Young people led - Seymour Street

We felt a 24/4 prayer room would be a great way to start the New Year in Seymour Street, with taking time out to focus on God. It was time to tap into God's heart for our church, surrounding area and what God had in store for each of us.

The prayer room was set-up by the young people of our church (SNASS) who dreamed, planned and prayed lots. The prayer room was open to the whole church for 24 hours 4 days of the week and lots came.

Tell us about how your church got involved in 24-7 prayer?

We have a prayer room in our church already, but it is sometimes hard for people to commit to 24/4 prayer, but we wanted to do it, so we did! Previously we have been involved in 24/7, doing weekends of prayer or a few days. Then we asked Gillian to come and share about 24/7 and inspire the young people in SNASS, which helped them to dream and create their own prayer room. It was amazing to see them take it and run with it!

Why did you decide to pray in this way?

From previous times we have seen how God honours His people when we pray consistently.

How did your church respond?

Leaders where worried when it took the church a while to sign up and commit to 1-2 hours, but God was so faithful and had it in His hands all along. Nearly every hour was covered (except 2). Some people came and couldn't keep away and came back to pray some more and rest in Jesus' presence. I love how it wasn't just one age group in our church who got involved; it was the kids, youth and adults!!

Any practical advice for a church thinking of trying this model out?

Click on the photos for a larger version

Believe in your young people to set up a prayer room, with a little guidance they too can do it! As you set time aside to seek God's face, He will honour you abundantly in it. Don't be put off at the beginning like we were when it took people a while to sign up, because God is faithful.

The process with our young people-

For preparation we used the experience of SNASS leaders involved in the prayer team, and who have designed other prayer rooms. We also invited Gillian Best to come along and speak at SNASS about setting up a prayer room and what things to consider when planning one. This started an evening of excited discussion as a number of ideas and themes were generated. A couple of weeks later, and just after Christmas, the hard work began - a merry band of SNASSers gathered to put together the ideas into a room. After just a few hours, a collection of themes had formed into a prayer room which allowed visitors to praise God, offer confession, self examination, look at mission, and be creative with paint and Play dough. The desire of the young people to make the room accessible to those of all ages came through strongly with a number of young families and those of an older disposition coming to pray in the room.

Tell us about the challenges and the blessings

As leaders wondered and doubted at the beginning whether every slot would get covered for the 4 days, God had it under control. One day into the prayer room and there was not a free slot left! Some came who hadn't signed up and just dropped in to pray. Others came to pray and wanted to come back for more...

Some of the feedback from people:

-lovely atmosphere
-felt like I had only been there 5 minutes, time flew!
-a place of renewal
-peaceful
-you could tell people had been there
-nice to move away from the busyness of the world and to totally alone with God, with no distractions to just spend time together
-the curtained area was really effective and cosy, it made you feel at home and relaxed
-good for children as well
-one lady who was sick for her slot, came the next day instead..
-it addressed issues of forgiveness, image and healing which where so relevant
-it was refreshing to spend time in a room, I hadn't set up!
-variety of stations and lots of info
-time flew
-place of reflection on past year and anticipating the new year
-the atmosphere was Godly and calming, great escape from the rest of the world, giving you time to focus and reflect, without distractions
-you just felt God's presence the moment you walked in. It was very calming
-peaceful and good to spend time with God in a calming atmosphere
-challenging and comforting to spend time with God there.
-lovely way to begin a New Year
-so much thought had gone into each station and inspiration
-really creative, so much to look at and help and encourage you to pray. Really easy to talk to God and hear His voice.
-2 children came in and loved it, and didn't want to leave. They asked, "When's the next one?" The same children left the place and began to write their own prayer journals!!
-a little piece of Heaven on earth. A real haven away from all the distractions of life.