The prayer tree works by connecting a group of people who are willing to pray for specific people or situations – often at short notice. Each member of the tree would know the name and phone number of the next person in the chain and would pass on prayer requests as necessary so that every member of the tree would be aware that at a certain time on a certain day the group would pray for the specific request. This form of prayer was felt to be an important way of showing our pastoral care for one another.