Sue In't Veld, a member of St. James Lutheran, Belle Fourche, S.D., is one of about 30 members who promise to pray for others throughout the church. In't Veld signs one of the letters the congregation mails to those who are being prayed for.

Jeff M. Otterman, pastor, is the driving force. When Otterman was struggling during his first call, he received a letter from a pastor and congregation indicating they were praying for him. It was just what he needed.

About this time last year, Otterman came across that letter when cleaning out files. He approached the church council about writing, signing and sending similar letters from St. James, which sits in the town known as “the geographical center of the U.S.” on the western edge of South Dakota.

“They looked at me like I was nuts,” Otterman said. “But I said, ‘Let’s at least sign our names and think of the pastors we know, the churches we know, those experiencing illness.’ We’ll pray for anybody. Every church has something they do well. We’re great pray-ers.”

Otterman promised to pay for stamps if the church would provide paper and do the praying. Now about 30 of the 100-plus worshipers every Sunday sign letters that are set out on a table and pick up a list of who to pray for that month. The monthly list is also prayed for during worship.

During 2008 the congregation prayed for churches in the South Dakota Synod and beyond, for individuals in churchwide units and Augsburg Fortress, Publishers. Everyone being prayed for receives a letter in advance with this message: “We will pray for your livelihood, health, peace and faith journey.”

In a day and age where mail is normally bills or advertising, the letters come as delightful surprise. St. James routinely receives e-mails, phone calls or letters that frequently say the letter and prayer promise came at just the right time.

That’s what amazes member Linda Rothermel. “The responses are what I just love,” she said. “Those who receive the letters are so often going through something difficult and they tell us it came at just the right time. Maybe it’s not a coincidence. Maybe it’s every day that we need to be prayed for. Or maybe it’s a divine coincidence.”

Responses often reveal that St. James is being prayed for, too, or that the idea is so good a congregation plans to do the same thing. It’s the sort of prayer revival Otterman hopes for in the ELCA.

He also hopes to get participants of this year’s ELCA Youth Gathering involved in continued prayer and ask them to sign letters for all 10,448 ELCA congregations. The letter-signing he envisions may result in writer’s cramp, he said, but it’s another way to live out the ELCA ’s tagline “God’s work, our hands.”

The praying and letters are a reminder “that Jesus is in our midst, walking by our side—whatever worries we have,” Otterman said. “I fully believe, hey, this is God’s church and it’s a great blessing to be part of it. This is what Paul and the early church did. It just makes sense.

“It’s an honor to pray for others. I’m paying for postage and these people—the greatest people on the planet—are doing it.”