24-7 Prayer has been described in many ways; a non-stop global prayer meeting, new monasticism for the 21st century, even as a virus that has spread around the world as a result of “God’s holy sneeze”. We particularly like this last one. But we’ve come to describe it, quite simply, as a movement of people who are centred on Jesus Christ, trying to live their lives wrapped around ‘prayer, mission and justice’. At the heart of this movement are hundreds of prayer rooms, in which people take one hour (or more) each, one after another, to form unbroken chains of prayer where they are. Twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, ordinary people pass the prayer-baton onto friends and strangers… and on it travels, from group to group, from church to church, from city to city and from nation to nation. All over the world, night and day, this is non-stop, 24-7 prayer.

“24-7 Prayer exists to reconcile the world to God through Jesus Christ. We are changing the world by mobilising the Church in prayer, mission and justice.”

What began as prayer very quickly became mission as God’s Spirit stirred and inspired people to become the answer to their own petitions. Over the last few years, prayer/mission teams have been sent all over Europe (and beyond) and some have put down roots, to serve communities for the long term (for example, in Ibiza and Morocco, Skopje in Macedonia, Boystown in Mexico, and more). The UK has a special place in this story. It was here, in Chichester, on England’s South coast, that the very first prayer room began, among a group of mostly students and young people. And it was here, in Reading, that the first Boiler Room community emerged after local Christians had hosted a series of creative prayer rooms, and began to feel that God might be calling them to explore a kind of ‘new monastic’ life together. Since then there have been hundreds of prayer rooms all over the UK, and many groups and church communities have also been inspired to explore the Boiler Room journey. For more on these stories, check out Pete Grieg’s book, ‘Red Moon Rising‘, and Andy Freeman’s book, ‘Punk Monk‘. Here in the UK, as we’ve reflected on how 24-7 Prayer has developed over the last few years, we’ve noticed a simple pattern or process emerging, which we have come to describe as the ’4 Rs’: ROOMS, RHYTHMS, RELATIONSHIP and RESOURCE.

Prayer ROOMS and Prayer RHYTHMS

Part of the 24-7 Prayer vision is to be a blessing to the body of Christ, the Church, in the UK. Our desire is to do this through encouraging groups and churches to host prayer rooms, and by encouraging all Christians, especially small groups of friends, to develop daily rhythms of prayer. Prayer rooms are at the heart of what we do, and anyone can join in with them, and host their own. All it takes is a room (you’d be surprised at what ‘rooms’ can and have become prayer rooms!), a bunch of people, a little bit of creativity, and a desire to pray (desire and availability are far more important that ‘expertise’… there are no prayer experts). In the UK, prayer rooms have sprung up in schools, prisons, homes, University campuses, in the Houses of Parliament, even on double decker buses! For children, young people and the not-so-young, for the extroverts and the introverts, for the contemplatives, the Catholics and the charismatics, for believers of any church denomination in fact, a prayer room can provide a context where people can talk to God and hear from God. Prayer rooms are simple spaces, but they have the potential to enable groups and churches to pray more and to pray more deeply… and they have perhaps a unique ability to bring people together in the heart of local communities, and to create space for God’s presence. Having experienced prayer rooms, many people are discovering a new passion for prayer, and have begun searching for ways to continue prayer beyond their week of 24-7 Prayer. We’re learning, along with saints throughout Christian history, that daily prayer is the heart of a healthy spiritual rhythm of life, which can also include rhythms of hospitality and mission, justice and creativity, learning and prayer (to name but a few). Our hope is that Holy Spirit will inhabit our lives more fully through these daily disciplines. These ‘4 R’s’ are not simply a ladder to climb, or a defined path to take – it’s simply a pattern that we’ve observed and that we continue to encourage. However, groups and churches often enjoy hosting prayer rooms so much that they simply include a regular prayer room into their annual cycle of life, rather than progress onto other ‘R’s… and we want to support this too.

Boiler Rooms in RELATIONSHIP and Boiler Room RESOURCE centres

Some groups and churches find that hosting prayer rooms, and developing rhythms of prayer, takes them on a journey towards establishing a long-term 24-7 Boiler Room …this is when ‘involvement in the movement’ becomes ‘joining the family’. Part of the 24-7 Prayer vision is to plant more of these missional communities across the UK, and also into Europe – we feel it’s part of our call, our purpose. While we describe the prayer rooms and rhythms of prayer as blessing the body of Christ, we see the Boiler Rooms and resource communities as building the body of Christ. Our prayer is that Jesus would build his house through 24-7 prayer. We consider the UK Boiler Room communities to be in relationship with 24-7 Prayer… we are family. One of the relational expectations is that Boiler Room communities commit themselves to living out the six rhythms of prayer, mission, justice, hospitality, learning and creativity together as a Christ-centred community. Among the Boiler Room communities around the world, 24-7 Prayer recognises some as resource centres. These are commissioned to support new 24-7 communities on their way to becoming Boiler Room communities, and to send out new teams to establish similar communities, as well as short term mission teams.

UK (oversight) Team

The UK Team is responsible for the overall vision, strategy and budget of 24-7 Prayer in the UK, as well as the larger UK projects and opportunities that span both the Prayer and Communities Teams. It is also responsible for the strategic establishment of new national teams within the United Kingdom, e.g. Wales, Scotland. (Ireland already has it’s own national team) The UK Team is accountable to 24-7 Prayer’s International Leadership Team. The UK team currently includes: Phil Togwell, Ian Nicholson, Lucie Shuker and Pete Ward

UK Prayer (rooms and rhythms) Team

This team is responsible for everything 24-7 Prayer does to encourage, resource and mobilise the body of Christ in the UK in prayer, including; • supporting new and regular prayer rooms across the UK • encouraging and resourcing groups and churches who are developing rhythms of prayer/life • managing 24-7 Prayer’s involvement in projects and events, such as the Pentecost Festival, the Global Day of Prayer, the Tear Fund week of prayer for poverty, the Big Church Day Out, the Week of Prayer for Parliament and Whitehall, etc. • supporting prayer rooms in schools, Universities, etc. The Prayer Team currently includes: Phil Togwell, Andrea Percy, Charlotte Terris, Georgina Micklewright and Lindy Morgan

UK Communities (Boiler Rooms and 24-7 communities) Team

This team is responsible for establishing, developing and supporting Boiler Room (and other) communities within the 24-7 family, including: • regularly meeting with leaders and core teams of Boiler Room communities, and other 24-7 communities • hosting ‘UK Network Days’ to gather the UK family together… for story-telling, prayer, vision-casting and learning together • resourcing the movement through training and learning experiences and opportunities. The Communities Team currently includes: Pete Ward, Phil Togwell, Lucie Shuker, Dan Jones, Alana Wiens, Ian Nicholson and James Butler

24-7 Prayer in Wales

Part of our vision is to establish national teams in Wales and Scotland over the next few years. Lindy Morgan is based in Aberystwyth and represents 24-7 Prayer in Wales, and she is catalysing 24-7 Prayer among groups and churches all over her nation.

If you want to receive latest updates about what is going on in Wales, you can SUBSCRIBE TO THE LATEST WALES UPDATES EMAIL HERE!

You can also check out the 24-7 Prayer Wales Facebook group.

If you’d like to connect with what Lindy is doing then you can email her at lindy.morgan@24-7prayer.com