Prayers & Squares work day...

The second Saturday of each month, a few ladies gather together for our monthly Prayers and Squares workday. This established ministry (but new to our church) makes lap size quilts and we prepare them to be tied - instead of quilted, but leave the ties untied . When a prayer need ~ serious health crisis, death in the family, etc is brought to the attention of the pastoral staff; one of them contacts the person in need of prayer and asks them if they would like to receive a prayer quilt. If they agree, the pastoral staff lets the congregation know about the prayer need at a particular service and the prayer quilt is laid out for people to come and pray for that person after the service and then tie a tie (representing their prayer). When all the ties are tied, the quilt is presented to the recipient!

I pray for the 'unknown' recipient as I choose fabrics and while I sew the quilt top together. Then, 80-100 people pray for the recipient and the quilt gets "tied". That's a lot of prayer! It's a wonderful ministry and I'm really excited to see how God will develop this ministry in our church.

Here's a quick look at our January workday ~ Deborah (our group leader), Beth and I all worked on quilts. We have the added blessing of fellowship while we work. We discovered there is no heat in the workroom, so I think I'll take along my portable oil heater next month ~ on Valentine's Day!

Beth working on one of her three quilts...

Deborah working on one of her quilts (she has multiple going too). I love this pattern and want to try it myself!

...and mine! Sewing together blocks in a row. I've got two quilts I'm working on. My goal is 8-12 quilts this year. We're hoping to draw more people into this ministry ~ as prayer quilts are not only for people in our congregation, but for people in our neighborhood and people that are known by someone in our congregation or even... a friend of a friend of a friend. As long as they are willing to accept a prayer quilt as a gift from our church and have their prayer request shared publicly.

There's nothing like touching others through prayer and seeing God work in the lives of those around us!

Want to learn more ~ go to: http://www.prayerquilt.org/