St Michael's Church, Stoke Gifford
Living to make a difference
Morning Prayer takes place online on youtube each Wednesday and Friday at 9.30am.
You can watch here
Click here for the youtube playlist
A different member of the Clergy, Licensed Lay Ministry or staff teams, lead the session, and you can join in live, or catch up later.
Download our weekly Prayer Diary
Prayer diary til 20 April here
Churches across Bristol are joining together on Wednesday 6 March to fast and pray for Bristol.
This is in response to the recent spate of murders and other knife crime, the death of three small children in Sea Mills, and a violent rape in our City Centre. All of these have all focused attention on problems Bristol faces. Many Christians and Churches around our city have of course been praying this is an invitation to some united prayer and fasting. We are inviting you to please us join as we humble ourselves before the Lord and spread a prayer canopy over Bristol.
Churches are all responding in different ways. There is a city-wide gathering at Bristol Cathedral at 6pm.
St Michael’s is responding with a zoom gathering at 6.30pm for half an hour of prayer together. Get the zoom link here
You may wish to fast as well. More details on fasting here
More details on the city-wide response here.
Everyone is welcome to join in with an online prayer meeting for the persecuted church. It’s on Zoom on Monday 11 March at 7.30pm, for about an hour.
We use the video resources available from Open Doors and pray through the countries featured, where Christians need our encouragement as they face opposition, isolation and difficulties of many kinds – it would be great if you could join us!
On Wednesday 10 January at 7.30pm we are gathering in St Michael’s Centre for a whole church prayer gathering.
Prayer is key to everything we do, and an important part of our individual lives. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather and pray as a church, and listen to God together.
Why not count yourself in and come along for an evening of prayer and worship?
Join the global wave of prayer calling all Christians to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know the love and peace of Jesus Christ.
Whether you have joined in with Thy Kingdom Come before or not, we invite you to take part from 18-28 May 2023 – along with churches from over 80 different denominations and traditions in over 170 countries around the world.
Ascension Day Communion – Thursday 18 May 7.30pm in Church and live-streamed via our youtube channel
Whole Church Prayer Gathering – Wednesday 24 May 7.30pm in Church
Morning Prayer on Youtube Live – Friday 19 May, Wednesday 24 May and Friday 26 May
A novena is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, with prayers repeated for nine successive days.
The 2023 Thy Kingdom Come Novena has daily readings from the book of 1 John, with reflections written by The Very Reverend Bob Key with a commendation from Archbishop Justin Welby and Archbishop Stephen Cottrell. The Novena covers the nine days of Thy Kingdom come, from 18-28 May 2023.
Daily Prayer for Thy Kingdom Come is a great way to set up regular, daily patterns of prayer to hold people in prayer
The free app for iOS and Android
Containing audio for Morning, Evening, Day and Night Prayer from the booklet for all 11 days. The Daily Prayer for Thy Kingdom Come app has been updated with the ability to set reminders for any or all the services at times that suit you. Download for Android or iOS.
Smart speaker
From Ascension Day (18 May), you can also get Alexa and Google Home to ‘Ask the Church of England for today’s Thy Kingdom Come’ to hear a short service of Prayer During the Day (before 7pm) and Night Prayer (after 7pm) throughout the 11 days.
The Way produce faith-based video content, made by young people and for young people.
The Way’s video series on prayer is available to watch on their social channels now and there will be a discussion guide for youth groups and schools to use with the videos during Thy Kingdom Come.
The Way will also release exclusive new videos on prayers and gifts of the spirit during Thy Kingdom Come.
Follow The Way on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Thy Kingdom Come and Cheeky Pandas are partnering for 2023 to offer a fun-filled, bible-based TV series for use in family services, assemblies, and at home, featuring songs, animated stories, prayer and interviews with special guests. Alongside this, they have activity packs, service plans, a prayer book and a children’s app. Christian cartoons for kids, action worship songs, and free resources for families, churches and schools are available from cheekypandas.com.
Join us on Wednesday 29 March at 7.30am for our online prayer meeting.
Bring your own breakfast, and we’ll see you there!
Get the zoom link here
Our monthly prayer breakfast is now back in person! Come along to St Michael’s Centre on Wednesday 27 July at 7.30am for prayer and worship, followed by a light breakfast together.
We meet in Seminar Room 3 (at the end of the new corridor on St Michael’s Centre)
All welcome!
In the global wave of prayer calling all Christians to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Thy Kingdom Come runs from Thursday 26 May – Sunday 5 June 2022
Ascension Day Communion – Thursday 26 May 7.30pm in Church and live-streamed
Morning Prayer on Facebook Live – Friday 27 May, Wednesday 1 June
The Novena booklet offers nine days of reflections on the book of 1 Peter, written by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Expanding on nine key verses, it will help you be shaped by scripture throughout the days of Thy Kingdom Come, and is beautifully illustrated by Anna Heslop.
