Right now someone, somewhere is praying 24-7
When 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.
When we pray God promises to listen, hear and answer...
‘And I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the son may bring glory to the father. You may ask for anything in my name and I will do it.'
John 14 v 13 & 14 |
...We are changed and challenged to be God's hands and feet in the process!
The vision for the Methodist church in connection with 24-7 prayer is that we will become a Church who serves from our knees, allowing God to change and transform us through prayer, praying for our communities and churches and being part of God's answer to a hurting world.
Our story so far
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Praying for the village - Ballinamallard |
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?
Where are you as a church, what question are you asking?
We want to try this prayer room experience, where do we start?
Contact Gillian Best email for advice and resources to help you begin this process.
We have been blessed and challenged by our experience of 24-7 prayer and are asking what next?
Below are three questions to ask yourselves as a church to prayerfully sense God's leading for the future...
1. How can you as a church take prayer to the streets of your community?
Prayer walking and carding - regularly and at different times of the day and week prayer walk your community asking God to highlight the need and stir your hearts to pray for those needs.
Prayer carding - during a period of 24-7 prayer in your church could you give the people in your community an opportunity to ask for prayer by choosing a time to be out and about in your area with prayer cards asking people if there is anything they want prayer for. With this the key is we are trying to bless not persuade people to our way of thinking.
2. Do you see opportunities outside your church building?
 May 2008 saw an opportunity for us as a church to take prayer outside our church buildings to Belfast city centre. Is there a space in your community, a shop that lies vacant, a community centre that has a room, a school that has space, to move prayer into the heart of your community? In these contexts we find that prayer becomes missional, people get the opportunity to encounter the God we speak of when they walk into a prayer room.
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