Learning from prayer requests in a rural church: an exercise in ordinary theology

Visitors to a medieval church in a small village in north-west England demonstrate by their requests for prayer and their remarks in the visitors’ book how they appreciate the ambience of the building in generating a feeling of calm and quiet and a sense of sacred space. Their remarks also show how the experience helps them to articulate their hidden spirituality and their own understandings of God. Used in this way such prayer boards or prayer trees in local churches, and also the role played by visitors’ books, prove to be valuable resources in establishing in what terms ordinary people think about God and contribute to an understanding of ordinary theology.