PRAYERMATE:
Apple/Android
Free

How often do we say: ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and then just forget? As Don Carson says: ‘Much praying is not done because we do not plan to pray’. One solution to the disconnect between intention and reality is PrayerMate.

Simply put, the app takes the idea of prayer lists and digitises it. Users create a series of categories (e.g. ‘church’, ‘family’, ‘evangelism’, ‘world’), before creating prayer ‘cards’ for each category. Every time you open the app you begin a new ‘prayer session’ and get a new selection of cards to swipe (and pray!) through.

Facilitating faithful prayer

Created by Englishman Andy Geers, PrayerMate launched in 2011 and has become one of the most popular ‘non-Bible’ apps in the UK. Notable commendations from Tim Challies and Paul Tripp have encouraged a growing US user-base too. PrayerMate has now reached 430,000 total downloads, with 30,000 monthly users from around 125 countries – equating to some 1.5 million prayer items a month!

There are some great features: attach a photo/PDF prayer-letter to a card; track answered prayer through ‘threading’ a card’s changes over time; add an event reminder to a card; form a Share Group with friends to share and sync privately. Over 500 churches and organisations (including Operation World and Open Doors) release a PrayerMate ‘prayer feed’, allowing you to subscribe and automatically stay up-to-date.

It takes a few minutes to get accustomed to PrayerMate’s set-up and edit the template prayer list, but it’s a fairly intuitive interface and simple to add/edit. As such, it’s not uncommon to hear people say PrayerMate has ‘revolutionised’ their praying. Generously, since 2014, Geers’ Discipleship Tech organisation has made PrayerMate free!

Obviously, an app can’t do the praying for you, but PrayerMate offers a really focused, accessible and editable digital system for praying intentionally for others. Give it a go!

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A version of this article was first published here in the November Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.

Seven up…

1) Churches tally up their value to society – at £12.4bn – Very interesting analysis of the contribution churches make to society. Of course, we need to remember the gospel has a crucial eternal dimension that isn’t going to be directly recognised in such reports, but it’s encouraging to see Christians serving their communities in all sorts of ways.

2) Zoe Powell: The Christian creative who pointed everyone to Jesus – A desperately sad story from Oxfordshire this week, after a horrific car crash saw a young Christian family‘s earthly life ripped apart. Zoe Powell’s work was very popular through the Cheerfully Given website – and this is a touching tribute.

3) Why the “rule of six” could help your friendships – and your home group – Naomi Dawson argues that smaller numbers create groups that have a higher level of sharing and intimacy.

4) Coronavirus: Implications Of The New “Three-Tier’ COVID Alert System For Churches In England – Helpful summary of some of the key points from the UK Government’s new tier system.

5) Justin Giboney’s Both/AND Politics – This is from an American context in light of the Presidential election, but I’d not come across Giboney before. It’s an interesting approach in an increasingly fractured debate.

6) To win the argument, lockdown-sceptics must unite with a new manifesto – As John Stevens pointed out this week, Christians could do well to consider the debates around lockdown as a useful lesson in how not to communicate, persuade and make our case.

7) Nobel Prize Midnight Wake-Up Call – For something a bit different, the #NobelPrize committee couldn’t reach Paul Milgrom to share the news that he had won, so his fellow winner and neighbour Robert Wilson knocked on his door in the middle of the night. The result is rather hilarious.

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links a blessing? Why not forward it on?

Seven up…

1) COVID Christmas Outreach – ‘How do we do Christmas?’ is becoming the hot ministry topic! GAFCON UK have produced this fab and extensive crib sheet on the topic, including the wisdom from Ed Drew from Faith in Kids. CPAS have also written a guide to Making the Most of Advent & Christmas, as well as creating a padlet board for Christmas outreach ideas. They also have a number of helpful crib sheets: on Drive-in Carol Services;

2) I Miss Having Ideas – Interesting piece on creativity in lockdown…

3) “O Tempora! O Mores Evangelici!” 2. He’s BEHIND You! – Mark Meynell continues his challenging series looking under the bonnet of British evangelicalism.

4) A Positive COVID Test at Church: Now What? – I guess this is something most churches will face at some point. Interesting case-study on how one church worked through this.

5) Safeguarding in the Church of England and the Church in Wales – The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse released their report on the Anglican Church in England & Wales this week, and it makes for sobering reading. The Bishop of Huddersfield, Jonathan Gibbs, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, and Melissa Caslake, the Church’s national director of safeguarding, have released this statement. Justin Humphreys from ThirtyOneEight called for “openness, humility and a commitment to change”.

6) Churchill’s D-Day Task List – This is a helpful word on planning and productivity from Cal Newport. Somewhat relatedly, Dan Green also shares some gleanings on processing your email.

7) O Come, All You Unfaithful by Sovereign Grace Music – For something a little bit different (in that it’s not yet November!), this is breathtaking. Before you watch the video, you need to know that it contains people who are mostly listening to the song for the first time and hearing it in light of their own experiences: “a stillborn child; a strained marriage; feelings of shame; legalism; loss; loneliness.” As Bob Kauflin puts it, “we think seeing their responses as Lisa Clow sings communicates even more clearly that Jesus wasn’t born for people who have it all together. He was born for those who have nothing.” This is going to be played a lot over the next ten weeks.

Quote of the Week: 

“Before a church is a growing number of people, it’s a number of people growing.”

– Mark Dever

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links a blessing? Why not forward it on?