Spotlight: Prayer Shawl Ministry

The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets 4 times a month to pray, share, knit or crochet and bless shawls, patches, scarves and hats that have been completed. 

Over 900 prayer shawls have been given away by this ministry since its inception in March 2007.  Additionally, we have distributed countless hand-knit scarves, hats and prayer patches to those less fortunate who live on the streets of downtown Houston. Several shawls were recently taken to India, Nepal and Myanmar on a mission trip.  Our own Global Missions ministry teams have taken shawls to Cambodia, Estonia, and Tapachula, Mexico.

A number of other Prayer Shawl groups have been started with the help of Chapelwood, including a group at St. Stephen’s UMC. This group recently began knitting neck warmers to be mailed overseas to soldiers serving in the Middle East.  St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Corpus Christi recently began a group under the direction of a member's aunt. She had received a shawl from Chapelwood and it meant so much to her that she wanted to become a part of that experience and share it with others.

Our Faith in Action project last year was to knit 120 prayer patches that were sent to a member's nephew. He and his company are currently serving in Afghanistan. This year we will knit prayer patches again. They will be sent to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonia for distribution to soldiers and their families.

Two years ago we hosted a day retreat at Chapelwood which was led by the founders of the Prayer Shawl Ministry, Janet Bristow and Victoria Cole-Galo from Connecticut. Seventy women from around the country attended. This past weekend, our ministry team held a weekend retreat in Round Top, Texas.  Forty women from Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Pearland, and Fort Worth attended, representing Methodists, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians – a very ecumenical group! We are considering making this an annual event.