2017 has started with a prayer upsurge across the UK with many prayer weeks and prayer events. Ian Cole brought a wonderful testimony from Germany that shows that prayer and the celebration of The Reformation has caught the attention and favour of German media already in 2017.

World Prayer Centre moved into a new season with its Prayershift prayer gatherings, which are focused on praying for God to move and bring change to our nation and the nations. A packed meeting was led in prayer by Jane Holloway, who got us to think about what God’s presence would mean for our home, community and workplace. We then started to pray for God’s goodness, His peace, His beauty, His light because His presence can and will change us.

Steve Botham focused on a clear start in 2017. He described this as a year of promise, presence and prayer. He said our key call as people of prayer is to change the spiritual soil so that the tree that is God’s church can be fruitful. At the moment it is in poor soil, and we are seeing a rapid decline in attendance and a loss of faith, and an increase in sin and rebellion. Changing the soil through attracting God’s presence, a move of the Word and Spirit and a release of prayer, will lead to great fruitfulness and abundance. Ministries like evangelism, children’s and youth work and social action will flourish as the soil becomes richer.

This is a time for significant change and we prayed for God to have mercy on our nation. We asked God to fulfil His promises for an unprecedented move of His Word and Spirit and for awakening in our nation.

The day closed with a powerful declaration from Jeremiah 33:14 “The days are coming when I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.”
We believe this word. These are exciting times when we expect extraordinary things in our prayer times. People of great prayer experience, and none, are coming from across the nation to pray and see things shift.

Join us for our next Prayershift on February 18th?

Get ready for action! 2017 is a year of great spiritual change. It is a year of presence, promise and prayer. It is a year when God is mobilising His Church. We will see extraordinary blessings but also extraordinary challenges.

We are encouraging every Christian to pray for God’s presence where they live, where they work or study, in their family and in their community. For some this will mean taking possession of the land - prayer walking the boundaries of your community, praying for the King of Kings to stand in your local churches, and praying for His peace and presence in local schools and homes. We are going into a fight and there will be times when we need the shield of faith to guard against attacks through sickness, tiredness and discouragement. The Lord will strengthen our use of the sword of the spirit – going deeper into God’s Word and using it to give us authority as we pray.

2017 is a year of promise. 2017 is the 500th anniversary of the reformation, that shook the world and reshaped history. It is 70 years since Smith Wigglesworth’s prophecy - "When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed the world, has ever seen. There will begin a missionary move to the ends of the earth.” It is 50 years since Jean Darnell’s prophecy. She spoke of a renewal of life in the church which would spread outside resulting in a public awakening. This awakening would move into every level of the nation’s life; on the campuses, universities, colleges, schools etc., into the media and in the government. There would be so many conversions that it would actually change the character of the nation of Britain and determine the future move of God in Europe. Malcolm Duncan spoke in 2016 about a powerful move of God bringing substantial change to the church, and nation and reaching into Europe.

Our focus is simple. We want to pray for these prophecies to be fulfilled and for God’s awakening to flood our nation. We recommend people have copies of these prophecies to hand (download a copy) and pray into them regularly. Our prayer is the prayer of the Welsh revival,“More Lord” and then “Even More”.

Our third focus is prayer. We are praying for renewed prayer foundations. ‘Lord, anoint us for your purpose. We pray for a depth of collaboration, praying with others with power and authority. We pray for greater vision and expectation. Lord, stretch our faith’. This is a preparation time for the church. Recent prophetic words talk about the church being frozen, of a need to re-discover the wonderful dynamic power of the gospel, and pray for a revival that fills us with compassion and a deep passion for the lost. We pray for a mighty mobilisation of prayer.

We are praying for more victories. For many of us expectations have been lowered and prayer diminished. It is time for victories. We want to pray with renewed conviction for the prodigals to come home, for our family and friends to come to Christ, for healings, for the blind to see, the deaf hear and the lame walk.

Just as deep will be victories in our own lives - an end to insecurity and an opening up to God’s deep love for each of us and out of us to others. Let the church see our extraordinary God glorified in 2017.

We look forward to going forward on this journey with you. It is a time for more. It will not be easy – it will be a time of shaking, and increasingly God is asking His people to stand on the front line. For us in WPC, we will start the year focusing on presence, promise and prayer. We encourage you to stand with us as we enter this momentous year.

