Newsletter

The seed for SBC Prayers & Squares was sown while on a visit to Ashburton Baps to advertise our newly initiated COACH program in 2015. During the service a woman spoke about a quilt that church ladies had made for her sister who had fallen from a ladder. “What a brilliant idea!” I thought.

COACH is all about showing God’s love by connecting and caring. In a similar way, how great would it be to be able to offer the personalised gift of a handmade quilt, along with prayer to people who are having a tough time?

Beginning with the verse from Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,” our first official meeting was held on Thursday 29 Oct 2015.

Dot Bussey, Priya D, Lorraine V and Rosie M attended. By this time the four of us had visited the ladies at Ashburton Baps who made prayer quilts for their congregation. We were impressed by their set up and excited about the prospect of doing something at Syndal - though not just for the church, but as an outreach into the community.
We quickly agreed we’d hold our meetings at Community Care and drew up a list of requirements. Then we asked Steve for some storage space at Pimm Court, considered who we might invite to join us, and petitioned Bill for a spot at a church service to talk about the new ministry.

From the very start we also agreed that the focus would be “all about the prayers” and not about the quilts. This was an important consideration when recruiting a team.
We then went away and continued to pray about the development of Syndal’s Prayers & Squares (P&S). Things moved quickly and Bill soon gave us a slot to explain our new concept to the church. The following week Rosie was sitting next to someone she didn’t know, but the end of the service Judy Enticott introduced herself and ventured to ask if it would be possible to request a prayer quilt for her brother who was in palliative care. The prayers began, our first quilt was delivered, and Judy went on to join our team!

By April 2016 the prayer quilt ministry was well underway with a steady supply of requests from people within the church. Offers of prayer quilts were also accepted by non-church goers. We had around 16 people involved in one way or another, with much prayer and quilting happening at people’s homes beyond our official meeting times. Already eleven unique quilts accompanied prayers for their recipients.

Over ten years later the P&S team consists of nine people who meet regularly to pray and sew, one who prays exclusively from home and a small handful of others who assist with quilting work. We have provided unique prayer quilts to over 660 individuals who are unwell or facing other challenges and have prayed for many, many more. Most prayer quilts go to people who are somewhat local, but numerous have been sent interstate and several to people in other countries. So the message of God’s care and love is reaching far and wide, and often a hand painted book of bible verses accompanies the gift. We say that “those who sleep under a prayer quilt sleep under a blanket of love”.

Jan Permezel has herself received a prayer quilt as did her late husband Graham. She’s also requested several for friends and relatives. At first Jan was uncertain asking “Are the rugs just for church people?”The answer was a resounding 'no!'.

Jan says she has been privileged to be the one who actually takes the gift to the recipient. For her this has been to “a nursing friend from 60 years ago suffering cancer; an ex-neighbour with whom we became friends when we moved into our first family home, probably 40 years ago; a young teenaged girl with serious autism who is the daughter of my god-daughter, (none of the family was Christian), and a dear lady who worked in the laundry at the aged care home in where Graham was in care. She had no family except a niece visiting in Australia.’

Jan reports that in each case the person was quite overcome by the beauty of the gift and totally confused as to why people who don’t even know them would do that. She tells them simply “because they care.”

The families of those who receive prayer quilts are also amazed and grateful to know others are thinking of their loved one, even if prayer hasn’t been part of their lives and is quite a foreign concept.

“In the beginning as well as being very hesitant to actually ring Rosie and request a ‘rug'* for someone unknown, a big challenge for me was to actually ASK these people if I could get our church team to pray for them!! ...(and for them to agree to having the ladies in our Prayers and Squares team make them a rug). The response to this request has always been positive” says Jan.

She goes on to say, “I see the prayer rugs as “soaked” in prayer and to put that rug over that person is “soaking” them in prayer. What could be better whatever their need? And in many cases this leads to ongoing contact, opportunities to give practical help, and deepens the relationship that may already have existed for many years, or have been just an unexpected encounter. These rugs are long-time reminders of love given to the whole family.”

Jan further encourages, “If you are concerned for someone you know who is going through a tough time, either physically or emotionally, do think about ringing Rosie to talk about your concerns. I can tell you from experience that the team would be keen to pray and make them a prayer quilt.”

*NB. The team call them prayer quilts

Jennifer Evans received a prayer quilt in 2017. Unfortunately she continues to have frequent hospital admissions, and won’t go without her quilt! Husband John says she lays it over the bed and it has led to many conversations explaining to admiring staff and visitors that people have prayed for her, and a little more about her faith. Recently Jen couldn’t quickly locate her quilt when packing for hospital, so she took John’s instead!