The Alabama-West Florida Conference is centering its work around prayer in the coming liturgical year. Daily conference work, meetings and conferences will all have prayer as the focus.
“While it seems so obvious that prayer is the center of our work, sometimes we need to make intentional efforts,” stated Bishop Graves. “It is so easy to get sidetracked by the business and agenda items of our meetings. We add more to our plates, we find ourselves in a cycle of busy-ness and we stay in problem-solving mode. All of this distracts us from listening for God’s voice and seeking His will for our churches and lives. This collective effort will allow space for the Holy Spirit to guide our work.”
Each liturgical season the conference will publish a communications piece that shows the date, scripture passage, prayer prompt, prayer description and in some cases musical selection to accompany the prayer. Prayers are being prepared by conference staff and cabinet members.
“Lord, hear our prayers,” stated Celeste Eubanks, AWF director of connectional ministries. “While the tumultuous times in our denomination will not cease any time soon, it’s time to reconsider how we process our work. Bishop Graves, the cabinet and conference leadership felt that this shift in priorities better aligns with the nature of our ministries and our focus on mission and ministry. We need to lead in a spiritual way that embraces a season of spiritual understanding and invite all United Methodists to join us in this effort.”
The theme of the 2023 session of annual conference will be, “When They Prayed” based on Acts 4:31. Each day will offer a specific prayer focus where all work will be centered around praying as certain Biblical figures prayed.
More information will be available and updates will be posted on the conference Website via
www.awfumc.org/yearofprayer.