It is with great sadness that we write to inform you of the death of our much loved brother in Christ, Archie Gilmour after a short illness. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Janet and the whole Gilmour family. He died peacefully with his family around him on 22 December.

We first got to know Archie in 1979 and over the ensuing years built a wonderful friendship and working relationship as he helped us in so many ways as a Trustee, Company Secretary and Adviser to Cornerstone and Cornerstone Quest and of course up to the present World Prayer Centre vision and April ’97 Trust as Trustee and Hon Treasurer.

If you asked Archie about his priorities in life he would always say, Jesus first, Janet and his family next, relationships with wider family and friends and then whatever work he was involved in at a particular time. Archie was not an upfront person but he was VERY influential. Archie loved to use the word ‘Very’ especially when talking about the goodness of God, or thanking you for work done or kindness given. He was a man who always thought of others first and how he could help, support, bless and encourage; our lives are richer because of his amazing friendship.

Archie was a remarkable man for detail. Those of us who live broad brush stroke lives would often get a bit frustrated by Archie's attention to detail, but we always gave thanks as his attentiveness saved us from many mistakes and pitfalls, especially with Charity law and financial issues.

Of course his passing leaves a huge space in the lives of Janet and the family, but also in the lives of all who knew and loved him. His work, his life, his testimony and his generosity directly influenced many people and indirectly touched the lives of countless thousands in this nation and around the world.

On our way to visit Janet we drove through Harvest Fields estate and gave thanks for the vision Archie and Janet had carried and seen fulfilled with houses and a centre that influences so many lives for the Kingdom of God; an amazing legacy.

So we sorrow but not as those without hope. Many years ago Archie gave his life to Jesus, knowing in that simple act of faith; he also received the sure and certain hope of eternal life. Archie has started a new chapter in his eternal journey. His final words to us when we visited him in intensive care were, “I have a VERY wonderful God, a VERY wonderful wife and family and VERY wonderful friends.”

We shall miss him VERY much.

Marvin Lahoud, a 26 year-old volunteer with a Lebanese church serving Syrian refugees, was in charge of food voucher distribution. On this day, Marvin discovered that one of the refugee families returned to Syria leaving him with an extra voucher to distribute to another family.

He scanned the wait list. The first family he called—also returned to Syria. The second family didn’t answer the phone. Further constraints led Marvin to dismiss the third and fourth families from the wait list. Marvin finally decided to make his way over to the house of the fifth family.

A little boy stood at the entrance of the basement space his family called home, looked up at Marvin, and smiled. Matter-of-factly the Syrian boy said, “Come in. We were expecting you.”

Marvin looked at him—puzzled. He hadn’t told anyone he was coming; much less contacted the Muslim Syrian refugee family. How could they have known he was coming?

The young Syrian boy’s mother beckoned Marvin into their home and asked the boy to explain.

“Yesterday”, the little boy said, “I had a dream that was so vivid I thought it was real. I was walking on the shore of the sea and saw a man standing in the sea with water up to his knees. He was clothed in a bright white robe. His face shined so bright, I couldn’t see the details of his face. His hands were noticeably tender. I asked him who he was. He said, ‘I am Jesus.’ I said, ‘What do you want?’ Jesus said, ‘I want you to believe in love, have faith and keep hope.’ And Jesus continued to say, ‘Do not be afraid. Help is on the way. Tomorrow, a man will come over called Marvin and he will help you and your family.’”
And now you are here, said the mother to Marvin.

Source: Providence Magazine

Photo Credit: Rawaa, 21, a mother of three from Aleppo, draws water from a storage tank in her tent at an informal tented settlement for Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, in July 2014. Photo by Sam Tarling for Norwegian Relief Council, posted by Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), via Flickr.

Do you know someone who is new to prayer, or who needs to kick-start their prayer life?

Many people use the New Year to kick-start a New Year's resolution.  It might be healthy eating or going to the gym, but wouldn't it be good to go deeper with God and revolutionise our prayer life.

World Prayer Centre has created a simple 7 day course where you will receive a daily email to help you to transform your prayer life!

If you want to make 2017 your year of prayer, press the spiritual refresh button or take the first steps as a new Christian, now is the time to begin a prayer resolution and start that new prayer habit.

