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My Wife belongs to one of those “prayer Chains” at Church. By “prayer chain”, I mean that they have a phone tree set up. When something happens in town, they call the woman at the top of the list. Then she calls 3 others, who call others, and so on.
I don’t think they’re prayer chains at all, but just a way to keep up on the local gossip.
Anyone else have any experience/opinions on this?
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When something happens in town
What sort of thing sets off the chain Ron? -- an emergency, or just a bit of juicy scandal?
*always interesting to hear what is being prayed for by the time the message reaches the end of the chain - we have one that is used for illnesses almost exclusively, it's acccurate on who is having a problem, but the details at the end of the chain soemtimes are inaccurate - if you have a church family, it's importnt to keep them informed - I'm a fan of giving and recieving positive energy - who decides when to activate the chain, BH?
*We have prayer chains too.With ours, there is only mention of a "need". No details, and no specifics. Each person on the list gets a call, and is told that prayer is needed for whomever. James DuHamel
*Ours is similar to James'. Also, there is the stipulation that the only people to receive the information are the people on the chain - cannot even be shared with family members along the way. It is started when someone who wants prayer contacts someone on the chain and requests it. When my 2 year old broke his femur it helped me through a long night.
*Lisa, first- I'm glad it helped you, and I hope your son is well. But- You can't tell anyone else? I would think you'd want as many people as possible praying.Hmmm, privacy preservation even though counterproductive? Or yet another exclusionary tactic to recruit more members?
*Neither one Mike. It sounds to me like the reasoning is to help prevent it becoming the springboard for gossip. Just as Ron intimated in his first post.I don't think the thing is not to tell anyone that help/prayer is needed. The thing is not to tell anyone what the prayer is needed for... I don't have to know that Lisa's child has a broken femur, I only need to know that she and her child need prayer. God knows what it is for, and that is good enough. And this keeps people from speculating just how the femur got broken, and the eventual speculation by some that maybe it was due to some fault on Lisa's part. Whether by direct participation, or by negligence, or whatever...
*Them ones Ive been involved in are like James they mention so and so has a need and we need to pray for him...But I can see them becoming gossip chains. There is alot of gossiping in the church. If my memory serves me right even one of the writting of Paul was about gossip in the church.Things havent changed much in 2K years.
*To answer Ian's question - Anyone can call in a request. It can be a car accident, illness, or whatever. I could see it as being more effective if it were more like the one James & Lisa talk about. But the one DW is in doesn't seem to be like that at all. I think they just use it to keep up on the gossip.
*i the one DW is in doesn't seem to be like that at all. I think they just use it to keep up on the gossip. You "think" they use it in this fashion? Do you know? Perhaps they have no other source of community info. Is your DW or any in the group cooped up at home w/kids? This would explain how bits of other info might get infused in a conversation. I don't believe it's possible to have a coherent conversation w/an adult when a baby is awake--at least my GFs could never do that w/me!Frankly, if a prayer get passed along, I think that's worth it.
*Thanks - little guy is fine now. Three days in traction, 6 weeks in a body cast, relearned how to walk - sure am glad that's over. Our backyard fence blew over on him in a storm. Check your fence posts for rot, everybody.Luka's got it right. This prayer chain is not associated with a church. Just a bunch of women who have an interest in praying for one another, and who have agreed to maintain one another's privacy. Otherwise, people might be reluctant to use it when they are most in need.
*DW is a teacher, so she's not stuck at home. I wouldn't say I i knowthey use it for gossip instead of for prayer only. But I'm awfully suspicious. They don't just call and talk about the real need, but have to re-hash the whole family's history along the way. (At least part of the time)Why is it that only women are on all the prayer chains I've known about? Maybe it's sexist to point that out, but it's true.
*Ok, thanks.
*A coupla years back, my brother had a family get together at his house, we're all in the basement having a good(and civilized, family-type party)time. My bro Pete(no, not THAT Peter Gabriel) is playing soft catch with his(then)3 yr old and a family friend(Sean) is sitting on the floor directly in front of little Christian playing monkey-in-the-middle. Well Christian turns left to reach for the deflected ball and his right foot gets stuck under Sean's butt at viola!, he gets a spiral fracture of his right femur. Couldn't find a safer environment, and look what happens.Anyhow, I kinda know what you went through, Christian had a similar recovery, right in the summer too. We all felt so bad for him he got spoiled for a year!
*i Why is it that only women are on all the prayer chains I've known about? Maybe it's sexist to point that out, but it's true.Ordinarily, I would say it's because women like to chat more--but da shed puts that lie to rest. However, I do think women are used to multitasking and talking on the phone is integrated into whatever else. OTOH, in my experience, not as many guys want to have lengthy phone conversations--unless they initiate them.The prayer club or whatever it is at work is about 50/50 M/F.
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My Wife belongs to one of those "prayer Chains" at Church. By "prayer chain", I mean that they have a phone tree set up. When something happens in town, they call the woman at the top of the list. Then she calls 3 others, who call others, and so on.
I don't think they're prayer chains at all, but just a way to keep up on the local gossip.
Anyone else have any experience/opinions on this?