Ros Powell
St Teresa’s Prayer Group
Meets every Monday (term Time)
8.00 pm.
At St Teresa’s Church, Stone Road
Trent Vale
Stoke – on - Trent
Staffordshire
ST4 6SP
U.K.
St. Teresa’s Charismatic Prayer Group is open to Christians of any denomination.
We exist to provide support and fellowship, finding joy together in joining to praise God, and supporting each other by prayer and intercession. We aim to grow in faith and love of God, and to be of service to the Church and the wider community by sharing the love of God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What happens at a typical prayer group meeting?
Greeting
– we are always glad to see visitors, regular and not-so-regular members.
Praise and worship
– usually with contemporary worship music. This is often lively and free, and sometimes involves singing “in the spirit”, which is a beautiful way to praise God.
Silence
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We share what we sense God is saying to us as a group, often through scripture passages or just by a thought or a sensation. This is where the group works together, as one person’s thoughts may be confused or mistaken, but the group help to discern the message.
Read and explain Scripture
One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the renewed thirst to read the scriptures. We usually share scripture passages in the group, and discuss them or someone will give a short teaching.
Testimony
Group members will sometimes share with the rest of us something that God has done – an answer to prayer, or some other event which helps to build faith and encourage the others.
Prayer for Healing
If anyone is sick, we pray for them, sometimes with the laying on of hands.
Intercession
Our meeting always ends with a period of intercessory prayer – for the sick, for our families, and always for our priests, pastors and ministers who need our support.
We are part of the Catholic Charismatic movement, which has a Regional, National and International Network, and representation at the Vatican.
The Catholic Charismatic Renewal centres on the renewal of individual commitment to the person of Jesus Christ in His Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, as in the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
This commitment has been the centre of every authentic renewal in the history of the Church. It begins by the re-anointing with the presence of the Holy Spirit, like in any of the Pentecost anointings in Scripture, and it is primarily a renewal of the gifts received in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. It is a renewal in the elements of the Gospel which are central, not optional – the Covenant love of the Father, the lordship of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, sacramental and community life, prayer, charisms and the necessity of evangelisation.
The results are many.
The individuals in the Charismatic Renewal believe that they have been “filled” or “baptised” with the Holy Spirit, often through the laying on of hands. The signs of this may include: joy, the gifts of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues resting in the Spirit, prophecy, healing, discernment of spirits … the nine spiritual gifts of 1Corinthians 12:8-10. Along with the reception and use of the charisms, people who have been baptised in the Holy Spirit talk of a new and deeper personal knowledge and commitment to Jesus in his Church. They find a new power and meaning of all kinds of prayer – a new love of the scriptures, a new and deeper appreciation of the Church, of the Sacraments, of the Liturgy, and of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
We would be glad to welcome you – any Monday evening during term-term – from 8 – 9.30.
The Prayer Group enjoying a meal out at Christmas time '08
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