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Belfast Prayer Room Now OpenFriday 14th May 2010

Royal Avenue, at the heart of Belfast, pulsates with commercial life. Big name chain stores line the thoroughfare - Marks & Spencers, Boots, Easons. Recently, in addition to all the usual products on offer, those who work, browse, socialise and shop along this high street have found a place to pray.

The prayer room, located a couple of doors down from Easons, opened on Tuesday 4 May. Visitors stepped through the door into a welcome area for tea, coffee and chat. From there they could go beyond the curtains into the prayer space where lighting effects, music, words and images helped them reflect on themes of identity, hope and forgiveness. This ground floor had been designed with the casual passerby in mind. Upstairs; the more committed find encouragement to pray specifically for individuals and for church life.

The Methodist church has been involved with the 24-7 prayer movement for around 5 years now and a couple of years ago we were given the opportunity of using an empty unit in the city centre of Belfast, as a prayer room! We were blown away by what God did through it, with the help of around 20 churches and organisations. Since then 24- 7 Prayer has seen this high street prayer happen in Newtownards, Lisburn, Lurgan, Shannon, Cork, Ballymena and Downpatrick. In all these situations the power has been in the churches working together to pray for and with their contexts.

This year for the whole of the month of May and hopefully into June we have had another chance to do something bold (and a little crazy) in Belfast and have asked churches to partner with us. The story of Nehemiah has really struck a cord with us of how Nehemiah enquired after the state of the city, and was moved by compassion to pray and fast and then mobilised into action to rebuild the wall. There is something significant in the way that Nehemiah engaged the services of each household and got them to work at their place in the wall and take ownership. In this way each Church helps to build the wall of prayer again around our city, and get the chance to experience something quite unique – a prayer space right in the centre of a city.

At the time of writing we are 10 days into this initiative and excited about what God will do in and through this space made available to Him and though the lives of the hosts making themselves available to be used by God. The room itself has a few purposes, one is to intercede for the city, another is to provide a space in the middle of a busy city where people might encounter God for the first time, or afresh through the themes of hope, identity and forgiveness. One of the most significant parts of the room is the prayer request wall where people leave their own personal struggles and/or the names and situations of friends and family they wish others to pray for. As you stand before it there is a realisation of the brokenness of this world and how much people need God to break in.

For the first ten days members of the University Christian Unions from around Belfast kept the room open during the nighttime hours. At first we thought it wouldn't be possible to be open at night, but the students offered to take responsibility for this. Once the student exam season starts, the prayer room opening times became 8am to 6.00pm every day except Thursday when it will be open 8am to 9pm. (We are willing by arrangement to open the room for those who wish to pray at other times, contact Gillian gillian@24-7prayerireland.com)

I was struck today that we don’t really take God’s promises concerning answering prayer seriously enough. If we really, as churches, got down on our knees to cry out to God for the city, what might we see change in the lives of individuals and communities? If you haven’t made it to the prayer room yet, do come and be part of building the wall of prayer around the city of Belfast.

This piece by Gillian Best has been adapted from a Methodist Newsletter article .

 

 

 

 

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The State of the NationTuesday 11th May 2010

A meeting was held in the House of Lords to consider the social and spiritual implications of the current financial crisis.  It was co-chaired by Baroness Caroline Cox and Lord Anderson of Swansea and attended by 80 active Christians drawn from all denominations, in positions of leadership in church and society. 

 The meeting expressed great concern about the declining stability of the nation.  Beyond the financial collapse, we are now facing a social crisis of enormous magnitude and all present felt impelled to bring this warning.

There is a deep and widespread unease among British people about the future of our country, especially in light of recent revelations about the corruption in politics.  There is growing disillusionment, cynicism and even despair.  There is distrust of our banking system and a deep chasm between the public and the political classes.  The true realisation of the catastrophic events of the last 18 months is only now emerging as the facts have been obscured by our political leaders.

The Judaeo-Christian foundations of our nation are being systematically destroyed and the social consequences of this are incalculable.  Deliberate efforts are being made to de-Christianise the country and already we are seeing signs of Christians in Britain being persecuted for their faith. 

The secular humanist experiment of the past 40 years has proved to be a social disaster.  We have created a godless, materialistic and sick society which has got its priorities wrong.  We have lived beyond our means.  We have encouraged a culture of debt and penalised saving.  The gap between rich and poor has grown wider.  There has been a catastrophic collapse of the marriage-based family, to the detriment of our children and young people.

In social terms we are living on our spiritual capital which is almost bankrupt and we are sleepwalking into a period of cataclysmic decline and upheaval in which all our social institutions will be shaken.  

We have sought to exclude God and to privatise faith. We are already paying the price and we predict that we will soon reap a whirlwind of social unrest and instability. 

 

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Successful Prayer Breakfast Hosted by Assembly Christian FellowshipFriday 13th November 2009

 

Many MLAs, Church and community leaders gathered in Stormont Parliament Buildings on Monday, the 19th of October, to pray for Northern Ireland, the Assembly and those in authority in our nation. Prayers were also made for the Church, the world and those who do not yet know Christ.

You could really sense the unity among people who gathered together from diverse backgrounds, party affiliation and denominational/ non-denominational identity. It seems God has shed upon us His special grace in that such genuine and heartfelt prayers are being offered at these prayer breakfasts. There is nothing impossible to God. When we want what God wants for the same reason God wants it, to glorify Christ and draw others closer to Him, then nothing shall be impossible to us. We serve a Wonderful God!

Special music was performed once again by the wonderfully gifted singer Carol Lemon from Glenmachan Church of God. Carol’s sensitivity to sing songs that are always uplifting is a highlight of the morning.

Stephen Shaw QC, the well known and respected barrister from Belfast, spoke convincingly of his approach to the core claims of Christianity. He invited us to approach the gospel and the resurrection of Christ from a juror’s perspective, weighing the claims, the counter claims …to consider the “evidence” of the gospel. While time constraints did not allow a full accounting of that evidence he asserted that many critics who have done just that had come away as ”believers” in Christ and gave historical accounts of some.

Mr. Stephen Shaw challenged us to consider the empty tomb, a fact agreed by history, and to consider the many accounts of the resurrection, for which the explanation of a few delusional disciples was inadequate. These were men willing to die for their faith! We were indeed challenged to live for Christ today.

I can only say that after the prayers, the fellowship and the stirring exhortation by Stephen Shaw QC, I truly felt we had reached a higher place in our purpose and destiny as the Assembly Christian Fellowship in Northern Ireland. Thank you Lord Jesus for your “great grace” upon us all and we give you all the glory!

Report by Brian Ashworth

 

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