Are you easily distracted when you spend time in prayer? Did you know there are many different ways to pray? Is prayer a chore for you, or a welcome respite?

New Life Lutheran Church is offering a beginning prayer class for anyone interested in learning about prayer. Whether you prayer rarely or regularly, this class will help you feel comfortable in expressing your innermost feelings.

Prayer 101 will be offered for five weeks, from 5:30-6:30 p.m., at the church. New Life Lutheran is located at 4424 Venture Avenue, in the Duluth airpark. Classes will begin May 18 and continue every Wednesday through June 15. Participants can attend all five sessions, or just once. Material presented will not build upon the previous week’s discussion. The class is offered free of charge.

In addition to learning the basics of prayer, the class will cover various forms of prayer and explore how to spend one hour in prayer without becoming distracted. All materials are scripture-based, with access to the instructor’s personal library.

The class will be taught by Judy Johnson, who is a member of New Life and leader of the Prayer Mission Team. Judy is a former convener of the Lake Superior Chapter of the International Order of St. Luke the Physician, through which she has taught several classes on the healing ministry of Jesus. She is a 2002 graduate of the School of Pastoral Care in Ottawa, Ontario, and a frequent attendee of the Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit held at North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills, Minn.

New Life is a Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ church. LCMC is an association of congregations and individuals who are free in Christ, accountable to one another, rooted in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, and working together to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations.” New Life is a Christ-centered church that preaches the gospel and not politics.