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Thoughts on the World Prayer Assembly and Medan

I didn’t really know what to expect as I flew to Indonesia for the World Prayer Assembly recently. I’m not a huge fan of conferences generally – my usual response is to think that I need to just get on with doing the stuff of the kingdom!

On this occassion though I was certainly happy to have made the journey. It was amazing to be able to take a step back and see the big picture of what God is doing in the nations. Sometimes the spiritual doldrums of Europe can make it hard to remember that God is indeed at work! I was powerfully reminded that the Holy Spirit is on the move bringing life to many.

The unity expressed across denominations and generations was a joy to see, and one of my favourite moments was loudly and enthusiastically praying into global issues with several thousand other committed followers of Jesus. Including people from some nations that are very ‘closed’ to the Gospel.

On the last day of the conference we had the privilege of journeying to the national stadium for a prayer gathering for the nations attended by over 100 thousand people. That not being enough, the Indonesians had arranged for video link ups to other stadiums around the country – the estimate was that 3 million people were involved in that prayer meeting!

From Jakarta we flew northeast to Medan. Pete Greig, Carla (our International Prayer Team Leader) and Mike Andrea (from Revival Run/GloGen Church) were all speaking at churches we had linked up with through Alpha International. This section of the trip had to be my favourite. The church we connected with had seen explosive growth; from 119 in the 90’s to 40,000 today. Much of this growth has been fuelled by continuous prayer (night and day since the late 90’s), and radical service of the poor through food programs and clinics. Amazing. As our team entered the prayer room, we asked our hosts if we could stop to pray. It was a real Holy moment. Standing in the prayer room where thousands of prayers had been brought to the Father, all we could do is spend some time with Him in awe, the room thick with the presence of the Spirit.

On my return I find I have more questions than answers. How do we see God move in this way in our land? Are we not desperate enough? Is some of the passion that the Indonesians have God given annointing, granted by Him for their land at this time? Whatever the answers are to these questions and so many more, we certainly have a lot to learn from the passionate prayer lives of the Indonesians.

Prayer Spaces in Schools Video

The most excellent Mr Phil Togwell, 24-7 Prayer collegue who started work for the charity on the same day as my good self, has been pioneering the Prayer Spaces in School initiative for the last couple of years with an amazingly capable group of workers passionate about helping young people encounter the spiritual side of living.

Check out their latest video here. And perhaps get involved with running a prayer space in your local school?!

Join me in praying through advent

Hot on the heels of the last 24-7 Prayer ‘Spaces’ season that saw us reach number 1 in the iTunes Religion and Spirituality chart, we’re running a series of advent devotional podcasts over the coming weeks. Rather than try to describe the idea myself, it’s over to 24-7’s Scot Bower:

“Advent is a special time in the church calendar, it’s a time to prepare for the party but also a season to reflect on the coming of Christ. Four weeks where you can ask yourself some pretty big questions. To help us ask those questions 24-7 Prayer will be releasing short devotional videos every day in the run up to Christmas… “

If you’d like to join me in these amazing devotionals, just head on over to www.24-7prayer.com/spaces.

Have a blessed advent!

Praying for peace on the streets of the UK

Who knows precisely what’s underlying the rioting going on across the UK at the moment… What I do know is that we need God’s peace to break out, as people’s lives and livelihoods are being wrecked through mindless violence.

We’ve just put up an article on the 24-7 Prayer UK website if you’d like to join me in praying.

24-7 UK and Int’l have some new office space!

OK, so working around a dining room table can be fun for a short while, but its not sustainable!

We’ve been praying for a new office in central London so that out teams can get together and work in an office environment – yes, us 24-7’ers do like working in an office environment – even if it is one with a particular 24-7 vibe…

Check out the vid for a tour.

Remaining Prayercasts

I kinda got distracted! I find blogging gets a bit like that. I’m not as disciplined as the delightful Mrs Harding.

However… In case you were following any of my posts on the prayercasts, don’t forget to head on over to 24-7 Prayer’s international website to catch the remaining ones in our series on Europe…

24-7 PrayerCast: End People Trafficking!

Peter Stanley leads us in prayer against the current and unprecedented levels of people trafficking going on across Europe and the rest of the globe. Did you know that today there are more than double the number of people being trafficked than in the days of legalised slavery?!

Join us in praying that Jesus would bring this trade out of the darkness, and reveal to law enforcement agencies that which the devil would keep hidden.

24-7 PrayerCast: The European Church

Europe is often described as the darkest continent on earth and is the only continent where the church is in decline. The ever enthusiastic Carla Harding leads us in prayer for the continent of Europe.

I had the privilege of praying from the vantage point of a meeting room in Portcullis House, overlooking the Palace of Westminster with fellow 24-7’ers Phil Togwell, Andrea Percy and Sheena Littlehale, and staff from Parliament on Wednesday. This truly has been a surprising and awesome week of prayer for Parliament and Government. You can see more of what God has been speaking into on Phil Togwell’s blog.