The new Bishop of Durham is harnessing the power of social networking to get Christians praying for the region.

Prayer of the People was launched by the Rt Rev Justin Welby at St Nicholas’ Church in Durham on Friday.

He is inviting locals to share their hopes, dreams and prayers for their communities and the people who live in them.

A key component of the initiative is the use of social networking to allow people to submit their prayers.

The launch was joined by the Bishop of Jarrow, the Rt Rev Mark Bryant, and students from St Aidan’s Church of England Academy in Darlington, Durham Johnston School, the Venerable Bede School in Sunderland, and Blue Coat Junior Church of England School in Durham.

Prayers can be submitted to the bishop by ‘liking’ the Prayer of the People Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Prayerofthepeople) or following the initiative on Twitter (@prayerof and #prayerofthepeople).

Bishop Welby said he hoped people would take even a few minutes to speak to God about the things on their mind and the region’s future.

“We all know that times are hard in this area,” he said.

“Many people are really struggling with jobs being lost and the future can feel very bleak. But the spirit of the people in the north east has always prevailed in hard times.

“When things are tough, sensible people turn to God. We often make prayer sound really difficult, but at its heart prayer is sometimes telling God our hopes and dreams, and then letting him shape us and our future.”

He added: “We see social networking as important because it’s a whole new way of attracting people to the word of God.”