeting every Thursday evening at 7pm – we use Zoom at the moment so more people can attend. We have encouraged our Small Groups to learn more about Prayer. We also have a Prayer Chain – a group of people are ready to pray for any immediate need you might have. Maureen Hudson co-ordinates this. Contact the Office for her details. All prayer requests are held in strict confidence. If you want to become involved in this ministry, please talk to one of the clergy.
After each of our services, we offer Prayer Ministry. A team of people are available to pray with and for you – you may want to pray for yourself, or for a loved one – or for some situation in the community. Prayer requests are held in strict confidence. Those who pray with you are trained, and have all the necessary safeguarding protocols. They will listen to God on your behalf, and will share any words or prophecies that they feel they are given. You can download the full guidelines below.
Prayer Ministry Guidelines
Aim. The aim of our guidelines is to provide a common framework for Prayer Ministry – which is prayer with the laying on of hands – so that we can provide a safe and consistently positive experience, for those who receive this ministry at Clifton Parish.
Purpose. We want to be channels of God’s amazing grace and serve out of love and compassion (Mark 1:41) and we aim to minister: In the LOVE of THE FATHER (John 3:16). As ambassadors of THE SON (Jesus), modelling ourselves on him and helping others find encouragement, forgiveness and healing in Him (Mark 10:45). In the power of the HOLY SPIRIT as we welcome His presence, trust in His guidance and use His gifts (Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:7)
How. Our values safeguard how we treat one another and our desire is that that:
- We will love you
- We will respect your dignity and honour you
- Should we lay hands on you we will always ask your permission first and it’s no problem if you say no
- We will be able to anoint you with oil if you would like us to
- We will have a bible nearby ready to share Scripture should something come to mind
- We will share any words, pictures, prophecies that we believe God is encouraging you with
- You will be free to weigh/judge all prophecy and parts of prophecy
- We will guard confidentiality (unless there is a safeguarding issue that we legally must share with church leadership)
- We will NOT stray into counselling; pray loudly in tongues; or advise/suggest/hint any discontinuation of medical treatment
- We will not give directives about jobs, marriage, births or deaths
- We will not give teaching
- We will always minister to you in a team of two for accountability and safety
Prophetic Ministry Guidelines
Aim. To steward the gift of prophesy well, we believe we must be free to prophesy AND be free to weigh and judge prophecy. We consider the weighing and judging of prophecy to be a collective responsibility that is bounded by our value to love so that all may remain accountable to one another and church leadership.
- We will believe that God loves to speak with us and loves to share His heart with us (Jeremiah 33:3)
- We will believe that because of Jesus we can approach God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16)
- We will believe that by the Holy Spirit we can prophesy and weigh/judge prophecy well (John 14:26)
- We will honour and love one another (Romans 12:10, John 13:34)
- We acknowledge that God chose us & our value does not depend on our performance (Eph 1:4)
- We will submit to church leadership (Hebrews 13:17) and to one another (Ephesians 5:21)
- We will do things in an orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:40)
- We will be open to taking risks and sharing what we think God is showing us
- We can get things wrong because we are growing and learning
- We will weigh all prophecy and all parts of prophecy (the revelation, interpretation & application)
- We can weigh prophecy by testing the spirit behind prophecy
- We believe in the supernatural gift of the discernment of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10)
- And we believe that it is possible to grow in discernment through training & practice (Hebrews 5:14)