Isle‘s united in prayer

Creative prayer events are uniting Isle of Wight churches to intercede for their island. Richard Buxton guided Direction through the Wight Church Network’s annual calendar.

For the past two decades, the Wight Church Network has been active in bringing together Bible-believing churches on the Isle of Wight.

Then three years ago, the group had the idea to introduce island-wide events to mobilise prayer.

As they considered who might lead the project, they didn’t have far to look.

Attending Ryde Elim were Richard and Rajinder Buxton, who before moving to the island had spent 25 years pastoring Ealing Christian Centre (now known as Ealing Community Church) and 20 years leading its 24/7 prayer centre.

“Prayer is a priority for us, so we were happy to take on the role,” Richard says, adding that he was keen to build on the legacy of his son-in-law, Ryde Elim pastor Paul Meredith, who helped form the Network.

Richard and Rajinder have spent the past two years building an active calendar of creative events for the interdenominational group to immerse the island in prayer.

May

“We started in May last year, on Pentecost Sunday, and decided the best way to begin would be with spiritual warfare prayers, because the island has a long history of occult activities,” Richard says.

“There are a number of monuments associated with that inland, and we also wanted to pray around the coast and at the ferry ports. There are New Age shops and a well-known cliff-top suicide area at Culver Down to pray over too.”

Between 4pm and 5pm that day, small groups representing more than 12 different denominations and house groups gathered enthusiastically to cover 42 locations in prayer.

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