Prayer Resources

Resources to help think through the implications of Local Ministry Groups

Praying for Changing Lives
Making major changes is never easy, and sometimes uncomfortable. It requires a new level of commitment from us all. The Changing Lives Prayer and the Act of Commitment are resources for prayer and reflection on our changing churches and changing communities.

Changing Lives prayer	Act of Commitment

Lord, you are the changeless one,
who comes to change us into the likeness of Jesus Christ your Son:

grant that we, changed and transformed by your Spirit, may be the instrument of changing lives in the world you so love.

Amen.

This Act of Commitment was first used during Bishop Peter's Changing Lives tour in 2004.

I commit myself...		to discovering anew God's love for me and all his people to 'being Jesus' among the people with whom I live and work to enabling God's Church to be a sign of faith, love and hope to all in the community to trust God for his Church, that human and financial resources will be adequate for the tasks ahead: changing lives, changing Churches, for changing communities.
Jesus says...		in His society, there is a new way for people to live: you show wisdom by trusting people; you handle leadership by serving; you handle offenders by forgiving; you handle money by sharing; you handle violence by suffering; you have a new attitude: towards everything, towards everybody, towards nature, towards the state, towards all, and towards every single thing.
In a Jesus society, you repent, not by feeling bad, but by thinking different. We commit ourselves to this vision.

	text adapted from Rudy Wiebe
	Rudy Wiebe (b 1934), an award-winning Canadian author, is a member of the Mennonite Church. The text is adapted from his novel The Blue Mountains of China.
		See video clip of Bishop Peter reading this text outside Wells Cathedral