July’s Prayershift gathering was a powerful time of prayer and testimony. Ian Cole shared a range of powerful stories from his recent meetings with Arab Church leaders:

• Since 2010 more than 4 million people have come to Christ in Egypt - this is a growth of over 40% in the church. They focus on —LOVE - PRAYER - TRUTH; their deep love for their Muslim neighbours enabling them to forgive even after horrendous massacres and attacks has shaken the Egyptian nation.
• A prominent Iman asked to go to a church prayer meeting in Egypt, whilst there he had a vision of Jesus and a conversation with the Lord that led to the Iman giving his life to Jesus. He then confessed he was nervous about seeing his devout Muslim wife. When he returned home she told him she had had a vision of Jesus and given her life to Him at the same time as her husband!
• A young woman and her baby were hit by a truck. sadly the baby died and was put in the hospital morgue. The young woman went home to her family. They were all recent Christians and they said - "didn’t we read the Jesus can raise people from the dead?" They prayed from midnight till six o clock. At six a nurse walked past the morgue and heard a baby crying, she opened the door of the heavily refrigerated unit and saw the woman’s baby sat up.
• In Turkey, many churches (often small in number) are tripling in size with Christians joining them from the refugee population.

We prayed for a number of issues God laid on our hearts - why don’t you join us and pray into these issues as well:

• Europe Shall be saved - we pray for a fresh move of God across Europe and for young leaders to arise as Evangelists, prophets, and teachers to take the gospel forward.
• We pray for the Balkans - for God to turn back the flood of Islamic missionaries and for peace to be restored between Macedonia and Greece.
• We pray for turning in our nation 
  • We pray for those on the frontline in bringing unity - for protection on their families and relationships. Many are under savage spiritual attack.
  • We pray against fear - for people in the workplace, schools, communities to have the boldness to heart God’s call to demonstrate His kingdom.  
• We pray against the growth in drugs and knife crime 
• • Lord rescue 10 - 14 years olds who are being lured into drug gangs 
  • We pray your hand of protection on our towns and cities - the Police say they expect an escalation in violence over the summer - we pray against this.
  • We pray against the drugs like black mamba and monkey dust, that rob people of their senses and kill, break up the gangs and rescue the victims 
  • We pray against those gangs claiming parts of our cities as their territories - we proclaim the earth is the Lords and everything in it, we pray against any no-go areas in our nation.

Steve Botham - Director of World Prayer Centre

Over 200 churches from central Scotland were actively involved in the Celebration weekend at Falkirk Stadium with Will Graham, from a total of 295 churches registered.

Before the Celebration, over 1550 took part in the Christian Life & Witness preparation classes held at 16 locations over 3 weeks in April, with 50 first-time commitments and 375 re-dedications and assurance of faith being made at these classes - 425 decisions even before the Celebration took place.

Attendance over the weekend was 9,500, with over 750 responses – 68% first-time decisions and 18% re-dedications plus others. Around 60% of Stadium responses were under 25 years, a trend that reflects what happened when Will was in Peterhead in October 2016 – of the 400 responses, half were under 25 years – there is definitely something stirring in that generation.

The evening sessions were live streamed and viewed in 87 countries, with over 31,500 devices registered as watching, resulting in 285 responses online – a total of 1,460 responses from the Celebration overall.

At the end of June, the meeting of the Falkirk ministers/leaders forum who invited Will and played a key role in the Celebration was ‘buzzing’, with each one present keen to share their highlight or personal story, sharing their joy at God working in so many lives!

Because it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about lives changed and transformed, it’s about family blessing and salvation; it’s about churches encouraged and many Christians having greater confidence in sharing their faith - seeing answers to prayer, seeing their ‘Be an Andrew’ invitations accepted and salvation resulting; and it’s about unity – the strong unity in the Falkirk Leaders Forum of around 25 ministers/pastors meeting monthly, forming friendships, praying for each other and their communities, creating the strong platform which resulted in the invitation to Will being accepted and from which God could operate so effectively; the unity amongst hundreds of counsellors, ushers and others from many churches serving together ‘As One!’ before and during the weekend; the unity of hundreds all around the nation and beyond praying faithfully for the Celebration.

