United Prayer
This year we ran our first prayer initiative as 24-7 Prayer NZ, and were thrilled when over a hundred churches participated in it, praying day and night into the day of Pentecost. It was incredibly moving to hear the stories and to see the pictures of prayer rooms from around the country.
One of the inspirations for doing this initiative came from an interview we watched at the 24-7 gathering in Australia. Mark Sayers interviewed Dr Stuart Piggin, a church historian. You can watch the short video of this interview here
The Pentecost Prayer Initiative taps into these three dynamics: prayer—night and day, seeking God, enjoying His presence, and praying for God to move in our towns, cities, and nation. It raises our faith as we pray, grows our expectation, and is an incredible opportunity for unity. Let's explore this unity piece a bit more…
Unity is not easy, and it’s not free, but it's God’s great desire for His church. There’s a blessing in unity, and Jesus longest prayer expresses His desire that we would be “one” as God is one…
All around the country there is a growing desire for, and outworking of this unity piece. Church leaders meeting together regularly, combined services, combined mission and community, and unified prayer.
These are things we choose. A church leaders meeting will have people with a diversity of theological views and church expressions. But we gather united under the Lordship of Jesus and held together by the ancient creeds. As St Augustine said “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
The Napier Churches Combined Pentecost Service
In Napier we experienced the power of unity in the Pentecost Prayer Initiative. We decided to do this initiative together covering the full 10 days of prayer with one central prayer room and finishing with a combined service in the cathedral.
A prayer room is so easy to unite around. There’s no human dynamics at play, no one is leading the prayer meeting, its just a shared space to seek God together. It was an incredibly powerful experience to walk in to the prayer room and see the hearts of the saints expressed in prayers written on the walls. It was very moving to join together to seek God together.
Stephen – pastor of the AOG church writes: It was a fantastic initiative that mobilised the Christian community in Napier into praying as a united group of people. The people in the congregation where I serve found it enriching to pray with folks from other congregations when there was an overlap in times.
And so, while Pentecost seems like a long way away, can I encourage you to consider uniting with other churches to pray into Pentecost next year? Begin to have the conversations with your pastor, or if you’re leading in a church, begin the conversation with your leaders and congregation. You can get more info to help you explore the idea here.
Let’s unite together to pray, and see our faith grow as we express our desire for more of God’s presence and Kingdom here in New Zealand.