Prayer

At South West Baptist Church, praying for people is one of the things we love to do. Prayer ministry works in with other ministries, particularly pastoral work and counselling. People often require both care and prayer. Prayer ministry involves hearing from God through words of knowledge, often through scripture, and the discerning of spirits.

If you would like someone to pray with you, please fill out our prayer request form.

Prayer Ministry

We have a large team of people equipped for and passionate about prayer. We call them ‘trusted pray-ers’. They have recognised gifting in prayer ministry and are available to pray with others. Our elders are also happy to pray for others. Much of the time, prayer happens in the ways we gather as a church, such as in Gatherings, Lifegroups, or Neighbourhood Communities.

We have specific prayer ministry protocols and practices, and as a church we support our trusted pray-ers to attend workshops, training sessions and conferences to develop in their prayer ministry.

We also have people who specialise (have trained) in prayer for more in-depth inner healing and a group of experienced pray-ers who come alongside those who want prayer for the discerning of spiritual attack.

Prayer Groups

Wednesday Morning Prayer Group 

This group meets from 7.30am – 8.30am every Wednesday morning at our Lyttelton Street site. They gather in the Lounge at the rear of the Gym (you can enter through the entrance off the main car park). All are welcome, even if you can only come for part of the time. This group has been running for around ten years and prays specifically for the life of the church, and as the Spirit leads. 

Prayer on Sunday Mornings 

This group meets from 9.30am – 9.55am on Sunday mornings in the Babies’ Room off the Foyer. We pray for the upcoming Gatherings and allow the Spirit to lead us. 

Prayer in our Neighbourhood Communities 

Many of our Neighbourhood Communities have prayer rhythms. To find out what is happening in your area, please get in touch. 

Care

Care at South West Baptist Church mainly comes from people supporting one another in their neighbourhoods and groups.

Our vision is that people are part of thriving neighbourhoods where they can find belonging, spiritual nurturing, and support, especially during periods of challenge, grief and loss.

At South West Baptist ‘pastoral care’ describes all the ways we encourage active mutual care for each other to deepen our relationships to God, each other, ourselves and the world. Pastoral Care flows out of a partnership with God’s work of transforming grace and redemption. At South West we believe this partnership comes from being attentive to God through prayer and the scriptures, by encouraging each other to nurture faith and heal what is broken, and through the intentional inviting of the truth and power of the coming Kingdom of God. Our hope at South West Baptist is that we live out a love for each other that resembles the love God has for us.

To support this, there is a small team of specialty pastoral carers who provide expertise and support for the pastoral care work at South West Baptist. They seek to help equip the body of Christ to care for each other. When professional advice is needed or circumstances require specialist input, the Pastoral Care team’s role is to help link these carers with the resources available. For example, we have relationships with trusted professional counsellors and mental health professionals. We also have a range of programmes and individuals who support people in their relationships through marriage courses, pre-marriage counselling, etc.

The Pastoral Care team are equipped to help families and friends through the death of a loved one. They can also coordinate and conduct funeral services.

There are various people that can conduct marriage ceremonies at South West Baptist Church.

Not sure who to contact? Send an email to pastoral care and they will get in touch and help you work out the next step.

Go to the lost, confused people right here in your neighbourhood. Tell them that the Kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead, touch the untouchable. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

— Matthew 10:6 (Message)

Naturally Supernatural

For our church and our neighbourhoods to be fully alive, we need to know and use our spiritual gifts in meaningful and productive ways.  

The Naturally Supernatural Course is a course covering the theology and practical application of spiritual gifts. 

We are looking for people who: 

  • are open to transformation and want to grow in their relationship with God, themselves, each other, and the world; 

  • have the heart to serve others; 

  • are already involved in a missional space or relationship. 

What we’ll be covering 

We’ll be covering topics such as healing the sick; being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues; operating in words of knowledge and wisdom; fighting to win at spiritual warfare; deliverance; miracles; faith; Spirit-empowered evangelism, and more. 

This course is suitable for those who have little or no knowledge of spiritual gifts, through to those who have had quite a bit of experience in the topics above. As well as having elements of theology, the course is incredibly practical.  

Personal growth and transformation are built into the course, including individual prayer time, so we have limited spaces on the course to allow for this. 

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Bex Allen. Click here for the application form for our 2024 courses.

  • I would highly recommend this course if you want to really deepen and grow your relationship with Jesus. It is a very challenging and highly rewarding course. Your faith will grow as you step out into new gifts. You will be challenged and may be confronted with difficult things to work through, but I promise you the reward is worth it. Step out and do it, it’s so, so good.

    Paul

  • Naturally Supernatural has been significant for me in my walk with Jesus, especially my realisation that I am an ordinary person with an EXTRAORDINARY friend (the Holy Spirit). The course has awakened and equipped me with a new language to speak, a new set of ears to listen with and a new understanding of the access I have to the power of the Holy Spirit. I feel like a sword that’s being sharpened. Through all the trials and hardships of life, NS was a place I could come to be challenged, corrected, accepted and moulded more and more into His likeness.

    Larissa

  • The Naturally Supernatural course has reignited the light in my heart to spend more time with God. I was going through a pretty dry season for a few years and I struggled so much praying and reading the Bible. To my surprise, this course brought me back the joy of spending time with Him. I gained a good foundation through this course to activate the gifts of the Holy Spirit through biblical teaching and prayer for each other. I also felt the freedom to be myself in the Spirit in this group because people respect each other’s experiences and journey with the Holy Spirit. I could practice my gift without fear of making mistakes or of what other people thought. Lastly, it helped me come out of my comfort zone gently, through some opportunities to practice my gift. I believe this course will give you a good understanding about all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and help you develop and use them confidently to bless others for God’s kingdom.

    Eugenia

Nourish Your Life with God 

Want to grow in your relationship with God but don’t know how? 

Janna Young and Renate Frei, two spiritual directors from our church, lead a ministry called Nourish your Life with God, where people can come and engage with practices that will help them encounter and be transformed by the love of God. 

Nourish meets fortnightly on Tuesday mornings from 9.30am – 11.00am at our Lyttelton Street site. 

These times are open to people from South West Baptist and around the city, so feel free to invite your friends. We apologise that we won’t be able to offer childcare, and as the sessions contain periods of silence and reflection, they will not be suitable to bring children along to. 

To contact Janna directly, you can email her here.