I’m delighted to launch our new 'Book of Prayers' through dementia (writes our Dementia-friendly churches and schools enabler, Sarah Thorpe), as we continue to pray together with and for people affected by dementia. Please order copies and share them far and wide, across the Diocese of Lichfield and beyond.
Our 20-page, spiral-bound A5 Book of Prayers contains prayers written by people across the Diocese of Lichfield, some affected by dementia themselves, within our 'Share a prayer through dementia' initiatve. Each double page spread includes a picture on one page and prayers on the facing page.
The story behind the booklet
This booklet is a collaborative enterprise, drawing on various strands of our Diocese of Lichfield dementia-friendly churches and schools network. It’s a heartening example of the teamword across our network.
Across network, for the last two our three years our Share a prayer through dementia initiative has been inviting people to write and share their prayers from the heart. The prayers in the booklet are drawn from these prayers: they are written by people across the Diocese of Lichfield, some affected by dementia themselves.
In our Diocese, over 100 churches are setting out three actions on dementia that they will take, year by year, becoming more dementia-friendly churches at the heart of dementia-friendly communities. These are set out in 'Dementia-Friendly Church Certificates', each personally signed by The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield. Bishop Michael says that he is proud to be part of a diocese that takes dementia-friendly church seriously.
In 2023, Haughmond and Wrekin benefice in Shropshire signed up to this Certificate action: “Share prayers about dementia which can be used by people affected by dementia and others, with copies available in our churches for people to take away.” This benefice drew up a beautiful booklet of prayers and pictures to share. With their generous agreement, we have developed the booklet in to a resource to be shared more widely across the Diocese of Lichfield and beyond.
Building on this, the parish of Acton Trussell with Bednall in Staffordshire has generously donated money to enable the first 500 copies of the booklet to be printed and shared.
Bishop Michael’s endorsement
Our Book of Prayers is endorsed by Bishop Michael:
“I commend these prayers for people living with dementia. They speak clearly and simply of God who is always close to us and always attentive to the cries of our heart”.
'Paying it forwards', responding with a donation
“Pay it forwards” is a worldwide movement of people who are keen to enable others to benefit from an experience that has helped them. The first 500 copies of our booklet are available to give out because of the generous kindness of the parish of Action Trussell with Bednall.
If you receive a 'Book of Prayers', there’s an opportunity (but not an obligation) to 'pay it forwards', deciding to respond by sharing on the kindness so that others are able to receive copies of the booklet in future. If you’d like to do this, you are invited to make a donation, enabling us to reprint and share on more copies of the booklet. Our suggested donation, simply to cover costs, is £3 for one copy of the booklet, or £20 for 10 – though the encouragement is to make a donation of whatever amount you wish to contribute. Please make your donations to:
| Account name: | Lichfield Diocesan Board of Finance (LDBF) |
| Sort code: | 30 95 04 |
| A/c no: | 00030004 |
| Ref: | 0017/2086 (please do include the reference) |
Ordering copies
Please order your copies on our website, via this link.