(from the 24-7 website)
Q. WHY should we care?
Because we need miracles more than we need strategies
Because the world is a vacuum waiting to be filled
Because the MTV generation is lost in space
Because we've seen the end of the movie
Because this is not the dress rehearsal
Because the poor are getting poorer
Because we're aliens in the world
Because we're too sensible
Because boredom is sin
Because he's worth it
"Prayer itself is an art which only the Holy Spirit can teach us. Pray for prayer. Pray until you can really pray!" (C.H.Spurgeon)
Q. How did 24-7 Prayer start?
24-7 Prayer started by accident in September 1999, with a bunch of young people in England who got the crazy idea of trying to pray non-stop for a month. God turned up and they couldn't stop til Christmas! From there the prayer meeting has spread into many nations, denominations and age-groups. Hundreds of non-stop prayer meetings now link up here on the web to form a unique chain of prayer.
Q. What’s happening day in and day out?
There are 3 dimensions to the movement:
First of all we're a network of Prayer Rooms. Since 1999, a 24-7 prayer room has been running somewhere. Each room is seamlessly connected through the web site
and we believe God sees us as one very large family spread out across the world,
taking turns praying around the clock for Gods Kingdom to come.
A Missions movement quickly arose out of the Prayer Rooms as we received requests to take Teams to 'high places' in youth culture. We are continually asking God to
Deploy teams into neglected areas. Most teams are traveling in the summer.
We also run Boiler Rooms - houses of continual prayer, mission, justice, creativity, training and hospitality.
Q. How do the prayer rooms work?
Participating groups pledge to pray 24 hours a day for a week or more in a dedicated prayer room. They then 'carry the baton of prayer' for that period. The prayer passes from location to location in a never ending flow linked up by the Worldwide Web. We are a virtual community praying in real locations. Right now someone somewhere is praying 24-7.
Q. What are the aims?
1. To turn the tide
The dream behind 24-7 is to turn the tide of youth culture back to Jesus. It's a big dream - maybe an impossible dream. We recognize that the Body of Christ in the West is bleeding young people. Something has to change. But clever strategy alone is not the answer. Never has been. History shows that the tide turns when God's people pray. That is why God is mobilizing prayer movements like 24-7 (and others).
We're seeing thousands of young people from Alaska to Australia praying together for their friends and their heroes in a focused and persistent way. 24-7 targets youth culture at a local, national and international level, addressing demographies (like skaters and clubbers) as well as geographies (schools, communities, nations).
"Pray continually." (Jesus)
"WOW! This prayer thing actually WORKS!"
(shocked student)
2. To mobilize prayer
The reality we are faced with is things are not as they could or should be. The invitation is to pray and believe God to actually answer us. Many will struggle their whole lives with prayer. 24-7 is touching lives and building confidence in the lives of men and women who recognize their growing need to pray but believe their crummy at it. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. That question is still being asked today and the funny thing is people are learning to pray, by praying.
24-7 captures the imagination. Young people today are more likely to turn up at a prayer meeting at 3 a.m. than at 7.30 p.m! Why? Because it's extreme. The dare is to be alone with God for a whole hour - maybe even in the middle of the night. 24-7 makes prayer easier. The arts play an important part. Many say that 'an hour feels like 10 minutes in the prayer room'.
Q. Why continual prayer?
Because bold, persistent prayer is effective. First, it changes us. Then, it changes the world. Jesus told stories to encourage us to "cry out day and night" (Lk 18) and to persist in prayer. We know that God reveals Himself in Is 62 as a God who never ceases to be silent. His is always active and that is apart of why we believe the church is to be active and vocal in prayer, day and night. Pentecost came when friends were meeting regularly for prayer.Paul urged the Thessalonians to "pray constantly."
• The early church "joined together constantly in prayer." (Acts 1-14)
• Celtic Monks at Bangor Abbey in Ireland prayed continually for 200 years. A young Celt called Ciaran formed a community in Clonmacnoise near Dublin back in 547AD. Sadly Ciaran died after just 7 months but the community prayed for about 1000 years and sent out missionaries all over the world!
• The pope decreed continual prayer in certain locations in the 15th century.
• In the 18th century, a small community of Moravians began a 24-7 prayer meeting that lasted for over a hundred years, mobilized 3000 missionaries and converted John Wesley! (check out 'Stuff' / Zinzendorf)
• Many revival centers today see 24-hour prayer as a necessity.
• What else would you want to do with your life?
"I
HAVE POSTED
WATCHMEN ON YOUR
WALLS O JERUSALEM;
THEY WILL NEVER BE SILENT
DAY OR NIGHT. YOU WHO CALL
ON THE LORD GIVE YOURSELVES
NO REST, AND GIVE HIM NO
REST TILL HE ESTABLISHES
JERUSALEM AND MAKES
HER THE PRAISE OF THE
EARTH," ISAIAH
62:6+7
Q. What's so different about 24-7?
Simply the focus on youth and the way that the web is being used to link the prayer. 24-7 is not an organization; it's a network of like minded people. It all began by accident with a church called Revelation on the south coast of England and has snowballed, out of control, from there. We in no way claim to be the originators of continual prayer. We are a group of friends scattered around the world committed to the marriage of Prayer, Mission and Justice.
Q. Is it working?
24-7 is truly making history! But, don't take our word for it, here is what people are saying:
"We left the prayer room at 4:35 a.m. madly and passionately in love with Jesus." (Teenager)
"The vision behind 24-7 is directly from heaven.
It just works." (Church Leader, Germany)
"For years I've been trying to get my young people to have a heart for the lost and a desire to pray. Last night I found 8 of them on their faces in the prayer room at 2 a.m. weeping for their non-Christian friends. What's happening?" (Youth pastor, UK)
"It is so important we come together to pray at such a time as this. 24-7 is well positioned to do just that." (George Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury)
Q. Why? - This is nothing new
24-7 is not a radical discovery. In fact it's the oldest, simplest idea there is... that we were made to walk in intimate friendship with God. 24-7 is just a way of getting as many people as possible to lock themselves in a room with God for an hour and see what happens.
Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is this...
"To love God whole heartedly."
That's it.
"I sincerely believe that we are now in the beginning stages of the greatest movement of prayer in living memory." (C. Peter Wagner)
"Our 24-7 week exceeded all expectations. It's been one of the most productive (yes - prayer is productive!) weeks I've ever known. People were saved. The lukewarm were ignited and unity made huge steps forward." (Ian, UK)
