What is prayer?
Prayer is a conversation with God.

Why pray?
We should pray because in any relationship, communication is very important. Jesus took time out to spend time talking to God, so it is clear from his example that this is something God wants us to do.

How do I pray?
Just talk to God. You don’t have to use long words, or kneel down, or even shut your eyes. You can talk to God anywhere; He will definitely be listening to you.

Does God answer prayer?
Yes he does, but not always with the answer we want. The answer can be yes, or no, or wait.

Why hasn’t God answered my prayer?
If you mean why hasn’t He given you what you asked for, then the answer is that He knows what is best for you in your life, and saying yes to your prayer right now may not be the best thing in the long run.

Does God only want me to pray to Him about major things?
Many of us have probably cried out to God in and God certainly hears those prayers, but God doesn’t want us to leave praying until we are really desperate. God is interested in every detail of our lives, and He likes us to pray to him about everything, not just major issues.

What should I pray about?
You can pray about anything. You can ask for God’s guidance in making decisions, whether big or small. You can pray for your family, or for your place of work and the people who work there. You can pray for the people who run the country, and for situations that you hear about in the news, both here and abroad…the list is endless.

Does prayer work?
It certainly does, there are many people who can give accounts of some amazing and very specific answers to prayer that could never be put down to coincidence.

It is essential for us to spend time alone talking to God. Jesus himself set us an example by frequently doing this. However the Bible also teaches us that it is also important for us to meet together to pray.

This is why we always take the opportunity to pray whenever we meet together. At the end of our main Sunday meetings people are given the chance to be prayed for, and a time is always set aside at during homegroup meetings to pray for anything that people feel needs praying for. We believe in a God who can perform miracles. We believe that God can and does heal people today.

We have several meetings where we get together specifically to pray. Once a month on a Sunday evening, we meet to pray for people and circumstances in the Family Church. We also pray for national and international situations that we feel need to be prayed for.

On Tuesday mornings we meet to pray for families. On Wednesday mornings, we spend time praying for our country. We really believe that God can make a big difference to people's lives, and to our country.

The Family Church has a group of about twenty or so people who can be contacted to pray for any serious or emergency situation that arises that needs prayer urgently. We call this group of people ‘The Prayer Chain’; this is because the message about what to pray for is passed down a chain of people via the telephone.

If you would like someone to pray for you, then email The Family Church Christchurch, and your prayer request will be passed on to a Church member, who will pray for you. All prayer requests will be treated with the strictest confidence, you don't even have to give a name; God knows who you are.

If you live in the Christchurch area, and would like someone to pray with you, then please contact us.