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[powellb@ucc.org]

March 10, 1997
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Barb Powell, press contact
(216) 736-2217
E-mail:  powellb@ucc.org
On the World Wide Web:  http://www.ucc.org

Prayer on the Internet:  visitors to 'chapel' on the
Web tell of the responses they've gotten 

CLEVELAND -- Internet users in need of prayer are
discovering a new "Prayer Chapel" on the World Wide
Web that provides an instant worldwide link to people
and entire congregations who stand ready to pray.
      The chapel -- part of the United Church of
Christ's Web site <http://www.ucc.org> -- opened in
February.  In a typical week, the site draws around
300 visits.  Those who request prayers and those who
pray for others say they are finding real spiritual
nurture there.  And the chapel is forging new
connections among Christians within and beyond the
1.5-million-member UCC.
      Recent visitors have asked prayers for people
who are ill or grieving, people facing career
decisions or relationship difficulties, congregations
going through changes, communities weathering
disasters.  Some requests are anonymous; others
include full names and e-mail addresses.  Requests
have come to the Cleveland-based Web site from
Ireland, South Africa and the Philippines as well as
the suburb next door.
      "I found out about the prayer chapel while
browsing the Internet," says Donal O'Callaghan of
Cork, Ireland.  "It happened to be just at a time of
personal need.  I was delighted with the response,
which I read when I logged on the next morning.  It
showed me that someone whom I didn't even know
personally cared enough to take some time to include
my situation in their thoughts and in their prayer
life."
      Many chapel visitors post responses to prayer
requests that have been left earlier.  And a growing
number of congregations in the United States and
overseas are signing up as prayer partners.  They
regularly read requests from the on-line chapel during
Sunday worship or in prayer groups.  Churches signing
on as prayer partners also have an option of providing
e-mail addresses for direct correspondence.
      At St. John's UCC in Allentown, Pa., some
members receive weekly copies of the Prayer Chapel for
their own use in daily devotions.
      "We also pick one or two specific prayer
requests to use in our weekly prayer chain," says
church member Maria Brace.  "The Prayer Chapel is also
posted in its entirety on the bulletin board in our
main hallway for all members to have the opportunity
to view and read."
      "Our church discovered the potential of the
Internet just lately," says the Rev. Reuben D. Cedino,
pastor of the United Church of Christ in Cagayan de
Oro City, the Philippines.  "We bring these prayer
concerns during Wednesday Midweek Prayer.  We
submitted a prayer request, too, for one of our
members."
      Those in need of prayer have felt support from
the Prayer Chapel in a variety of ways.
      "Yes, I noticed a difference," says Kim Marsh, a
member of Bayberry United Church of Christ in
Liverpool, N.Y.  "My daughter and I suffered the death
of my husband and her father on Feb. 4.  I received
several responses from people who say they saw the
prayer.  Perhaps by posting my prayer in such an
accessible place, I was able to begin the healing for
both of us.  It has helped.  We're doing much better."
      The Rev. David Schnaars, pastor of First
Congregational Church, a UCC congregation in Harford,
Pa., requested prayers for a 4-year-old boy about to
undergo another in a series of medical operations.
      "He came through his surgery better than anyone
expected," Schnaars wrote.  "It had been initially
thought that he might need a feeding tube for up to
three months following surgery.  He will not need one
at all.  Thanks for the prayers -- they worked! 
Please keep him in your prayers for his continued
recovery."
      "When I first accessed the Prayer Chapel, I was
activating as many prayer chains as I could on behalf
of my best friend from high school who has metastatic
breast cancer," says the Rev. Barbara Henderson, a
chaplain at Los Alamos (N.M.) Medical Center and a
member of First Congregational Church, a UCC
congregation in Albuquerque.  "I believe strongly that
prayer works, and the more prayers and 'pray-ers' the
better.  I have had responses from other people who
read my requests on the Prayer Chapel.  That was
comforting and sustaining to me."
      Douglas Murphy, a member of Bethany
Congregational Church, a United Church congregation in
San Antonio, Texas, says he felt hesitant at first
about posting a concern.  But after doing so, "I
received a couple of messages from United Church of
Christ members I don't even know, encouraging me and
the congregation I attend," he says.  "It was quite
moving to know that they took the time to pray and let
me know they cared.
      "A few days later, I took their lead and sent
encouragement to others who had posted requests.  That
kind of interaction because of the Prayer Chapel is,
for me, a sign of the Christ among us."
      Debbie Weissman, a member of the United Church
of Jaffrey (N.H.), UCC, first heard about the Prayer
Chapel during a monthly communion service at her
church.  "I am a deacon in my church and have served
in many other capacities for the past 20 or so years,
yet I have felt empty.  My response to the Prayer
Chapel is part of my spiritual odyssey," Weissman
says.  "While I have not had any 'answers' as such,
just the act of sharing my needs is a very important
step for me."
      Weissman's pastor, the Rev. Bill Beardslee, says
he sees the Prayer Chapel as a "place where the
diverse human community of faith can come together and
find unity, community, solidarity in the Spirit."  As
a result of posting requests and praying for others,
Beardslee says, "I feel that sense of comfort, or
better, being held while I have to face or deal with
whatever.  I know prayer can make a difference in our
small community here."
      After posting a request for prayers for a family
who had just lost their home in a fire, the Rev. Ted
Newcomb of Trinity United Church of Christ in Mt.
Bethel, Pa., says, "I was touched when another of our
UCC parishes asked if they might be able to supply
some goods for the family.  Knowing that others would
make such an authentic and generous response through a
prayer connection filled me with rejoicing."
      For the Rev. Mary Latela, pastor of Hillsboro
(N.D.) United Parish, a United Church of Christ/United
Methodist Church federated congregation, the chapel
re-connected her with a friend in need.  "I discovered
that an acquaintance from far away was asking for
prayers," she says, "and I felt that through the
Prayer Chapel, I could be present to her through
prayer."
      For the Rev. Sandy Johnson, pastor of Chewelah
(Wash.) United Church of Christ, nestled in a small
rural community, the Prayer Chapel "is a way of
staying in touch with the rest of the UCC."
      "Some of the requests sound very familiar --
things we pray about each week.  Others are quite
unfamiliar, and serve the purpose of widening our view
of the wider church," says Johnson.
      "The Holy Spirit is really in action," says
Robert Russell, a deacon and church historian at West
Parish of Barnstable (Mass.), United Church of Christ. 
"What a multitude of possibilities there are.  Through
this medium, the prayers of the local congregation and
individuals can be combined with the greater church."
      The Prayer Chapel is "a sign of unity and desire
to share the burdens which come into our lives," says
Newcomb, the pastor in Mt. Bethel, Pa.  "The Internet
has become but one more vehicle through which the
Spirit can work."
      The United Church of Christ has more than 6,100
congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. 
It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational
Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed
Church.
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