|
This article was originally published in Edition (9) of Prayer Magazine, Jan-Mar 2007.
Many of us have heard stories from The Message 2000 (Manchester) or Soul in the City (London) in 2004 and were left with a strong desire for our town or city to be next in line for a city wide outreach or social action project.
In a number of other locations across the UK, churches worked together as part of what seemed to be a new wave of missions that emerged at the beginning of this century. This activity was built on years of faithful prayer and a commitment to work together and in many cases with a key role played by young people.
After Soul in the City, the leaders of The Message, Soul in the City and Youth for Christ began a conversation, which grew into an invitation that has been extended to almost all denominations, networks and national Christian charities. This conversation concluded that if we all work together, across the whole nation, focused mission is possible, even in situations that have seemed hopeless in the past. The ideas that are still emerging indicate that churches of all types and traditions can partner with other churches, with various Christian agencies and with local authorities and the police to make a real impact on their communities.
THE VISION of Hope08
Churches and Christian charities
working together in new ways during 2008.
Hope08 proposes to facilitate a year of intensified, united focused prayer and activities, communicating the Gospel through words and actions, and creating a lasting legacy of both physical and spiritual change in the lives of individuals and communities.
We will rely on locally organised initiatives, but will benefit from nationally coordinated resources, all denominations, movements, streams and conferences are invited to develop and deliver their ideas and programmes under one vision called ‘Hope08’. The year will be a focus for all age involvement, but will benefit from leadership provided by youth based organisations and young people.
'Hope 08' will build on the current strong relationships with government and the police that exist in certain parts of the UK and it will deliver resources for outreach and community action which have been provided by our partners. Hope has employed a coordinator and will build up a small administrative team who will take responsibility to communicate the vision, co-ordinate activities and resources and empower churches to work with us. The team will be overseen by its Board of Trustees and Leadership Team.
PRIOR TO THE VISION THERE IS A YEAR OF PRAYER
Launched at Trumpet Call V in the NEC, Hope 08 challenged all those who are partnering with Hope08, organizations, local church prayer groups and individuals who pray, to treat 2007 as a year of Prayer, before all the various mission projects begin across the country. It would be difficult to imagine what all this effort in 2008 would be like if there were no pray behind it.
The Year of Prayer will not be centrally organized, but already a number of ‘national’ prayer initiatives are already taking place in 2007, including two Trumpet Call’s, Prayer Week and of course the Global Day of Prayer, as well as hundreds if not thousands of local conferences, special prayer meetings and on-going prayer drives to ensure that we are all praying with understanding for the events that will take place in 2008.
There is a real sense that a vision given to several leaders over a timescale of the last 50 years is taking place. This concerned a map of the British Isles – covered in a ‘haze/cloud’ but with lots of pinpoints of light piercing through. These lights being groups of people meeting together to seek God and pray. These lights being God-lit fires that then were to be joined together leading to rivers of fire flowing from North to South and some streams of fires into Europe.
Just imagine - What could happen in the next couple of years if prayer word and action were remobilised in every village, town and city so that thousands upon thousands hear and understand the good news of Jesus! That is the dream of Hope 2008.
That is why today we are inviting you, and all who you represent to join with us to pray through 2007. To make 2007 a year of prayer - ahead of 2008 a year of mission
Without Gods’ people standing in prayer in partnership with Jesus Christ we are not going to see the battles won! We will not see ‘His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’.
To help unite and resource the praying, the World Prayer Centre in Birmingham will be producing ‘Friday Focus’ , enabling us to pray together across the nation on Fridays. This will be produced quarterly, starting in January 2007, in print, via PDF download on the internet and also through email. The aim is to encourage Christians to start praying now for the people we want to see reached with the good news of Jesus Christ.
So what is planned in prayer for 2007 around this family of Nations ?
I know for sure in even writing this that will miss parts of what is planned in different areas. There is so much to cover.
Starting in the North, we see that Connecting Scotland a new and exciting vision is planning 50 days of prayer walking and mission right across Scotland ending on Pentecost Sunday, May 27th, which is also the Global Day of Prayer. Here’s what the Chairman of Pray for Scotland says about the initiative :-
The name 'Connecting Scotland' was distilled out of our core group and gave their blessing to the vision and the culmination of it would be a National Prayer Walk next spring - starting on Easter Sunday 8th April and ending on Pentecost Sunday May 27th 2007 - from the Shetlands to the Solway and from Western Islands to St Andrews - where God's people would unite together - island handing over to island, village handing over to village, town to town, region to region as the army of the Lord marching once again across our land.
We are asking people and churches and organisations to register across the nation now - keep a note of their 'prayer miles' and Prayer Group meetings in a Prayer Journal which you can download and print when you register, to report online or send the information about what you are doing and to record what you believe God is saying to us so we can build up a picture - jigsaw piece by jigsaw piece of what is happening in the nation and the National Prayer walk would be a symbolic joining together of all these jigsaw pieces - Connecting Scotland.
