Over 90 school children came into All Saints Church, Normanton on Ascension Day to use the prayer stations set up to mark the start of Thy Kingdom Come, the global wave of prayer.
The curate, the Revd Phill Maries and All Saints vicar, the Revd Alan Murray, led the sessions by inviting the groups of children to first gather together and pray for all those affected by the Manchester attack and candles were lit for the 22 victims who died there.
Prayer stations around the church included prayers for forgiveness made of sand and shells; a tent that told the story of the countries where prayer had to go underground for fear of retribution (pic left); a knot prayer station; a trivial pursuit style prayer game and a mapping prayer station, (pic right) that showed all the different local schools and children were encouraged to prayer for them.
The children from Year Two at Normanton All Saints CE (A) Infant School created their own hands of prayer for the prayer stations in church. They thought about different people in their lives who they wanted to pray for and created this unique art work, see below, and invited others to add their own individual hand of prayer to the display over the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come.
A group of people from All Saints will travel to the Big Church Day Out North in Cheshire this weekend before they join people from across the diocese for diocesan Thy Kingdom Come beacon event on Pentecost Sunday in Wakefield Cathedral.