A is for Apple

What is it about an apple that brings to rememberance the basics? The simplicity? The endless hours spent in kindergarten singing the ABC song while looking at flash card images of apples? A is for apple... A is for the basics. A is for a starting point.

After nearly 6 weeks of prayer sessions, it's safe to say we've finally settled into our own "A" of the ABCs. That is, we've developed a loose structure to our sessions. They are turning out something like this:

Welcome & Introductions
the HOP concept is a very new thing to Japan and bears answering the question, "so, what's a HOP anyway?"

Testimony & Sharing
how God's answered prayers and/or spoken to us over the course of the week- often, scriptures & passages shared will reveal some of the direction prayers will flow durring a session

Prayer Points & Personal Requests
quick reminder/introduction of key prayer points & list up of personal prayer requests for the week
if a white board is available, they are written up there for all to see- this visual aid has proved helpful since English is not the mother tongue of many in our tribe

Brief "How to Pray" & Establish Expectations Announcement
who will start, how we'll finish and that it's okay to pray in tongues, sing, walk around, pray in ones native tongue, speak the scripture, etc...
again, something proven helpful for first time participants

Opening Prayer & Worship
prayer leader opens with worship to follow intermittenly over the course of a session
worship has been somewhat creative up to this point- we've not got a "worship team" yet and it's not always possible to play live music... (we'll get there eventually though)

Wrapping Up
Last 5-10 minutes of a session: personal prayer requests, closing prayer & offering collection

It's definately a good feeling to be able to say, "yes, we've got a system." Now we can really start to focus on our what instead of the how.
This is so exciting!

Thank you Abba!