Newbury churches holding week praying for town, schools, Street Pastors and the world

The start of a new school year is one of the catalysts for churches across West Berkshire to come together for a week of prayer.

It launched on Sunday, September 8, with a special evening service at St Nicolas Church in West Mills.

Then across the week, churches in the Christians Together Newbury Area network have hosted or attended events, including a meeting focusing on West Berkshire, another looking at the global situation, and a third championing community initiatives.

These including Bus of Hope, CAP Debt Centre, COINS, West Berkshire Homeless, Loose Ends and Street Pastors.

Mark Landreth-Smith, the pastor of Bridge Church, is one of the organisers and said the area’s churches had signed up for the week with great enthusiasm.

“Many of us have individual weeks of prayer, and take part in a week in January, and we wanted an opportunity to pray together in each other’s churches,” he said.

“It’s a really good thing for us to do.

“There are things happening in the nation, including a new Government, a new MP, a new school year, so this is a good time to come together and pray.”

The churches across West Berkshire, he said, enjoyed opportunities to team up.

“There are lots of good churches in the Newbury area, and the ministers get on really well with each other.

“We’re friends and support each other – we don’t feel we’re in competition.”

The week is an opportunity for people of all denominations, faith and none to experience the different styles of worship across the area’s churches.

For example, last night (Wednesday, September 11), St Mary’s Church in Shaw hosted a session called Lectio Divina, which uses a four-step approach to Bible reading that has been in use since 300AD.

Full details of the week’s events are available on its website, ctnablog.wordpress.com

The events continue with a creativity session at St John’s Church in Newbury from 12.30pm today (Thursday, September 12), and an evening meeting about those in authority, starting at 7.30pm and held at Newbury Methodist Church.

At 7am tomorrow (Friday, September 13), there will be an online session called Praying The Psalms, a lunchtime session for the environment at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in London Road, and an evening event focusing on Newbury and the surrounding area at Kennet Christian Session.

The final event will be a prayer walk around the town on Saturday, starting from St Nicolas Church.

Lasting an hour, it starts at 11am and is a circular route taking place on the same day as the fundraising Ride + Stride event.

For this, Mr Landreth-Smith said “We will be taking in different parts of the town and praying a blessing on them.

“For example, we will pray for West Berkshire Council and Thames Valley Police, as well as people who work in shops.

“It won’t be attention seeking, people will just see a group of people walking around town like a tour group.”

As for the week itself, Mr Landreth-Smith said: “It is important for Christians to come together to pray and let people know that we care for each other.

“Absolutely anyone, of Christian faith, other faiths, curious about faith, no faith at all, are welcome to come.

“There is no pressure or expectation.

“You can come and simply watch and listen.”