Prayer Ministry at Advent

Prayer is central to the life of the gathered body of Christ, both by practice and by command as given in Scripture. Prayer comprises much of the book of Psalms, and Paul commanded this practice by and for the local church in Eph. 6:19, Col. 4:2, and 1 Tim. 2:1. Jesus both commanded his followers to pray and modeled it himself (Luke 10:2 and 23:24). While each gathered body of believers as a community and as individuals practice prayer both in gathered church services and informally in a personal capacity, the ministry of prayer is a distinct but closely related practice. Prayer at Advent happens in three different ministries, all working in concert with one other: Eucharistic Prayer, Intercessory Prayer, and Healing Prayer. If you have any questions or are interested in joining one of Advent’s prayer ministry teams, please email Hilary Van Wagenen at admin@adventdc.org. 

Eucharistic Prayer Ministry

Anyone who desires prayer during the Eucharist is invited to come forward to one of the prayer stations at the front of the sanctuary after receiving communion, waiting if necessary until one of the prayer teams is available. Eucharistic prayer ministers pray in pairs and are covenant members of Church of the Advent. This form of prayer ministry is short, a few minutes in length. If you’d like a more extended prayer time, you may schedule an appointment with members of our healing prayer team, detailed below.

Healing Prayer Team

Healing prayer is an extended time of prayer offered by appointment. Once the appointment is scheduled, a team of two prayer ministers will spend up to two hours in a session praying with the person requesting prayer. It may be appropriate to schedule multiple sessions depending on the nature of the prayer request. A few examples of reasons someone might seek healing prayer are: past or present emotional wounding, physical and/or emotional pain, or broken relationships. Although each prayer session differs depending on the needs of the prayer recipient, prayer ministers always practice multi-layered listening: listening to the Spirit, the recipient, and the other prayer minister. Prayer ministers might begin a session with silence, inviting the Spirit to guide the time, or they may ask the recipient to meditate on a time they felt deeply loved. Often the prayer ministers gently ask questions of the recipient, such as, “Is there anything you’d like to share about _______,” or “I’m hearing the word _________. Does that seem meaningful to you in some way you’d like to share with us?” In all cases, prayer ministers are called to reflect the humility, gentleness and love of the Holy Spirit. Healing prayer ministers are covenant members of Church of the Advent or ordained clergy, and have been trained or are currently in training and shadowing a trained prayer minister. If you’d like to receive healing prayer, please fill our our pastoral care and prayer request form, and we will be in touch to help you schedule an appointment.

Intercessory Prayer

The intercessory prayer team prays for the corporate needs of Advent, including Sunday services, Advent’s leadership, finances, facility needs, upcoming events, etc., as well as the needs of individuals and families who attend Advent. This team is currently in formation. If you have a prayer request you’d like our intercessory prayer team to pray for, please fill out our pastoral care and prayer request form.