Praying Together, Sunday @ 7

Like many other Christian Reformed congregations, members of Winnipeg’s Transcona CRC were unable to meet in person during the pandemic’s initial lockdown.

But, with a visioning process underway, and a number of health concerns impacting the congregation, Transcona members wanted to pray together even when they couldn’t gather together. Whenever prayer needs arose, Transcona’s prayer coordinator, Linda Schreuders, would regularly share those prayer needs with the congregation through The Bridge App. 

“Early in 2021, our pastor Brian Bolkema encouraged the whole church to pray for one particular family because of what they were going through,” explained Linda. “We made a commitment within the congregation—even though we couldn’t meet in person—to surround this family in prayer on a Sunday evening.”

Positive feedback to this dedicated prayer time prompted a Lenten campaign with prayer suggestions being posted to The Bridge App every few days.  And now, many months later, Sunday @ 7 has continued as a regular prayer posting, inviting Transcona members to pause and pray for the needs of the congregation, their community, and beyond.

Pastor Brian says that the Sunday @ 7 prayer posts have fostered a greater and more deliberate awareness of prayer, and has brought the congregation together corporately even when they couldn’t physically gather.

“This prayer initiative may have been borne out of COVID, but it has helped us to focus on our walk with God,” says Linda, “and we plan to continue with it—COVID or not.”

The Bridge App is a smartphone app developed through a partnership of Ontario-based Extreme Technology and CRCNA Ministry in Canada. The app enables users to connect with their home church and instantly receive announcements and prayers, donate to the church budget and other ministry causes, and view a membership directory and events calendar, as well as access CRC news, resources devotions and the Bible in many languages and versions.

To learn about the features of The Bridge App, please watch the video below. Canadian churches wanting more information can contact [email protected], while churches in the US can contact Deb Hunter at [email protected].