We believe prayer is a great adventure, walking closer and closer to Jesus. Whether you’re new to prayer or just stuck in a rut, commit to revolutionising your prayer life at the start of this New Year.

Take that step to revolutionise your prayer life for 2017.  Click here to sign up now for a free daily email for 1 week. 

We at World Prayer Centre, in partnership with HOPE and the Prayer Magazine, invite you to join in with Friday Focus prayer starting Friday 6th January 2017.

Friday Focus 2017 provides the opportunity for us to pray where we are, and unite across our nations, supporting all ongoing mission and preparing the way for future mission. HOPE’s aim is to see the entire church mobilised during 2018 to make Jesus known.

Each week Friday Focus will take a different theme – supporting national initiatives of prayer and mission; key seasons in the church’s calendar, different people groups highlighted in the Talking Jesus report as well as prompting us to pray for those we know and meet and the communities we are part of and the places where we live. Will you join us in seeking our Father for His ways, His will and His kingdom to be seen more and more in our land?

How to get it

Download a PDF version.

To sign up to get Friday Focus you email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and put ‘Please send me Friday focus each week’.

Head over to the Hopetogether website pages for more information, ie outline for prayer meeting.

If you would like to have a printed copy then subscribe to Prayer Magazine.

Several places are considering using trypraying co-operatively next year in the run up to, or from, Easter. In our sights is the goal of 1000 churches across the UK making use of it and 10 city-wide projects where scores of churches work together. We are happy to talk with you if this is something you would like to consider. You could host a meeting in the next three months to get the idea talked about. We might even be able to send along a speaker to help. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

If you are within reach of High Wycombe or Birmingham on 28/29th November then you might wish to come to one of these two ‘interest meetings’ to see how it all works.

• Monday 28th November 7.30 (refreshments) for 8.00 p.m. at St Peter's Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, HP10 9QL.
• Tuesday 29th November 2.30 p.m. Riverside House, 21 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham. B13 8AR.

Please email us if you are interested and we’ll get you counted in for refreshments – or just come.

Meanwhile, here’s a conversation which took place in Costa yesterday with someone who "doesn’t do church.”

I had previously given her copy of the trypraying booklet. I felt I should take a risk and ask how she got on with it. She said she had given it away to a friend - who had then given it to someone else. "Your booklet is travelling!" she joked. I explained the content of the booklet again, especially Day 5 (forgiveness) and Day 6 (responding to Christ) because, on offer, is the possibility of a relationship with a loving God. I asked if she had prayed the prayers on those days and she was non-commital but she then volunteered, “I'll tell you what I am going to do. I’m going to go through the booklet again and pray and the next time I see you I’ll tell you how I got on .”

Encouraging.

Take risks.

Source:  Trypraying 

'One Thing' is a 3 season DVD series of teaching on prayer, suitable for individual, small group and whole church use. We're excited about the series because it makes available on a much wider scale, the teaching that would previously only have been available to those able to attend a Prayer School Teaching series of events over a period of weeks. 

Synopsis of Series:

One Thing for us: Season 1

‘One Thing for us – bringing personal prayer to life’, is out now. It is available to buy on DVD for £12.95, and comes with a workbook to help you use/lead the course.
It is now also available free online. Visit our web page for links to the sessions, which can be streamed or downloaded. The workbook is also available there in pdf format.
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/one-thing

Season 2, ‘One Thing for the Church – growing prayer together’ will be out towards the end of this year, both on DVD and available to view or download online. Filmed in six very different Salvation Army corps and churches, in six very different locations, members and leaders talk about how they have ‘grown’ prayer in the life of their worshipping community. Throughout the seven episodes, we explore some of the most pressing questions we get asked about developing prayer in the local church/corps.

The workbook is available now as a PDF to download. www.salvationarmy.org.uk/one-thing-for-the-church

Season 3, ‘One Thing for the World – getting out there in prayer’, explores the relationship between prayer and mission. Whilst we will still tour the country to interview people and hear their stories of how prayer is transforming the neighbourhoods where they live, we have decided to do the teaching all in one place, at our ‘One Thing Prayer and Mission Conference’.

The DVD will be available in summer 2017.  Find out more info and how to purchase.