Roundtable ’05

The next couple of weeks will be interesting ones not just for me, but for the whole of the 24-7 Prayer movement. We’re coming together for our International ‘Roundtable’ and Leaders Gatherings, this year to be held in Hernnhut and Dresden respectively.
The Roundtable is our yearly meeting to consult core members of the 24-7 movement about key issues that we’re facing, and to make decisions on what happens next! Friends will be gathering from all over the world, including Mexico, the US, Canada, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany and South Africa, to name just a few of the nations represented.

Hot topics this year include Boiler Rooms and the way we organsise the whole movement. Following on from last year’s discussions and the ongoing work of the Boiler Room team, we’re going to spend more time looking at defining what a Boiler Room is, how they’re commissioned, different models of how they work, and how they relate and connect to the wider movement.
As for the organisation piece, we’ve recognised that we’re a very different movement now to the one we were when we started five years ago. We’ve grown from a small number of prayer rooms in a few nations to 3,500 prayer rooms in 58 nations, seen mission teams go out all over the globe, and Boiler Rooms spring up modelling prayer, creativity, mission justice, pilgrimage and community. All this growth has resulted in many challenges, and we’ve recognised that our communication and decision making could be a lot better than it is! We need to be able to adapt and learn, holding our structures lightly, and finding the best way to facilitate our vision. How can our structures be improved? We need to ask ourselves this question right from the micro of how we’re individually trying to live with integrity, through to the macro of communication and how the International team relates to the Round Table, how it’s commissioned, and who should be a part of it. Big questions!
I’m confident that over the days that we’re together, we can find a way forward in both of these areas. We’ll also have a really good time together! But we really need God there in the mix too. We’ve got to the stage now, where we’ve gotenough fantastic people involved in the movement to be able to do many amazing things. Our challenge is to keep God right at the centre of everything with so many talented people around!
If you’ve got the chance, we’d really appreciate your prayers.
On a personal note, I’d also appreciate prayer for wisdom in how to encourage the different views that are presented at the Roundtable, to be heard with appropriate weight. This year I’d love to see us finding a way of engaging those who aren’t as forthcoming with their opinions, so that people feel really heard, and a part of what God is doing through this thing we call 24-7 Prayer.