Because of that unity, an outworking of Jesus’ prayer in John 17, God was true to his word (Psalm 133) and did command His blessing on the weekend and poured out His favour – especially with the Police, Council and Stadium authorities who were highly complimentary at the feedback meeting on how everyone had behaved and how tidy the Stadium had been left each day. “You are welcome back anytime,” was their overall view!

We are now in the crucial follow-up period. Please pray:

• that every referral to a local church will be followed up swiftly, so that none may be ‘lost’;
• that every new Christian will be warmly welcomed by their new church family and will be faithfully mentored and discipled;
• for the ongoing protection of the Falkirk leaders’ forum and their families, and that God will continue to use their unity to build His Kingdom in that region.

Alistair Barton, Director, Pray for Scotland

Northumberland became known as the cradle of Christianity when people like Aidan and Cuthbert brought the gospel into Britain; what happened here impacted the rest of the country. In 2018, we look to God to restore our inheritance, working through the church to bring Godly change to our region.

We have been stirred by the story of Gideon, where God's people were forced into shelters and strongholds by their enemy; good people working hard year after year to plant a harvest which was ruined or stolen before it could be brought in. Eventually a small number of people - 300 - took responsibility for their nation and confronted the enemy using Godly tactics. The result was a change in the situation which released God's people to fulfill their destiny, own the land again and reap bountiful harvests. Gather: Festival North takes this story and applies its principles to today's church in Northumberland.

Acting on behalf of all Christian churches, Gather: interleaves prayer and worship to defeat the work of the enemy; to release the Church into fruitful and effective harvest; to call the Church out of its strongholds and into our communities. We also look to equip God’s people to take the fight back into their communities, with prophetic input and healing prayer.

The festival runs from 3rd-5th August; for further info and to purchase tickets see: www.gatherfestival.co.uk

We seek your prayers to equip the ‘300’ of Gather: and protect them as they fight for the future of our county - and our nation.

Jane Holloway from the World Prayer Centre will be speaking at Gather North Festival.

We are so grateful to all who were able to join us on 9th June for the Trumpet Call – either in the ICC, via social media or in your own prayer groups up and down the nation and beyond! Thank you for standing with us for the nation and the nations! We are also so profoundly humbled by all that the Holy Spirit released into and through that gathering of God’s people. Trumpet Call on 9th June saw an acceleration of the turning that He is calling for in order to see a healing in our land.

Turning from and Turning To 2 Chronicles 7:14
The day was framed in worship to Jesus – The Lamb who has conquered - and included deep times of humbling, confession and repentance both after RT Kendall and Malcolm Duncan had spoken. The promise contained in 2 Chronicles 7:14 invites us to continue to come to our heavenly Father on an ongoing basis for ourselves, for the Church and for our nations, in humility and confession in order that we might see a continuation of the turning from our wicked ways. We highlighted certain areas that we have been led to as a WPC team to prompt our turning from and turning to on 9th June. Do use these as a resource.

We have had many encouraging comments. One Church leader reported how it had completely turned around his ministry, another said “awesome is an overused word but it truly was awesome”. We have had very positive feedback on the two key “gospel words” from R.T. Kendall and Malcolm Duncan. We have also been very encouraged by feedback on evangelistic events happening at the same time and the week after and by conversations about prayer and mission whilst recognising that there is a hard road ahead of us.

R.T.Kendall is a great father of the church and theologian. He said of Trumpet call if he were never to preach another sermon in his life this was the one he would want to be remembered for.

He started with a clear declaration from Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” R.T. said that we have lost the focus of the gospel and made it about politics, health, wealth etc. He stressed how important it is to address the issue of death.

The gospel is about salvation. If we die without Jesus we go to hell. We go to heaven not by good works, family connections, or regular church attendance but by surrendering our lives to Jesus. The blood of Jesus opens the way to heaven. His last words on the cross, “It is finished” or in Greek testelestai was found on business documents meaning – “paid in full”. There is no need for hoops and barriers – accepting Jesus brings salvation.

