Distinguishing between intention, reference and objective in an analysis of prayer requests for health and well-being: Eavesdropping from the rural vestry

Abstract

The present study proposes an approach to analysing prayer for health and well-being within the developing research context of exploring written prayer requests. This approach, building on and modifying the conceptual framework devised for analysing prayer requests left in churches, is examined on a total of 1067 prayer cards left in one rural church over a 16-month period. The conceptual framework distinguishes between three aspects of intercessory and supplicatory prayer defined as reference, intention, and objective. For prayer reference, only 5% of prayer examples were for the prayer author alone, while the majority of prayer examples were for other people who were usually family members and friends (81%). For prayer intention, nearly one-third of all the requests made were for explicit physical and mental-health concerns. Many of the requests also included important affective intentions where, for example, prayer authors communicated with others, expressed emotions, empathized with others, and identified needs. For prayer objective, prayer examples relating to health and well-being were largely part of primary control requests (69%) where the prayer authors sought to influence and suggest desirable outcomes to their prayers. From the results of the analysis, a number of conclusions are then drawn.