The Call to Pray 24/7
| It's 3am and the doorbell rings. It's such a privilege to be a gatekeeper at a house of prayer even in the middle of the night! A tired looking body comes in, takes off his shoes and joins in a movement of prayer happening 24-7 all over the world. | |||||||||
24-7 prayer started by accident in September 1999, with a bunch of young people in England who got the crazy idea of trying to pray non-stop for a month. God turned up and they couldn't stop till Christmas. From there this prayer explosion has spread into many nations, denominations and age-groups. Hundreds of non-stop prayer experiences now link up on the web to form a unique chain of prayer. When asked who will you find in a prayer room Phil Togwell of 24-7 U.K said ‘young people and older people, children and adults and students. Prisoners and police-people, the armed forces and gypsies, skaters and punks and politicians, Catholics and Protestants, black and white, in over 65 nations'. Right now someone, somewhere is praying 24-7When God's people pray the tide of history is turned. We have seen this in the great revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries, that not only changed the face of the church in the United Kingdom, but society itself. The famous John Wesley moment of having his
heart ‘strangely warmed' happened at a Moravian prayer meeting, part of a missionary movement that was birthed out of 100 years of continuous prayer in Hernhut, Germany. John Wesley himself visited Hernhut after his trip to America. So as Methodists, 24-7 prayer is key in our history and our prayer is that God will use it to transform and shape our present and future. ...We are changed and challenged to be God's hands and feet in the process! Our story so far
At Autumn Soul in 2005 we challenged young people to take 24-7 prayer home and many groups did. In January 2007 we launched a year of prayer and challenged Methodist churches to ‘carry the baton of prayer' and cover the island of Ireland and the year in prayer. Over 40 churches took part in this prayer initiative in one way or another. It is impossible to quantify what God has done in and though the prayer rooms during this year. It didn't end there, churches are still praying, a few have made a week of prayer 24-7 part of their yearly rhythm, to set up a prayer space and challenge their people to get on their knees for their church, community and world, some have permanent prayer rooms in their churches, some regularly have days or 24 hours of prayer, some incorporate interactive prayer experiences into Sunday worship, for some it has been partnered with mission and they have a prayer room set up alongside a week of special outreach activities in their community. For some they are thinking through how they can become part of this world-wide movement of prayer for others they are asking the question what next, how do we add to and develop our prayer room experience? | |||||||||
For more information on any of this contact Gillian Best email Check out www.24-7prayerireland.com and www.24-7prayer.com for more information on what is going on in Ireland and worldwide. |