There is an absence of the fear of God in the nation but this reflects the absence of the fear of God in the Church. Jonathan Edwards preached that we hang over hell by a slender thread and people responded in large numbers to his word. We need more preaching on heaven and hell and salvation. Paul is beaten, hungry, shipwrecked and continues because he has a vision of heaven. We need that passion to share the gospel, and the sure faith in our call to heaven to be stirred up afresh.

Malcolm Duncan, freshly installed as Senior Pastor at Dundonald Elim spoke about the need for a reality check in the church. He spoke about Jeremiah’s long ministry and unpopular message. His father Helkiah had been the man who found the books of the law in Josiah’s reign. This led the people of Israel to turn back to God but their turning was not deep or permanent enough.

Jeremiah spoke into the reality of the situation in the nation, he was calling people to move from complacency to repentance. We cannot pretend God is moving everywhere or that there is a widespread openness to the gospel. We cannot describe small moves of God as an awakening. Joel 2 tells the children of Israel that they needed to rend their hearts - a deep and painful response. It is only after this heart rending that God sends His Holy Spirit. We can fall into the trap of exaggerating what God is doing, when in reality the church is starving from a famine of God’s word. In Israel, Josiah built a fresh understanding of God’s word and he purified worship but it did not last. Judah fell away from God and the book of Lamentations is Jeremiah’s heart cry at the brutal devastation of Jerusalem. Jeremiah says “We are dressing the wounds of our people as if they were not serious.” “My people have forsaken me.”

In Jeremiah 6, we are told to walk in the ancient pathways, and give heed to the sound of the trumpet. It is time to repent, to ask for the ancient paths, to listen to God, to love His word, and His presence, and hold tight onto Jesus. Jeremiah 7:2 says Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: "Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.”

Both words need careful consideration. You can watch them on the World prayer centre YouTube channel.

I was reflecting on Trumpet Call with a Vicar friend of mine, he was particularly struck by Malcolm’s plea for reality in the church. God is doing amazing things but we can fall into the trap of ignoring the reality that the world is far from salvation and the Church is struggling to proclaim the gospel. Reality leads to real pray, to rending our heart and crying out to God. Of course, we love it when God is moving and celebrate His mercy and love but we have to ask – is this enough? Or do we need more in the church and the nation? Let us seek God and know His heart. “Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.  Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long” Ps.25: 4,5.

The WPC Team

TRUMPET CALL DVD

Our friends at British Christian TV have put together a video summary of the day. The DVD's are £10 each.

To buy one, email your name, address and pbone number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  They will contact you to take payment by cheque or card.  You can also call on 01260 633 644.

One of the most powerful but simplest prayers is “Thy Kingdom Come”. God’s Kingdom brings healing, restoration, release and revelation.

The Thy Kingdom Come initiative is now in its third year and it 2018 it will be a global programme of 24/7 prayer, prayer walking, individual and group prayer and large scale celebrations.

For more info on local events and a wide range of resources go to www.thykingdomcome.global

WPC are working with partners to bring a programme to Birmingham called “Flavours of the city”. Download the programme for details.

We are excited to work with a variety of groups and churches across the city to pray for God to move.

We to encourage as many as possible to join us on the prayer walk in the city centre on Thursday 17th May from 1.00 pm to 2.30pm.

It is time for change and blessing in Birmingham and elsewhere– Thy Kingdom Come.

On Ascension Day, May 10th, millions of Christians around the world will start a 10- day season of worship and prayer based on Acts 1 and 2. Prayer meetings, services, events, walks, pilgrimages will take place; continuous prayer and worship will flood thousands of communities; cathedrals, parks, churches and community buildings will be used as Christians gather to pray for His Kingdom and His Holy Spirit to come. As God’s children humble themselves before Him we know that He will hear us if we ask from that place of alignment with His kingly rule and His plans and purposes (John 15:16-17)

“In praying 'Thy Kingdom Come' we all commit to playing our part in the renewal of the nations and the transformation of communities." Archbishop Justin Welby

And it is timely to pause and reflect about what are we doing when we pray Thy Kingdom Come?
A number of leaders from different churches and organisations have been invited to offer their perspectives: see more at www.thykingdomglobal.com

