It's 5 November 2002, the first Tuesday of the month when we take a break from our usual bible study. The activity planned for this month is a one-hour prayer session, Safehaven's first such session and most probably the first one-hour prayer session for most people as well. The turnout was surprisingly good, about 40 people in all.

The prayer session was divided into four sections, with Cyrus leading the personal section, Leroy leading the family section, Enoch and Christine leading the Safehaven section and Joshua Yim leading the nation section.

PERSONAL. The personal section was more of a reflective kind of prayer where everyone prayed on their own for their spiritual growth, self-acceptance and personal relationships.

FAMILY. The family section was conducted in a Catholic style with Leroy saying the prayers and the rest of us responding with "Lord, hear our prayers". We prayed for the healing of broken relationships within the family, for our unsaved loved ones and for bonding and love in the family.

SAFEHAVEN. For the Safehaven section, Enoch and Christine led us to pray for the leaders, members and activities of Safehaven. We prayed for the spiritual well-being of the leaders and for God's sustenance, wisdom and guidance for them to lead Safehaven. We also prayed for bonding, transparency, tolerance, acceptance and authenticity among the members. And we asked God to bless our upcoming events.

NATION. For the last section on nation, Joshua asked us to pray in pairs and to pray aloud. We prayed for the leadership governing Singapore, the economic well-being of the nation, for spiritual awakening within the country and the gay community and against terrorism.

We ended the session with spontaneous prayers for the Safehaven interim committee followed by a closing prayer led by Joshua. Hopefully, this one-hour prayer session has exposed the members to some of the different ways of praying and also helped them realise that what matters is not how well they utter their prayers but their desire to communicate with God and to intercede for others.