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This article was originally published in Edition (9) of Prayer Magazine, Jan-Mar 2007. Ken Gott, of Metro Church International in Newcastle, puts high abortion and drug rates down to the lack of prayer in the majority of British churches. He is calling for Christians and churches to get back to the basics and fall on their faces and get desperate for God to move. He says: “It’s time for repentance and to admit that we’ve put other things before God. We must come and humble ourselves and seek God, just like it says in Chronicles. “We must fall on our face to God. Our only hope is that he moves. We’re coming out the worst at everything in Europe, like teenage pregnancy and crime. Something has got to happen.” But despite the sin in the nation, Ken claims England is ‘ripe for revival’. He adds: “In John Wesley’s journals, it says when he came to Newcastle he had never seen a place which was so bad. Little kids were swearing and everyone was drunk. That’s obviously a bad thing, but Wesley saw it a good thing – he said the place was ready for revival. “I feel we’re in that stage now. Church growth won’t do it and neither will denominations or business management – the only answer is revival. You can have massive churches but if the nation’s not changing, something must be wrong.” Ken has recently fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams by opening a 24-hour House of Prayer at a renovated Wesleyan Reform Church in Sunderland. He was inspired after visiting Prayer Mountain in South Korea, where thousands are in constant prayer at the world’s biggest church which is pastored by Yonggi Cho. In Sunderland, the room contains 15 ‘prayer booths’, which people book out for private prayer, while corporate prayer meetings are held most days. The church is permanently open, and about 80 volunteers take shifts to man it. Ken says: “This has been a dream of mine for many years. I went to South Korea and went into the little prayer boxes and realised how easy it was to pray because of the atmosphere there.” The church has also opened up a Fire School, where 30 youngsters are being equipped to pray and hear God’s voice. “I want to be a better man of prayer and want to raise up an army of intercessors. I have my own prayer booth and literally run my church from there. I feel senior leaders need to get back to Acts 6 – where they give themselves to prayer and ministry of the Word. “We need to get back to seeking the face of God. We are training young people to be in constant intercession; to learn how to hear God and to be prophetically led by God.” Each Friday, a revival service is held at the 24-7 House of Prayer from 7pm until 10pm, with an eight-hour prayer meeting following until six the next morning. “The revival meetings are great,” says Ken. “We worship, I preach a revival message; we move the chairs and pray for everyone and let God move. The Holy Spirit is there in power and we see his manifest presence touch lives.”
Matthew Murray Shake The Nations Ministries
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