Gavin Calver and Peter Martin from Spring Harvest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txHr8WQh-8g

Lynn Green of the Baptist Church https://vimeo.com/264480551

Archbishop Angaelos from the Coptic Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHafHBnyfw

As we, at WPC, have shared ‘we increasingly realise the weightiness of praying this prayer …if we pray for His Kingdom to come then other kingdoms have to make way for it…… As we pray, 'Thy Kingdom come' we are praying for righteousness, truth, love, hope, wisdom, justice and peace to come; all of which the kingdom of darkness despises and hates. At a time when we are constantly bombarded with the evil outworking’s of that kingdom, what a privilege to demonstrate through our united praying, our words and actions, that the light of Christ has overcome the darkness and always will. This is powerful, transformational prayer. When we start to pray in faith we must expect change, we must expect shaking, and we must expect a push from God to keep on praying http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/images/PDF/Thy%20Kingdom%20Come%202018%20(JH)%202.pdf

A key part of Thy Kingdom Come is praying for those we know to come to know Jesus and the suggestion is we think of up to 5 people we know, meet or come across in our daily lives and pray for them daily in this season and beyond. Need some encouragement to persevere in prayer? Listen to Grace Wheeler ‘s story from Youth for Christ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3tOCnvk9U&t=2s

New music video: Thy Kingdom Come https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA2q295l9A

Resources for individuals, churches and families in. www.thykingdomglobal.com

10 day prayer guide from WPC http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/images/PDF/Thy%20Kingdom%20Come%20Prayer%20Resource.pdf

In Mathew 25 Jesus tells a tale of ten virgins, waiting for the bridegroom. All ten had been given lamps and oil, they plan to walk in a celebratory procession with the bridegroom. The challenge was – were they prepared to wait, because it was not till around midnight that the bridegroom arrived? Jesus is talking here about the powerful combination of the Word (“Your word is a lamp to my feet” Ps.119:105) and the Spirit “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the spirit of the Lord came on David.” 1 Sam. 16:13.

At the midnight hour the wise virgins had their oil topped up, but the foolish ones had run dry. Smith Wigglesworth brought a strong prophetic word 70 years ago. Many will be familiar with it. He said “When the Word and Spirit combine we shall see the greatest move the church of Jesus Christ has ever seen.” Smith Wigglesworth saw great miracles and conversions in His ministry but believed that the best was yet to come.

We have asked R.T.Kendall to join us at Trumpet Call. He believes the coming together of the Word and Spirit – the lamp and oil, in the ten virgins parable is key. They produce light and flame. He believes we will experience a growing reverence for the Word of God as a “wake up call for the church – then there will come the greatest outpouring of the spirit in the history of the church.” He says this will be accompanied by the “clearest preaching of the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, accompanied by signs and wonders not seen since the days of the early church.”

We are in extraordinary times and this spiritual turning is happening now. WPC’s experience is that God continually speaks to us though key scriptures. We were led into a new phase when Malcolm Duncan shared 2 Kings 19: 29 with us. A clear Word about change. Many other scriptures have inspired us on our journey like Joshua 3:5 “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” He is currently speaking to us about the Lamb of God, the holiness of the lamb and the great global changing power of the lamb who comes to take away the sins of the world – surely the most fundamental and historical change and transformation call. You will know how God has been speaking powerfully to us through 2 Chron. 7:14 with deeper and deeper revelations of God’s plans and purposes as we keep returning to this scriptures and the context it was spoken into. God is continually reminding us of his goodness, mercy and transformational power. He is awesome.

We so want you to come on this journey with us. To read your bible with great expectation and awe. To wait on the Lord and let him lay a scripture before you. The great outcome of this turning is the cry “Your Kingdom Come”. It is prayer for a great outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Imagine yourself with an old fashioned oil lamp. You can pray each day for it to be full. Imagine taking that oil lamp into your day, asking God to give you words of encouragement, reveal His compassion and mercy in you and let your spirit burst into flame with healings, forgiveness, and revelations of Jesus. We are so blessed to be living in days of the Word and Spirit. The five wise virgins waited believing the bridegroom would come, their oil and lamps were ready, although it was near midnight they trusted the bridegroom. So do we, we await his arrival with joy.

