Society & Culture - Posted by Kelly Parkes-Harrison-Warwick on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 10:32 - 12 Comments 
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"We are seeing a different kind of prayer coming through from people using the Church of England website. There are still more prayers submitted for people known to the authors, but the number of people submitting prayers about their own situations has gone up quite dramatically," says Tania ap Sion, the study's lead author. (Credit: iStockphoto)
U. WARWICK (UK) — People who pray online compared to those who pray in church are much more likely to pray for themselves rather than someone they know.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
A study analyzing prayers submitted to the Church of England’s Say One For Me website (now renamed Pray One For Me) found that 34 percent of people had prayed online for help with their own personal issues, compared to just 3 percent or 4 percent of traditional handwritten prayers left in churches.
These online prayer authors were particularly concerned about their work or relationships, as well as their personal spiritual or moral issues.
The number of prayers submitted for friends or loved ones also fell from 75 percent of church notes to 57 percent online.
Say One for Me is a website for intercessory prayer, where the prayer author is asking for a designated group of Christians to pray prayers on their behalf.
The paper has recently been published in the Journal of Beliefs and Values.
Lead author Tania ap Sion, senior research fellow in the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick, says previous studies have shown the more traditional prayer notes left in churches and chapels usually asked for help with other people’s illnesses or remembered the dead.
“We are seeing a different kind of prayer coming through from people using the Church of England website. There are still more prayers submitted for people known to the authors, but the number of people submitting prayers about their own situations has gone up quite dramatically.
“It may well be that the online prayer provision is available at a time of need more easily than going to church. It allows a more flexible time frame and unlimited space as well as more anonymous and personal reflective location in which prayer authors were able to articulate their requests.
This may explain why many prayer authors were able to reflect on the potentially more complex issues of relationships and work.”
The research project was carried out in partnership with Owen Edwards from Glyndwr University in Wales. He says the response to the site showed people still felt a need for prayer.
“All the deep needs of life were there expressed on the website,” says Edwards. “Many people clearly feel the need for prayer, and feel the need to ask others to say a pray for them. The online age has not put an end to the human desire to reach out to God in prayers, but has provided a new way of doing so.”
The study analyzed 290 prayer requests submitted during Lent to the Say One For Me Church of England website.
More news from the University of Warwick: www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/
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12 Comments
Diego
Lefid
great concept
hope i can use it soon
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Handwriting Analysis
junnielle
Lord. Please help me and my partner on our thesis defnse this wednesday. Hopefully we can answer the questions of the panelist..and hopefully we will passed. Let me also feel the nearness and the comfortnes of your spirit Lord.. Thank you Lord Jesus. I love you Lord.
remigreal
Wow!! lovely letter and Something new here & sounds interesting Let me check it out…:)
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Handwriting
BB
Please pray I do not lose my job.
I have left prayers on this Australian site and find if very helpful. I feel after reading comments that I am typical of the type of person requesting prayer on your site. Yes I pray for my needs and I am concerned with my spiritual life as well as my material one and it is great to be able to anomoymously request prayer.
With regards
melissa
O please god be with me pray with me I have never forgotten you but I’m so alone I don’t know where to turn the home my beloved family lives in is being sold we have no money and no where’s to go. I don’t know what to do anymore. I have nothing left to give and I don’t want to fight this fight anymore.I never questioned ur love when my mother was taken so quickly at a young age I never question when I walk through life with my own illness I never questioned when my child was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis then watching the heartache and pain she suffers everyday knowing of her short life will come to an end. There’s so much I don’t question and have to believe you have a plan in mind for it all that there is a reason for it all but what do I do when I feel like I walk alone
I
Lourdes
I am an orphan living in a rented flat in mumbai India. My parents adopted me in 1961 when i was 3 years old. Thy both died in 1978 -1979. I am livng alone in my parents flat. In 2007 my new landlord filed a case 2 evict me (he is a hindu & into witchcraft he gave me sum ladoo & i ate them & kept tellng people i am john the baptist) my court case is stil going on but my lawyer says i wil lose this is case [ I feel d landlord has bougt him]PLZ PRAY & ASK JESUS wht 2 do?change my lawyer or what. Plz give me a reply ludz frm dadar my court case is tommorow 29 October at 11 am
Kenneth Lord
I am new to Futurity and Pray for Me, 2011 was a time of loss and grief for my family. My father passed away and my Mom is in the late stages of alzhiemers. My nephew that my parents and I cared for is now sixteen and is very troubled now staying with his mother who all but abandoned him when he was seven.
I hope that someone will pray for my family. I feel very lost these days, with no one left to take care of since making the decision to place mom in an acute care facility for her other health problems. Physically some would say I am doing extemely well as I had lost my job and went back to work relitively easy, I am thankful for that.
I am at a crossroads in my life and feel very uneasy, no wife, no children, no one to care for and no one caring for me. How unusual, before I had a purpose, and people counting on me,now, nothing. I am not suicidal and I feel that my new lifes purpose will be revealed at some piont. I just pray for peace in this season of change.
Father God, be my Captain as my life takes new form, lead me where you would have me go and purify me to serve as your vessel. Give me the courage to follow You and the strength of character to truly seek your will.
Saji Koshy
please pray for me to focus on my job and complete all work assigned to me efficiently. Please pray so that i can lead a righteous life keeping away all temptations.
Amy
Please pray for me…I am so lonely…I have no friends, no boyfriend, and my family (even my sons) are emotionally distant and detached. I reach out to them but they are content within their own lives and not interested in connecting with me. I am a people person and have a great love for others, but all my life, my struggle has been that somehow I am never accepted, never wanted, always rejected…my heart is constantly broken. The holidays are here and I am feeling my separation so strongly…this morning I asked myself didn’t God see my pain, my loneliness… did he not care? This thought led me to seek prayer because I know God loves me…He blesses me in great and small ways daily…I just need some human companionship. I want to be loved, wanted and cherished by someone special…I want someone to share not only this holiday season but to share my life. Please pray for me.
Please pray for me that i will be blest and my children will be with me soon safe and sound our things returned our lifes together once again and whatever legal matters resolved with no further reprocussions. I Need your Prayers and the Good Lords Blessings. May the Lord bless and keep you all in Jesus name amen .
Myself and my girlfriend – Life was wonderful, my girlfriend and I has planned for months to try and conceive a child. The day after mothers day we find out we’re pregnant and I’m over joyed, she however is not. We had planned our child’s name and were looking forward to this. Somewhere along the line, she had a change of heart. A few weeks ago without my knowledge she has an abortion. I am devestated. I have had a hard time copping with everything. I’m an emotional mess. I turned from recreational drinking to drinking till I’m numb and now realize I have a major problem. I know I need help and I see my grandmother daily to pray for me, to pray for my ex girlfriend. We both love each other and have tried to work things out, but as soon as things are going good, something bad happens again and sets us back. I need help with my sanity. I’m emotionally, mentally and physically drained.