More than fifteen Prayer Space weeks have taken place in secondary schools across the London Borough of Havering over the last three years, mostly hosted or organised by our Scripture Union friends and by youth workers from different churches. Others are being planned for the coming 2011-2012 academic year, and there’s talk of some primary school Prayer Space weeks too, which is very exciting.

While many local churches feel under-resourced to host or organise a Prayer Space in School week on their own, when they work together, and serve one another by joining in one another’s teams, they can achieve so much more. It’s definitely what we’ve experienced in Havering – churches, youth and schools workers working together, sharing resources (physical ‘stuff’, and personal time), learning from one another, dare I say it, ‘united’. And that unity has been a blessing for everyone.

Sam Fowler from re:generation church led the recent Prayer Spaces team in Gaynes School. This was their second Prayer Space week, and it was just as remarkable as the first one, with many students and teachers expressing their interest and gratitude.

Sam writes; “One of the many moments that sticks out to me from the prayer room is the young lad in year 7 who was best friends with Tommie, who had died in a car accident only a couple of months earlier.”

Accompanied by a few caring class-friends, this young lad wept as he wrote a ‘Big Question’ prayer about his friend’s death. And then, only minutes later, he moved round to the ‘Prayer Wall’ and wrote some of what he was grateful for in that friendship.

“The prayer room gave him a chance to grieve a bit more and to remember the good things about Tommie,” writes Sam. “It was great to see how the Holy Spirit was moving in that situation to draw things out of him to continue the healing and grieving process.”

Reflecting on the rest of the week, Sam comments, “The Forgiveness Stones definitely went down well. The feedback that was given about these stations was great. There were a lot of young people who said words to the effect of “I felt a weight lifted from my shoulder” or “I felt at peace”. This station is a necessity I would say. Forgiveness is so key in life, and isn’t really ever looked at in the secular world around us. What an amazing opportunity to teach these kids about the power of forgiveness and God’s forgiveness.”

If you would like to read more life changing stories like this, or set up your own, go to Prayer Spaces in Schools