BUFFALO TWP — When the Rev. Dorothea “Lorrie” Ghering began preaching at Buffalo Presbyterian Church last year, she was drawn to an antique pulpit tucked away in a storage room.

Its window overlooking a country road, the room offered a place for Ghering to contemplate and pray before the Sunday services.

The wooden pulpit remains, but as of last week Ghering is sharing the room with others. The space just off the chancel has been cleared, cleaned and repurposed as an interdenominational prayer room open to the public.

The room is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.

Ghering, a commissioned healing prayer minister, will be on site for explanations, tours and personal prayer.

“That tree is great, isn't it?” she said last week, admiring the window's scenic view. “It causes people's eyes to move up and to think about God.”

With a Celtic cross perched on its sill, the window sits above an antique kneeling bench — among the modest furnishings that hail from the church's earlier days.

Others include a cozy love seat and dense wooden table, where a candle burns quietly “to remind us that Jesus Christ is the light of the world,” Ghering said.

Although many of the room's contents are memorial gifts from the past, others are new — at least in concept. After a spritz of essential oils, the fragrance of lavender, rosemary and myrrh lingers in the space, where a tabletop finger labyrinth is filled with sand. The labyrinth replicates full-size prayer paths like one at Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, where the pastor is from.

Near the door, a bowl contains tiny crosses for people to hold while praying. When departing, visitors can take the crosses as mementos or return them to the bowl, leaving them infused with energy of the spirit.

“When we pray there is energy and grace released in this world,” Ghering said.

The idea for a prayer room emerged after Ghering started a prayer group shortly after arriving at the 77-member church on Sarver Road.

“I began to preach about it,” said Ghering, who officiated a healing prayer service the following March for Ash Wednesday.

“People want to feel good. They want to go through their day without worry, anxiety or fear,” she explained. “If we're engaged in particular practices of prayer, that can happen.

“I really believe it is supposed to be a norm rather than an exception,” Ghering added.

Virginia Shirey, 69, of Buffalo Township is a lifelong member and current clerk of session at the church, where membership has declined since the 1960s.

According to Shirey, Ghering was sent on a part-time temporary basis by the presbytery — one of several such pastors sent since 2009 when the church began operating without full-time clergy.

“She's had all these authentic experiences,” said Shirey, among those who didn't initially understand the need for a prayer room.

“She has a very strong prayer life, which she relies on for her direction,” Shirey added.

“It's an older congregation being challenged, I think, to see how we can do things differently.”

Part of Ghering's authenticity might stem from her background as a Catholic. But Ghering attended Calvin Presbyterian for a number of years before attending the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She was ordained in 2006.

Shirey said since Ghering's arrival, several things are different: The church's financial standing and membership have stabilized or improved. The prayer room, along with an Angel Food Ministry, are ways the church is turning its focus toward hospitality.

“We certainly want to be welcoming to the community. We don't have a gymnasium,” Shirey said.

The prayer room also appears to be welcoming many of the church's own members: The antique pulpit holds a journal where people can express prayer requests for friends and neighbors, and the pages are not sitting empty.

“I do see in the journal that people are making prayer requests,” Shirey said.

“And it's not just Lorrie's writing.”

<B>WHAT: </B>Interdenominational prayer room<B>WHEN: </B>11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays<B>WHERE: </B>Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 678 Sarver Road, Buffalo Township<B>INFO:</B> For information, call the church at 724-353-1161.