Prayer Rooms 24/7

Our aim is a prayer canopy over our community “around the clock”.

While we can’t currently have physical 24-7 prayer rooms (as seen on left), we can “see” them by faith in 31 congregations in our city on 31 consecutive days for a 24-7 “canopy of prayer” over the city – that His Kingdom Come!

How is this possible? It can happen now as each congregation prayerfully plans a 24-7 virtual prayer room one day a month, via a dedicated zoom link, prayer chain or other means of your choice. 

New to the idea? Please click here for a four minute video on how a canopy of prayer could be put in place over Ridge Meadows.

A Prayer Room in Your Congregation

First steps:

Invite a couple friends: to form a small team, pray together, brainstorm, share the work. This simplified ‘worksheet’ may be of help: download.

Cast the vision more widely: You could show the above video to your church elders or a prayer group or on Sunday morning. You could also show a briefer video showing the power of the 24/7 prayer movement that changed the world (here).

Choose a date, e.g. the 17th or 25th of the month. If possible, stay with the same date each month so people will begin to build it into their schedules.

Invite people to “sign up” for one hour of prayer during the time your prayer room is open. You could aim to be open for 10 hours the first month. Ten people coming in to pray consecutively for one hour enables your prayer room to be open for ten hours. Invite your congregation. Invite your youth group. Invite your men’s group, women’s group and seniors. (For a sign up sheet you could use, click for Word.)

Setting up your Prayer Room 

Choose a space: If you don’t already have a prayer room, seek a ‘dedicated’ space to establish one. If no permanent space is available, you can store materials in totes between uses. Alternatively, you can purchase four dividers or presentation panels to set up a temporary room in your lobby or fellowship area, storing the dividers between uses.

Prepare aids for prayer: some may not know how to pray for an hour.

Utilize four walls: for instance

• Pray for the needs of our broken world: on one wall post a world map, pictures and prayer letters of your missionaries, information about prayer needs of persecuted Christians and world crises about with to call out the the Lord. (For additional aids to pray for the world click here.)
• Pray for Canada: on a second wall post a Canadian map, list of political leaders for which we are called to intercede for righteous government, prayer for all people groups immigrating to Canada, the needs of our aboriginal communities etc. (For additional aids to pray for Canada click here. Order a prayer map of Canada from Every Home for Christ here.)
• Pray for our Province and Community: on a third wall pray for BC government and issues, for Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows mayors and council. Post a city map asking everyone to mark their prayer walk route. Pray for “seven mountains” in our city, education, police, health care, homeless, media and the arts and so much more. Pray for each congregation and ministry striving for the Kingdom in Ridge Meadows.
• Pray for your congregation: on a fourth wall include a church directory so prayer room users are encouraged to pray for each household of your church, for those who are ill, for the leadership and financial needs of the church. Above all pray for personal and congregational renewal, anointing, deep prayer life, discipleship and disciple-making.

Other ideas:

On each wall you could provide a ‘white board’ with markers or “post-it notes” where people can leave prayer requests.

On a table you could provide a cross inviting repentance, paper and a shredder to confess sin and symbolize its end, worship music, books on prayer and a note book in which people can share their prayer experience for the encouragement of others.

On the floor you could lay a world map enabling people to kneel and lay their hand on specific nations or areas of great need in prayer.

At the door, you could offer or adapt a sheet like this to assist.

Intercessors could focus prayer on “seven mountains” for God’s kingdom (download editable Word document here.)

Some congregations make use of a PPT to aid those who would benefit from guidance. Here is a template you may wish to use – either day-of-prayer-editable or work with day-of-prayer-march2020. When completed your PPT aid could be made available on a computer screen or printed in a 3 ring binder. Other prayer aids could be developed.

Have you read the 24/7 Prayer Manual?

Imagine what the Lord might do through the city-church at prayer 24/7!