A monthly prayer gathering at
Friendship Central School will be extended next week to include a full-day
observance of the National Day of Prayer, with four different prayer activities
being scheduled to enable the entire community to participate.
Three
pastors from the What God
is Doing in Friendship ny alliance of churches will take part in
the community prayer opportunities, starting at 8:30AM Thursday, May 2.
Church congregants and other community
members will gather in front of the school at 46 West Main Street for the first
Thursday of the month regular prayer time for the school and its students,
teachers, administrators, other staff, the Board of Education, parents and
caregivers, and others.
The school’s May Character Trait of Empathy – the ability to understand another
person’s thoughts and feelings in a situation from their point of view, rather
than your own, will be part of the prayer focus as churches seek to
extend support for this positive school trait among their congregants and
within the broader Friendship community.
The prayer session then will move across
the street to the Bible Baptist Church – the inclement weather backup site for
prayer for the school – for a free continental breakfast and a National Day of
Prayer observance time, led by Pastor Kevin Palmiter of the Followers of the
Way - Nile Community Church.
There will be prayer for the government,
the military, media, business, education, churches, and families, including the
holding up of attending families and family members in prayer.
A second prayer gathering and luncheon will
convene at noon at the Baptist church, with Pastor Kirk of the United Church of
Friendship leading that session.
An evening prayer gathering, coinciding
with the church’s regular Thursday night prayer and Bible study, will be held
at 6:30PM, led by Bible Baptist Church Pastor Duane Broadwell.
Anyone within the greater community and
beyond is invited to participate in any or all of these prayer events and to
bring others with them.
The monthly prayer gatherings at the school
were started last fall at the beginning of the current school year.
Origins of the National Day of Prayer began
in 1952 when Congress approved legislation requiring the President to set aside
and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day
of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer
and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.
Further information is available from
Allegany Hope, alliance coordinator, at AlleganyHopeWNY@outlook.com on
(585) 664-9989.
