Unemployed people are to be given the chance to place prayer requests with a Church of England bishop today when he visits a job centre to coincide with the start of the Christian period of Lent.

The Rt Rev John Inge, Bishop of Worcester, will collect prayer requests and hand out copies of the Church of England’s prayer for those hit by redundancy outside the Redditch branch of Jobcentre Plus in Worcestershire.

The Church of England said anyone would be welcome to fill in a special form with their concerns and prayers would be offered for them at the Ash Wednesday service in Worcester Cathedral tonight. Dr Inge said: “People often ask me to ‘say one for them’. So many people have been affected by the financial crisis and I want to let them know that their local church is there to offer support and prayers. By collecting people’s concerns I can pray for them at the cathedral and let them know that God cares and is watching over them.” A spokesman for the Church of England said Dr Inge would not read out individual names during the Cathedral service.

He said: “He will make a collective reference to them during the Ash Wednesday service and he will then place the completed cards on the altar.”