24-7 Prayer “The Gathering 2022”

For some time, I have felt a very real connection with the 24-7 Prayer movement. I have used their resources to teach on prayer and to enrich my own prayer times. A church in Manchester where I served on the staff set up one of the early Boiler Rooms (new monastic prayer community), although, sadly, I don’t think it had a very long lifespan.

During the Covid lockdowns I often spent time worshipping online with Emmaus Road church in Guildford, where Pete Greig (founder of 24-7 Prayer) is one of the leaders and I also discovered “The Gathering” online.

“The Gathering” provides a once-a-year opportunity for members of the 24-7 Prayer movement from all over the world to gather together, and due to lockdown restrictions, it has been broadcast online for a few years. This year, as well as having a live Gathering in Belfast, 24-7 Prayer continued to live stream the gathering. For a variety of reasons, I often can’t watch live, so I am very grateful for the catch-up facility.

I found this year’s Gathering a time of both great encouragement and opportunity, so I decided to write a brief summary of ‘my Gathering 2022’…maybe it will whet your appetite, in which case the Main Session recordings are still available at Main Sessions – The Gathering Online (24-7prayer.com) (you may have to register to access the site.

Briefly, these were the things that stood out to me:

1. Testimonies from various leaders of 24-7 Prayer in a whole variety of countries…Czech Republic, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Lebanon, Sweden, Peru, Iran, Ibiza, Switzerland and Germany, and also from Josh Green, 24-7s Youth Director. I had no idea about what God is doing in these places…deeply encouraged and challenged to widen my prayers.

2. Many prophetic messages for us to take away and weigh up…some of them delivered as part of reports or talks or just stand-alone messages from God. A picture of a field covered with weary souls as far as the eye could see spoke volumes to me, and I’m certain to others who are or have been engaged in church leadership. Words about encountering God in new ways, learning from the failure of the power and the people we’ve relied on in the West and learning to listen Elijah-like for the quiet voice of those on the margins (1 Kings 19: 12), as well as our need to adopt a “heart set on pilgrimage” Psalm 84: 5).

3. A real variety of speakers:

Pete Greig, who spoke from Joshua 4: 19-24 about our ‘Gilgal moment’, a time of Commemoration, Consecration and Commission

Tim Mackie, of The Bible Project, a self-confessed Bible nerd, who took us on a journey through scripture to discover that Paradise is a person, an antidote to our Western naturalistic and materialistic mindset that blinds us to the spiritual reality that’s all around us and within us and sometimes gives us problems when we pray.

Tyler Staton, from Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, who talked about breakthroughs and boredom, about discovering fidelity and choosing Jesus and what this has to do with prayer. Just as love needs a container to keep it faithful over the long haul… marriage…so prayer needs a container, and Tyler suggested that a daily rhythm of prayer, morning, midday and evening is a tried and tested container for our prayers.

The 24-7 Prayer “Inner Room” app has been rewritten to include a simple rhythm of prayer Inner Room – 24-7 Prayer International . I think this was the session that made the most impression on me at this time…watch out for a future blog article inspired by this.

Hannah Heather, of 24-7 Prayer and Emmaus Road Church, spoke about the connection between faith and hope. Her starting point was Luke 18: 8…”will he find faith”.  She pointed us to the make-up of one of the Hebrew words for faith (Emunah), where each character adds to the meaning of the whole word and the central character is the word for tent peg. Faith, she said, is about finding our tent peg and hammering it in so we can live faithfully under the tent of our convictions. We’re all holding on to something already to give meaning in life…we’d better be certain it’s Jesus (Hebrews 10:23)

The final speaker was Lungi Nyathi, a doctor and a board member of 24-7 Prayer International from South Africa. This was the session of The Gathering that I personally need time to digest. In it, God seemed to draw together the themes from the gathering as a whole and to carry them forward through the themes of prayer, mission and justice. Lungi took us on a journey to demonstrate how God is changing her outlook and understanding of prayer, mission and justice for today. She left us with the challenge to unashamedly take our place fully in the story of God, to allow God to stretch us as he has given us a role to play for the sake of this generation.

If any of this resonates with you, may I encourage you to watch the sessions and think about what God’s encouragement and opportunities may look like for you in your place at this time.