St James' Church

WHAT: 24-7 Prayer Week - Rebuilding… Family Life & Spiritual Lives
WHEN: Sunday 2 Sept - Sunday 9 Sept 2007
WHERE: St James’ Church Basement Prayer Room

GENERAL INFO ON 24-7 PRAYER

“Prayer in itself is an art which only the Holy Spirit can teach us. Pray for Prayer. Pray until you can really pray! (C.H. Spurgeon)

An invitation to seek the Lord
- Ignite your prayer life - experience prayer in a unique way
- Continuous, unbroken prayer that you can be a part of
- Expect revival for yourself, your family & the church!

Q. What is 24-7?
- 24-7 Prayer is an international prayer movement that started in England. In 1999, a group of young people got the crazy idea of trying to pray non-stop for a month!
- From there the prayer meeting has spread into many nations, denominations and age-groups, to become a network of Prayer Rooms determined to pray like it all depends on us and live like it all depends on God until the tide turns in this generation.
- Hundreds of non-stop prayer meetings now link up on the web to form a unique chain of prayer.

24-7 Prayer in St James’ Church?
- Taking turns to pray or one-hour each time, one after another, by following a sign-up roster.
- This unbroken prayer chain will take place 24 hours a day, for 7 days, CONTINUOUSLY through the September school holidays (2-9 September 2007), in the dedicated prayer room.
- 24-7 prayer is not for experts. It’s for those who find prayer a struggle and it’s a model that works! It has proven unusually successful at mobilising people to pray like they’ve never prayed before. People learn to pray… by praying!
- In St James’, 24-7 Prayer Week had its start earlier this year in Easter with surprising results and a humbling demonstration of God’s love for us. As many caught the vision and dedicated one hour of uninterrupted time with God in the prayer room, we heard testimonies of intimate, powerful encounters with God. Read them here!
- All around the world, non-stop prayer meetings like ours are taking place, with more people determined to pray like it all depends on us and live like it all depends on God until the tide turns in this generation.
- We’d like to encourage you to consider taking turns to fast & pray as a family (parents with children, cell groups, disciplers-disciples, teachers-students) in the dedicated prayer-room (SJC Basement). Sign-up at church on the roster outside the auditorium.

☺ You are not required to pray non-stop for the 7 days!
Simply sign-up as a family or cell group for at least one
1- hour slot anytime during the week!
And perhaps consider fasting on the day you’ve set aside to pray.

Q. But Why Pray in Such an Extreme Way?
- 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” (Luke 18) and to persist in prayer.
- Pentecost came to a prayer room.
- Paul urged the Thessalonians to “pray constantly.”
- The early church “joined together constantly in prayer.” (Acts 1-14)
- In the 18th century, a small community of Moravians began a 24-7 prayer meeting that lasted for over a hundred years, mobilised 3000 missionaries and converted John Wesley!

Q. What Are We Praying For This Time?
- The main focus is fasting & praying for FAMILIES, especially in the area of re-building the church – not just the physical building, but also us, the body, the living stones (1 Peter 2:5)!
- It’s about ACTION - affecting change not just yourself, but your family, the church, your community, country and the world!
- This means actually committing time and effort to be with God for at least an hour during the prayer season.
- You can be changed, transformed, renewed and given a glimpse into God’s heart for His people, His Church, the Nations.

Q. Why Must We Pray in a Specific Prayer Room?

“A Prayer Room is to the church what the heart is to the body.” (The Praying Church Source Book)

- Faith-building - The sheer nature of continual prayer means we have to depend on God from the start. 
- Community & Ownership - a shared location helps build a strong sense of these. By carrying each others’ burdens, celebrating the breakthroughs together and ministering to one another, we are more than just a link in a prayer chain. 
- Accountability – providing a place where people have to turn up ensures a constant flow as one prayer-shift ‘hands the baton’ onto the next. Visiting the room is like a mini-pilgrimage.
- Spirit-Filled - the Holy Spirit can fill a place as well as a person (Acts 2.2, 16.16). There’s often a strong sense of God’s presence in such a place of prayer, even experienced by non-Christians.
- Time Flies – yes, it often goes quicker! Many have reported that ‘in the prayer room 1 hour feels like 10 minutes’.
- Creative - the prayer-room enables people to pray non-verbally, by posting artwork, poetry, etc. on the walls, because the environment will be artistically designed to stimulate and direct prayer. This atmosphere will capture the imagination and is child-friendly!
- Revelation - As the room begins to fill with people’s prayers and heart cries, it can reveal what God is doing in the lives of your family/ group.
- Evangelism - Non-Christians have often sat in such places to pray. Some have said that they can feel God’s presence. People who don’t want to be preached at still like to be prayed for. Perfect place & opportunity to reach out to family members who have not been saved!

Q. Are We Big Enough to Pray Non-Stop?
- Of course! As our first round in Easter has shown, by God’s grace, response was overwhelming! you’ll find that even 1 hour is not enough & you’ll want to spend more time in His presence. Be encouraged to gather in families to pray together!
- Continual prayer together with a fast is a challenge, but it’s in rising to the challenge that we learn to push ourselves and discover a new hunger for time with God!
- There are always a million good reasons to put it off and no one ever feels truly prepared to go for it the first time, take that leap of faith & be blessed!

What Should I do?
- Decide as a family/ small group when you’d like to spend an hour ( or more, or on different days of the week) in the prayer room.
- Sign up on the roster.
- Show up on time and enter into an amazing time with God!

“A Prayer Room is to the church what the heart is to the body… (It) helps a church look beyond itself, motivating it to unleash prayer power for the unsaved, the community, the nation, the church’s missionaries, and the world.”
(The Praying Church Source Book)

For more information
- Pick up a printed handout @ the church office.
- You can also email your questions to Denise Tan.
- Keep checking back here at the Prayer Ministry Blog!

Please consider fasting with your prayer. Here’s more information on the subject.

Other informative sites:
24-7 Prayer
Pray 24-365
International House of Prayer
(St James’ Church is not affiliated to any of the above - they are listed just for your information)