A Prayer for the New Year

Lord, we come before you in love and praise and thanksgiving.  We give particular thanks for all that you have enabled us to achieve during the past year.   Our church building has been restored in such a way that will enable future generations to continue the worship that has taken place there for over 100 years.  

May we as a congregation reach upwards to your throne in worship and adoration; inwards to one another in understanding and fellowship; and outwards to the world in evangelism and social compassion.  We pray that St Barnabas Church will reflect your light and love so that those who pass through its doors may find Christ as the light of the world and His Church as the family of God.

Guide and undertake O Lord, in all that lies before us, that your Holy Spirit may direct us in our thinking and our speaking and give us understanding of your will.  We are taught by your word that we are members of the one body of Christ, each with a place to fill and a function to perform: in this task you have given us to do together, please enable us by your grace, to make our contributions humbly and unselfishly, to work in love and harmony, one with another, for the honour and glory of your name.