Living Stones Prayer Group meets Monday (not Bank Holidays) 7.00 – 8.30pm at Brookfields, Hart’s Lane, Ardleigh, CO7 7QQ.

We are a Catholic prayer group, open to the spiritual gifts (1Cor 12:8-10) and fruits (Gal 5:22-23) of the Holy Spirit, and seeking to grow in faith, discipleship and service of the Church. The group is open to Christians of all denominations in accordance with Pope Francis’ call to walk together in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Most of the group have received the ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit,’ and through this joyful experience have discovered a deeper commitment and expectancy in prayer and a new thirst and love of Scripture and the Sacraments.

What happens at a typical prayer group meeting?

• We begin with a time to greet each other. There is an update on coming events and we often share experiences of the events we’ve attended.
• We then review the Scripture passages, pictures, words, thoughts and feelings received the previous week, and from earlier meetings, to try to discern what the Lord is saying to us.
• We move into a time of praise and worship using contemporary music; some praying and singing in tongues, which is a beautiful way to praise God.
• A period of silence follows the reading of Scripture, when we listen to the Lord, and then share what we sense God is saying to us as a group. Sometimes we share something that God has done – an answer to prayer, or some other event which helps to build faith and encourage each other.
• Our meeting usually ends with a period of intercessory prayer or we use this time to pass on teaching we’ve received in the spiritual gifts.
• On a monthly basis we have prayer ministry in small groups, when we pray for each person individually; the meeting ending at 9.00pm on these occasions.
• Whilst no two meetings are the same, our aim is to share our love of Jesus by our love and support of each other in our individual spiritual journeys.

We take an active part in the regional activities of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal www.ccr.org.uk/ of both the Diocese of Brentwood and the Diocese of East Anglia www.renewaleastanglia.org , assisting in their days of renewal and at the annual Celebrate East Anglia Conference in Bury St Edmunds. www.celebrateconference.org/east-anglia

On a local level, we actively share the baptism in the Holy Spirit with others by supporting, as well as running, the Life in the Spirit Seminar- ‘The Gift.’www.thegiftofthespirit.org .

As Pope Francis said in 2014 – “Share with everyone in the Church baptism in the Holy Spirit…. the grace of the Holy Spirit” is for the whole Church, not just for some…