WASHINGTON, D.C.\u00a0 _ The Council of Bishops in partnership with The Upper Room is launching Phase 3 of Praying our Way Forward. Phase 1 involved 84 members of the Council of Bishops praying for The United Methodist Church\u2019s way forward for 15 minutes daily, from August to December 2016. This was followed by Phase 2, which resulted in 18 continuous months of daily individual and corporate prayer by faithful members of annual conferences around the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are ready to launch Phase 3, which begins June 3 and continues through the Special Session of General Conference in February 2019.\u00a0 In this phase, we are encouraging every United Methodist to fast weekly and to pray daily with the Council of Bishops,\u201d said Bishop Al Gwinn, the Prayer Team Coordinator.<\/p>\n
In Phase 3, all United Methodists are invited to:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge every Annual Conference to use the video available on the umcprays.org website to promote Phase 3 of Praying Our Way Forward.\u00a0 There will also be a local church media kit with downloadable resources including logos, social media posts, and bulletin inserts available by Memorial Day,\u201d said Tom Albin, director of Spiritual Formation for The Upper Room.<\/p>\n
Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, Council of Bishops Life Together chair, added: \u201cWe believe that the acts of weekly fasting and prayer will help us approach General Conference both individually and corporately in a posture of humility and receptivity to one another and to the leadership of God\u2019s Holy Spirit,\u201d<\/p>\n