Steve Botham, Director
World Prayer Centre

We want to give you an idea of what goes on at Prayershift and encourage you to add your prayers to what was covered on the day.

Prayershift is a powerful mixture of praise and worship, input on key issues and prayer with an emphasis on creating breakthroughs and change.

We watched a powerful video from an unprecedented gathering of global prayer leaders and mission leaders held at Hernhutt in Germany last year. See https://vimeo.com/244739881

One of the memorable quotes was “The degree to which prayer is mobilised is the degree to which the world is evangelised.” We followed this praying for prayer and mission to be brought together and the gospel to go forward. As we did, we kept getting led back to Hernhutt’s mission cry – as they left their village they would shout “For the Lamb that was slain”. A word was given “Hear the sound, the Lamb is in the field. He is calling forth redemption, mercy and change.” We found ourselves praising and honoring the Lamb, who has taken the sins of the entire world. We also prayed for Trumpet Call, that the hall will be full and that everyone who attends will hear God speak powerfully.

Jane and Ian reported back from a prayer gathering in Northern Ireland representing the nations of the United Kingdom plus the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland. We followed this with a very powerful time of prayer for reconciliation in Ireland, repenting for our division and calling for Christians to focus on God’s Kingdom. We prayed for Ireland to commit to “life” in the forthcoming abortion referendum.

We also prayed into the Windrush situation and the hatred and fear that had been released into the nation following Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of blood” speech in Birmingham fifty years before. God is exposing injustice as he shakes our nation. We are aware that divisions still exist and prayed for healing and reconciliation through His church.

We all felt blessed to be there, standing together in God’s presence and being given authority to pray into some key issues.

Our next Prayer Shift is the last one before Trumpet Call, on May 12th. This is such a key time to pray for Turning in our nation and for God to pour His spirit of love, forgiveness and goodness on our nation.

We would love you to join us! We meet at The Betel Church Centre, 122-138 Sherlock Street, Birmingham, B5 6NB from 10.30 – 3.00. It is time to see God do extraordinary things!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever his faithfulness continues through all generations.
(Psalm 100: 1-2, 5, NIV)

Even in the midst of their hurt, poverty and tragedy, we believe God is always present for the world’s vulnerable children, with His enduring, immeasurable love and compassion.

As we join together for the 2018 World Weekend of Prayer, let us do so with an attitude of praise, not forgetting God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Praising God helps us remember what He has done in the past, see how He is at work now, even in the tough places, and trust that He will shape the lives of generations to come.

How marvellous that our God’s power and our answered prayers today will ripple throughout the years!

We’ll be developing resources for WWP18 in the coming months, including a:
· photocopiable prayer book including specific Bible verses, prayers and child-friendly activities
· collection of short videos giving examples of what children and leaders in our partner networks are most thankful to God for, plus answers to prayer that they see.
· thankfulness diary for May
· sketch and sermon outline/reflection

They will be made available, in due course, through the website www.worldweekendofprayer.com

I LOVE PRAYER BY RACHEL HICKSON
CONNECTED TO GOD, CHANGING THE WORLD.

Prayer is powerful – It writes the capital letter at the beginning of each sentence of history.
I believe that, as we intentionally connect to God and pray in agreement with His heart, we shift and alter the destiny of nations. What a privilege we have to pray. In days of uncertainty and uproar, it is easy to pray “worry prayers”, those conversations that just speak of our anxiety rather than prayers of hope and declaration. In this book we look at our devotional life of prayer, study the place of intercession, and explore the journey of prayer walking and staking our nations for Jesus. We will learn to become friends of God who understand the days in which we live and know how to pray.

Connected to God, now changing the world.
As we get connected to God’s heart, I believe that God wants the Church to become His house of prayer and write history – His story – in these turbulent days. Prayer is this special place where we connect to the heart of God and then change the world. I do not know why you pray, but I love to hear the stories of lives changed, people envisioned and hope awakened; but more than the answers to prayer, I love prayer. I love the incredible privilege we have to talk to God and become His friend.

Buy online here