Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church

1948 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126

Synopsis	Prayerwalkers do just that - walk around neighborhoods and pray for the area and residents.
Resources Required	Someone to plan and implement the prayerwalk.
	Someone to recruit participants.
	A guide explaining what a prayerwalk is, now it works, and what is expected of each participant. An excellent reference is Prayerwalking: Praying On Site with Insight by Steve Hawthorne and Graham Kendrick (Altamonte Springs, FL, Creation House, 1993).
	Someone to arrange transportation to and from the selected neighborhoods.
Description	Prayer walking is a ministry of intercession for neighborhoods. Today it is done all over the world, but it has its roots in Acts, which describes Christians preparing for public ministry as they walk and pray. In Norway, centuries later, reformer Hans Nelson Hauge frequently walked while he prayed in preparation for upcoming evangelistic meetings.
	Prayerwalking can range from one person praying while exercising in the morning to a group walking through a selected neighborhood. Preparations vary accordingly. Typically, prayerwalkers go in pairs or small groups. They may walk a few minutes or several hours. Anyone able to walk or use a wheelchair can participate. Prayerwalking, popular with families, can be a prayer project an exercise opportunity a family outing a social trip with a purpose a time to "smell the roses" and be outside a chance to get together with other church members while achieving various objectives Here are the steps you will probably need to take. Determine the purpose of the prayer walk. It might be to pray for salvation, repentance, reconciliation, en end to violence, strengthening families, protection, blessing for people, schools, businesses, neighborhoods, and so forth. Select a format for the prayerwalk. Participants might walk alone, in pairs, as families, in small groups, in large groups. Decide on the place or places for the walk. Walks can be held in local neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, churches, overlooks, sites of troubling, evil, or tragic events.

     We will be doing a ministry of Prayer Walking at Holy Redeemer. We began on January 10, 2009. On the second Saturday of each month we will spend (approximately) an hour walking in the neighborhood around our church.

     As we begin, we will simply walk and pray — with no interaction sought with our neighbors and no announcement that we are doing this. After a couple of months of walking and praying (January, February & March) we will put door hangers / brochures on the doors of homes in the neighborhood informing them that we have been praying and that we will continue to be praying on a monthly basis (April thru June). In July we will do another round of door hangers / posters informing the neighborhood when we will be praying and inviting their prayers. We will promise to take these prayer requests back to our service and to put them on our prayer wheel. This phase will last through September. In October we plan to begin inviting the neighborhood to pray with us, and to participate in other ways. We will invite them to share food for our Food Pantry, invite them to help with the homeless / hungry dinner and work toward a large emphasis on bringing the neighborhood into church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

     I want to invite you to pray about this endeavor and to ask God to give you the courage to go out and walk our neighborhood once each month, beginning in January. If you are willing to commit, please let me know over the next couple of months.

Pastor John