Day of Prayer & Fasting

To Start the New Year

Saturday January 10 - Sunday January 11, 2026


The Church is asked to begin fasting after the noon meal on Saturday, January 10.


A list of scriptures to be read and prayer items to pray over for Saturday can be found below.


Our fast will be broken at the end of our prayer time on Sunday.


Scroll down for more details

or get a pdf plan here.


never fasted before?

If you have questions about why we fast, or don't know how to start, check out these resources

    • Better able to hear God
    • A strengthened presence of the Spirit
    • Strength to resist temptation
    • Strength for ministry
    • Clarity of spiritual thinking
    • Insight into what is going on around you in the world and in people's lives
    • Ways to handle a life situation and call for God’s intervention
    • Better understanding of Scripture
    • Ways in which you might better serve
    • A group fast would bring us together
    • There would be alignment as we all focus on a better thing than food and filling our stomachs
    • We would get God’s attention with our seriousness
    • Relying on God to get you through hunger rather than buying food to satisfy
    • We would be giving up something we love (food), which means sacrifice, and in this we will be blessed.
    • It fulfills the idea of taking up our crosses and denying ourselves
    • We would have fellowship in fasting rather than food fellowship
    • It would allow us a concentrated time to pray for the church and its leadership, so. . .
    • Fasting leads to the filling of leaders with God’s Spirit who is accessed through fasting.
    • Start slow.  Work into it.  
    • Make sure you drink water.
    • Plan for fasting.  Start with one half day a week.  Same day; same time.
    • When you think about hunger, turn to prayer and reflection.
    • Make sure you invite the Spirit to be present.
    • Often sinfulness does not come upon us suddenly; fight temptation by choosing to fast.
    • Watch for those special times when communal fasting is called for.  Our church needs to plan more communal fasts; plan to participate.
    • Don’t be afraid to initiate it with others and ask them to fast, too.
    • What we need to do is follow through.

GUIDANCE FOR PRAYER & FASTING

SATURDAY AFTERNOON


  • Choose a time when you have 30-60 minutes to devote to prayers and readings of Scripture.
  • Ask God to be with you in your time of reading and prayer.
  • In addition to whatever else you may do, please read: Matthew 11:28-29; Luke 5:1-11; Mark 10:35-45; John 13:1-17; John 21:15-19
  • Specifically ask God to give our church guidance concerning our ministry visioning, priorities, planning, goal setting, strategizing, and actioning.  Ask that we might experience wisdom, motivation, unity, clarity, and effectiveness in our seeking of His will.
  • Ask God to help us identify and prioritize ministry gaps and needs in our church, training needs, resource needs, and human resource (personnel) needs so that we make good use of and move beyond the results of our time of prayer and fasting.
  • As part of your time, spend a few moments (two to five minutes) just being open, listening, quiet, still, hoping and being expectant about what God might show you and us.
  • Take a minute to record on paper, or on a device, thoughts, impressions, insights, feelings, especially concerning the direction, priorities, and actions we could or should embrace in our ministry.
  • What are things that our church should commit to prayer on Sunday afternoon?

Schedule for prayer time on sunday

  • Meet in the auditorium at 11:30 am
  • Read scripture & pray as a community for about 30 minutes
  • At about 12 begin praying in rotating groups for a maximum of 1:45 hours (seven locations, being in prayer for 15 minutes at each location), with specific prayer themes being addressed at each location
  • Return to the auditorium at about 2 pm

PRAYER TOPICS ASSIGNED TO THE 7 LOCATIOnS

lunch

  • We'll eat a light lunch together around 2:15 pm on Sunday.