In Wales, there is currently dialogue between the Hope 08 team and organizations what work within Christian Social Action Circles on the ground. Already Cardiff is considering what it will be doing in 2008 to fit into the vision of Hope 08 and what’s exciting there is the prospect of a city wide prayer initiative to be developed to correspond with the Hope 08 vision. As Hope 08 develops it’s likely that a number of ministries and organizations will work together to take the message of prayer and social action into their existing networks to ensure a robust response to the vision is delivered.
Northern Ireland has had two very successful Global day of Prayer gatherings in 2005 and 2006 both meeting in the grounds of Stormont. This year Transformations Ireland, is feeling that God is saying to have more localized gathering across Northern Ireland, with each area mobilizing their own prayer gatherings. Plans are already underway for gatherings in Belfast, Newry, Colraine and Bangor. As we near the 2007 Global Day of prayer, no doubt other area’s will take their place in the vision to see prayer spread throughout Northern Ireland.
Manx Prayer Net on the Isle of Man has recently produced a very useful Prayer Guide booklet, where individuals can record the names of people working in various professions and in places of government, to pray for them on a daily or weekly basis. This valuable resource forms part of a wider vision to see prayer pervade every aspect of society on the Island. The Prayer Guide encourages people interested in Praying for the Isle of Man to do a little research and find out the people that often get overlooked yet provide a valuable service to society, once the names are recorded the prayer begins. It’s hoped that this resources developed on the Island will be used in a wider UK context, and customized so that regions around the UK can put their own information within it. What a great idea!! Manx prayer net also run events through the year, and more information can be found on their frequently updated website.
England with it’s large population has a varied number of responses to Hope 08, from the North, through Manchester, Liverpool, London and Exeter. We’re only listing two in this report, but keep looking at the www.Hope08.com and www.worldprayer.org.uk websites to get a fuller picture of what is going on.
24x7 Prayer for Greater Manchester
2007 - A Year of Prayer and Preparation!
We're looking for 52 churches (or church groupings) to adopt one week of the year each, to set up a 24x7 prayer room and pray around the clock. Each Church will then be responsible to cover that week in prayer and as the year fills up, 52 weeks of prayer will saturate the city. From that the Social Action side of things will kick in at the beginning of 2008, as these churches and others decide their response to the challenge of Hope 08.
Could you organise this? If so, pick a week and email: 24x7prayer@bigdeal.org.uk and we'll add your name after the week listed below. You can also use this email for any questions or ideas.
Greater Manchester Launch
Thu 25 Jan 10am-3.30pm at Elmwood Church in Eccles
You're invited to the Great Manchester launch of this year of prayer with guest Pete Greig, Founder of the 24x7 Prayer Movement.Visit: www.citylinks.org.uk for further details of the event. It's also well worth visiting: www.24-7prayer.com.
----------------------
A year for London
As Christians we are often aware of the need to increase our individual and corporate prayer. 2007 is a significant year where we can do that - it is A Year for London.
In 2007 churches are signing up to host a day (24 hours) of prayer. The Church in London will stand together in 2007 and raise up a prayer of "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done". Different churches drawn from London's many boroughs and ethnic backgrounds are getting involved and will partner together to see our city change.
London Prayer.net will be keeping up to date with these developments as they happen - so do check this page out regularly.
There is of course denominational involvement with nearly all the main denominations involved in some way or another. Some like the Methodists are having a year of Prayer.
Today if we look at a map of British Isles at night we see darkness in the seas, and a mass of light over the land, some pin pricks, others huge orbs of light across urban areas. The experts call this phenomenon ‘light pollution’ and it is a real cause of concern environmentally. But if we stop and relook at this as a picture of what the British Isles looks like to God, instead of light pollution we see light penetration across these nations… lights and fires ready to be linked by the HS to meet the challenges of today!
All in all, there is far to much to publish in one article, the amount of what is planned or in process is huge, and as we work toward seeing a true foundation of prayer layed within our family of Nations, we must obviously remain focussed when Hope 2008 begins.
I leave you with a challenge for this year. If you are not currently involved, ask you minister to become involved. That involvement need not be complicated or demanding, you might agree as a church to set aside ten minutes per week to pray into issues that affect our Nation, you might decide to do a monthly prayer walk of your town or village, personally you might reflect for 5 minutes a day on the social needs of your area and raise those to the Lord in Prayer. What we know is every prayer is valid, every effort sincere and when we pray we have the potential to see an outcome which we believe in faith will bring a lasting change, that God’s love will breakthrough into this often desperate and dark world.
So no matter what our background or circumstance there is Hope in Jesus. Keep Praying !!
Every Blessing
Jane Holloway
www.hope08.com
www.worldprayer.org.uk
If you like this article, why not subscribe to Prayer Magazine - Click here to Subscribe {LINK : https://www.prayermagazine.com/subscribe}
Copyright Use - You can use and re-print this article if desired. However we require that you reference Prayer Magazine and the Author in the reproduction.
| 
