About 10 years ago, I came to the conclusion we were never going to reach our cities by employing our current church theories, structures and practices - we were loosing ground. We needed an overall revamp, a conspiracy of love from the gut to the skin. We are seeing signs all over the earth of a new generation of spiritual farmers, seed sowers of a new variety. They aren't angry - just bored with the current modus operandi of the Church.
There is a longing in many tired hearts to rediscover two simple pillars that birthed the early church: Prayer and Community. Acts 1:14 ("steadfast in prayer....in one accord.") These two ingredients were the posture of the disciples when the Spirit was poured out upon an unsuspecting city.
Two years ago I fell in love with The 24-7 Prayer Team. Now in over 60 nations, Pete Greig and his team have seen a plethora of prayer rooms popping up in churches, store fronts and even busineses - such that it is somewhat out of control. That's good. So, good that I jumped in with them and now find myself serving the movement on the International Leadership Team and giving enouragement to the teams in the US and Canada. Now CityForce and 24-7 are joined at the hip - invading our cities with an all out asault of day and night prayer and genuine community.
When you pray with people you fall in love with them -community is born. Now we are seeing a number of new communities, bands of friends popping up in various places: inner city youth in Kansas City, University students in Madison, snowboarders in Whistler, BC, and the artistic community in Minneapolis to name a few. In the 24-7 family we affectionately call them Boiler Rooms.
This is all the result of many leaders praying for the manifestation of new forms of Church. These communities tend to love the poor, not be very religious, are militantly loyal to each other, love the unsaved, are oozing with creativity and tend to infiltrate societal life together in small culturally relevant clusters.
Their direction is primarily centrifugal not centripetal, heart honest and a bit crazy. City leaders need fear little from this neo monastic expression of the Church. Ten years from now we will thank God for their pioneering efforts in a church phobic culture.
Check out the 24-7 Prayer US web site: http://24-7prayer.us/
and the International website http://www.24-7prayer.com/.
Read Jessica's Story and see the effects of "sacred space" on an unsuspecting young lady." READ MORE
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