Diocese Prayer Run: Final day
The Diocese Prayer run has been completed! The 120km run stretched from the north of the diocese to the south and took place over the 21st – 26th October. The week provided opportunity to pray for Living Hope in the city, towns and villages of Nottinghamshire and beyond. Each day was split into a number of 5km and 10km runs that people could join, as well as prayer meetings in over 20 churches across the diocese. We’ve been sharing stories from across the week and today share the final updates and stories from along the way.
Day 6:
St Peter’s Ruddington to Holy Trinity Church Wysall
After 5 days of running and praying across the diocese, the running team had finally reached the last day and final 4 churches. Once again, the weather was perfect for the day with no rain forecast and just a comfortable temperature for the group. The morning began where day 5 left off, at St Peter’s Ruddington with another warm welcome from Rev Andrew Buchanan. This day Jacob and Gary were joined by Charis (who had run 10 miles yesterday) and also Dave Southey (who’s brother had also run the day before!) It was planned that the group would run and pray together through all 3 legs of the journey towards to the finish in Stanford on Soar that afternoon. Gary however was struggling to walk on his knee and it looked likely he would have to just travel by car to each prayer stop that day . However the group prayed together for healing and within a mile or two of setting out on the first run, the pain had completely left his knee! It was a wonderful moment as the group continued to pray for Ruddington and the surrounding areas as they set out on the first 10km run.
Holy Trinity Wysall (with a stop at the Plough Inn) to St Mary’s East Leake
Shortly after 10:30, the runners arrived in the beautiful village of Wysall. It was the first time the runners had arrived early to a location, and so there was a little bit of time to wonder around and find a place to fill up water bottles. They spotted a small door open at the back of the local pub called the Plough Inn, and were kindly welcomed by Jane before the pub officially opened. They actually discovered that Jane travels in to work in Wysall and lives a few doors away from Gary in Nottingham! There was time to fill up bottles, share stories together and pray before heading down to Holy Trinity. The runners were then warmly welcomed at the church and Charlotte informed the group about some of the local history – Wysall is actually ‘thankful’ village – one of only 53 in the country where all their members of the armed forces survived World War I (these are also sometimes known as ‘blessed’ villages). This was a lovely introduction to what flowed into a special time of prayer in this small church, praying that many would come to find the church as a place of peace, hope and encounter with Jesus. The group then set out on a very straight 5km road towards East Leake.
St Mary’s East Leake to St John the Baptist Stanford on Soar
As the runners arrived into St Mary’s East Leake there was another warm welcome from the group that had gathered there to pray. This also included Dudley who was joining the runners for the final stretch to Stanford on Soar. During this time it was great to hear of all that God was doing in the church at East Leake, especially amongst younger generations who were exploring faith. The group stood and prayed for the church and the community, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer. With the final 5km ahead, the group set out joyfully for the last stretch of the run which meandered through paths, sheep fields, thick hedges and roads! During the time it was great to pray for new schools and new housing estates that were passed, and to continue to pray for God’s Holy Spirit to move in a powerful way through the south of our diocese.
St John the Baptist – Stanford on Soar
After 120km, a total of 30 runners, and over 100 people gathering to pray, the prayer run finally found its end destination in Stanford on Soar – the most southerly church in our diocese, just north of Loughborough. Dudley guided the group to the entrance of the church where a wonderful crowd welcomed the runners and ushered everyone inside.
There the group shared in a beautiful time of sung worship and prayer, thanking God for all that had happened along the way and praying for the local villages and the surrounding areas. This was followed by an incredible spread of cake, snacks and drinks, and very excitingly for the runners, fresh bacon rolls cooked on portable heaters. There was a real buzz in the church as everyone shared in stories and conversation.
The church warden Jamie Taylor guided Jacob, Gary and Dave up to the top of the tower to see the view across the area. It was fair to say that a steep and long flight of stairs probably wasn’t the wisest of decisions for legs that had run 13 miles that day, but there was much joy as everyone reached the top and took a few moments to thank God for all that had taken place over the past 6 days.
Sneinton Prayer Run
While this was all happening south of Nottingham, Sarah McCamphill and Lynda Blakeley from St Stephen’s in Sneinton were not able to join the group in Stanford, but had the wonderful idea to make their own 5km prayer route that day which took them around the city to St Nics, St Peter’s, St Mary’s and back to St Stephens! Sarah shared ‘It was a lovely time spent praying for each church along the route. We prayed for each church’s tradition, teams and ministry’.
Thank you to everyone who has been part of this significant week – the runners who have joined, the people who have gathered to pray, and those of you who have been praying from where you are along the way! We also want to share a special thanks to our very own ‘running rev’ Jacob Tyers who ran the whole 120km and prayed with every church along the way.
This may have been the first diocese prayer run, but it’s certainly not the last. We’re planning for Spring 2025 a route to stretch from the East-West of the diocese and to visit even more churches on the way. We’ll be sharing more details soon.
In the meanwhile we look forward to joining together again in prayer and worship at the Diocesan Day of Prayer taking place on the 14th November, you can find out more details about this here.
If you have a story to share from this week that you would like to share, or any comments you can contact us here.