Download a copy of the Novena from Archbishop Justin Welby – click here
Join the team live on Facebook as some of the TKC team get together to pray.
They will be doing several Facebook Live prayers over the 11 days
We are excited to share the Thy Kingdom Come app. This is a wonderful discipleship tool for all ages, with content for adults, youth and children, created to spiritually nourish and encourages prayer during the eleven days of Thy Kingdom Come. All of the key resources are featured on this free app and is a wonderful and accessible way for individuals and families to journey through this time of prayer. We encourage to you to share this with friends, family, congregation members and church networks. You can download the app from the google play store here and the apple app store here
Information on the Bristol response to Ukrainian Refugees – click here
Information on volunteering with Love Bristol helping refugees with the visa process – click here
We are currently in discussions with Bristol City Council and South Glos Council about becoming a Welcome Hub for providing support and space for Ukrainians to access. One of the requirements of a Welcome Hub is that they have a Welcome Hub Leader – if you feel that this is an area of Ministry that you would like to be involved in please get in touch.
If you are interested in hosting a refugee please go to the Gov website to register your interest.
Thank you to all those who have bought items in and those who have taken them to the Swindon collection point for the Ukraine Barnabus Fund appeal. We have taken lots of full car loads of essential items so far which is fantastic!
The current need is for the following:
Food tinned food with pull lids, energy bars and food you can eat on the run.
Moldovan Mission’s CEO, Mark McCormick, is the founder and former leader of Gotesti Baptist Church. He works closely with St Michael’s Mission Partner Ruslan Telpiz and other Pastors throughout Moldova. Click here
Message from Mark: “We are at this moment supporting our Pastor Partners, as they help those who are fleeing the Ukraine. They are meeting the refugees on the border and giving food and accommodation. If they wish to go to Romania then they are transporting them. All this they are doing at their own expense. So we are trying to raise funds for them. If you would like to help please use our donations page and mark your donation Refugees. Thank you“.
Epaphras Trust works in four countries: Kenya, India, Nepal and Ukraine and is a Mission Partner of St Michael’s Church. Trustee and church member Ken Hart has been to Ukraine around 20 times in the last 18 years. More info and details on how to give: Click here
We have been invited to join churches across the city to pray for Bristol at this time in the run up to the elections and after the unrest of the recent protests. So far 50 Churches have committed and it’s running from 6 April- 6 May.
We are committed to pray on 30 April for one day.
The vision is that there would be a canopy of prayer and worship over Bristol as we all join as one church praying.
“Work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare”. Jeremiah 29:7.
You can sign up through the 24/7 prayer page here to choose a timeslot for your prayers on 30 April
You can pray however, or wherever you like. Perhaps you would like to gather 5 others and have a prayer walk? Tom and Sara are planning one for 11am that day so contact Tom if you’d like to join them Or simply pray where you are.
Feel free to pray for the whole hour or if you have less time, then simply pray for half an hour. There may be people already signed up for your chosen timeslot but do still sign up for that time – the more the merrier!
If you have any words or pictures, do send them to Tom and he will forward them to the ’30 days of prayer for peace’ Whatsapp group.
We will also have two dedicated times of prayer together online:
Prayer Breakfast at 8am on Zoom
Morning Prayer on Facebook live at 9.30am.
We’re supporting the National Day of Reflection on 23 March, the first anniversary of the UK lockdown, to commemorate this tragic loss of life and to stand together with everyone who’s grieving.
Organised by Marie Curie, and supported by the Church of England, the National Day of Reflection looks to reflect on our collective loss, support those who’ve been bereaved, and hope for a brighter future.
Take a minute’s silence at 12 noon on 23 March to show your support for the millions of people who are bereaved and take a moment to connect with someone. You could light a virtual candle here
You can download an Act of Prayer that you can do from home during the day
Loving God,
You hold all our times in your hands, our past, our present, our future. Be close to us now as we remember all the difficulties and disappointments of the past year. Be especially close to all of us who are thinking of someone we loved and knew, but see no longer, whether family, friend, colleague or neighbour. Help us to trust that they are at peace with you, and comfort us with your presence.
Loving God,
You place us in families and communities, and we give you thanks for all those around us who serve us and help us in so many ways. Give wisdom to community leaders, to our schools, hospitals, care homes and other agencies who make a difference to our lives. Help each of us to have the courage to reach out with thanks and kindness to those around us and to speak words of faith as we share the good news of your love.
Loving God,
As we journey towards Easter, help us to live as people of hope, knowing that beyond the pain of the cross lies the joy of resurrection. Inspire us in our worship, through our churches and in our homes, that we may bring glory to you and joy to others. Be with those who are struggling in mind, body or spirit, and give courage to those who are facing uncertainty and change ahead. Help each of us to keep our eyes fixed on you, that we may reflect your light to all whom we meet.
