DAY OF PRAYER

CHRIST THE KING PRAYER GUIDE

This is the prompt that was given to the ministry leads: 

Give us an update on your ministry. Think "state of the union". Questions to consider... How have you seen God moving? What has been challenging? What are some of the needs? What prayers have been answered? How is your team? Then give us 1-3 prayer requests. 

CTK Staff (from Melonie Kemp, Executive Pastor)

Our staff recently had an All Staff Day together which included a whole day of worship, teaching/reflection and time of connecting with one another. We spent the day talking about why it is important to be intentionally formed by Jesus, and not the world or even a counterfeit that looks like following Jesus but is not. 

In fact we talked about how we can know Scripture, theology, and Christian language and still have areas of our lives that remain largely untouched by Jesus. We talked about what it means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a life of purpose for his Kingdom purposes, not ours.

It was such an impactful, encouraging day. Please pray that what was taken in on this day takes root in each staff member but mostly the team as a whole. Our staff is a small microcosm of the whole church. When they catch a vision for the future God is inviting us into, it catches fire!

Adults Ministry (from Julie Burleson, Lead Adults Pastor)

We have seen God moving in the lives of Adults at CTK in multiple ways in the last month! We are celebrating all of the Adults who served students at Go Camp and who have said yes to opportunities to grow this fall, from showing up to classes or events, or finding new ways to serve. We have also had some classes that have had little interest for some reason, which means we have had to cancel them after lots of planning for them, and are prayerfully holding that before the Lord to see what he is showing us through that. 

• We are hopeful that more people will say yes to taking new steps in their walk with God, moving beyond what they know now into a deeper life with Him. 
• We are asking for prayers for wisdom as we step into a new season of planning, wanting to listen to the Lord as we seek to create more opportunities for our church family to become people who look more like Jesus all the time. 

Young Adults (from Jake Hruza, Young Adults Pastor)

This fall, young adult ministry has shifted from our apprenticeship-style, classroom-based gatherings to a monthly worship night. Young adults have continued to show up ready to worship and participate. They are leaning in, sitting in the tension, and trusting Jesus to transform them. Our primary need right now is vision and direction for the future. Our young adult ministry is in a season of transition and change. Some of that change is related to personnel, while some is dependent on the direction of CTK as a whole. Please pray that God gives clear vision and direction to those who are able to help shape this next season. Pray also that God brings forward volunteers who feel called to serve and help lead young adult ministry in this next season. Our team is doing okay, but there is definitely room for growth. We are navigating a season of change, and we need to continue growing in trust, unity, and our willingness to learn from one another.

• Pray for clear vision and direction for the next season of young adult ministry.
• Pray for our leaders to trust one another, remain united, and be willing to learn from each other.
• Pray that the Lord brings young adults into the ministry, both from within CTK and from our surrounding community.

Student Ministry (from Julie Burleson, Lead Adults Pastor)

We are so excited to have a full students team again and are thankful for what our new team has seen God do in the lives of students already this school year! Go Camp was one of our best yet, and we followed that with a huge Launch party for HSU and MSU, before moving into our normal school year rhythms. 

• We are thankful for the volunteers that we have, but we are asking for prayer for more - we specifically need more guys to volunteer with our middle school students and Summit (our Sunday School class for 5th and 6th graders) is in need of more volunteers also.
• We also ask for prayer for continued favor for both Matt and Kua as they get to know leaders and students and work with Katie, Megan and Shayna to create spaces for students to encounter Jesus and grow closer to Him. 

Kids & Family (from Duane Weaver, Children’s Pastor)

God is bringing some great new team members to our team. They are passionate about the opportunities they are given to be a part of helping children discover who Jesus is and grow in the way they relate to Jesus, not only as their Lord and Savior but as an ever-present friend and advocate. A challenge for us is that we had to pause Encounter Crews for Fall because of very few student sign-ups and very limited volunteer leaders. As a team, we are encouraged by the new volunteers that we have onboarded, but feel the weight of not having a valuable team member- our Administrative Assistant with us at this time. 

• Pray with us that God continues to work in the hearts of our congregation to invest personally in the children of our church by serving as teachers, leaders, and mentors.
• Pray that God will provide a great new team member for our Administrative Assistant position.
• Pray that we can reimagine Encounter Crews in a way that allows more children to participate, since the teaching, mentoring, and peer relationships formed here are much deeper than what can be achieved on a Sunday morning.

Prayer (from Carrie Butler, Prayer Pastor)

Observing a growing “culture of prayer” can be interesting (what exactly do you look for?), but it is clear to me that our congregation is, indeed, growing in prayer. At Go Camp, students and leaders didn’t hesitate to pray for one another, I have witnessed our Ministry Prayer Team members faithfully pray for multiple people in a row on a Sunday morning, and at the recent Young Adults Worship Night, groups of 2-3 huddled together around the room to cover one another in prayer. Right now, the apparent “need” is for more opportunities for our people to pray! And more specifically, to pray for one another. To that end…

• Please be praying for wisdom and alignment with the Holy Spirit as we continue to create opportunities for people to pray with and for one another. There is a Blessing Prayer Training planned for January where we will be teaching our people how to more fully engage with others in prayer, with space to practice listening for anything the Spirit might want to impart. 
• Pray for the Ministry Prayer Team who faithfully show up every Sunday to pray for others. Ask for encouragement, discernment and joy to be present.
• Pray for boldness and courage to continue to rise.

Blessing (from Nathan Ford, Outreach Team Director)

The Response Team is staying busy even as we wrap up our primary project season. We’ve maintained a steady flow of partner projects along with smaller CTKer projects to give folks opportunities to love one another well. The farm is also staying busy with a pick-and-picnic event this last month and a steady harvest. 

• Continual prayer requests would be for leadership volunteers in both spaces (RT is losing one project manager & farm has lots of moving pieces right now), as well as clarity on what the game plan will be with some team transitions coming soon.