Saturday, April 22, 2017, saw the biggest prayer gathering in South African history as close to two million people gathered from all parts of South Africa to pray. The event was held on a farm just north of Bloemfontein which is centrally located in South Africa.

Some 1.7 million people registered on-line to attend this historic occasion and thousands more arrived on the day. The multi-racial crowd spread over more than a kilometer relayed onto multiple large screens and many kilometers of cabling for the sound system.

Popular South African farmer/evangelist, and subject of the book and film, “Faith Like Potatoes”, Angus Buchan called for a nation-wide prayer meeting in the light of the current spiritual and socio-political decline evident in the nation. The event was called, “It’s Time”

Buchan said, “We are tired of people taking the law into their own hands. We are going to call upon The Lord to bring justice, peace and hope to our beloved South Africa. He says ‘If my people who are called by My name’ -- that is you and I, so I want to ask you to pray for us.”

As people kept on streaming to Wilde Als farm near Bloemfontein for the It's Time prayer meeting, organizers were forced to delay the start of proceedings by more than an hour due to people still coming to the venue in large numbers.

Prayer Time Replicated Throughout the Nation

The prayer time was duplicated in hundreds of town and suburbs around the nation. Prayer meetings, for those who couldn't get to Bloemfontein were held in churches, rented halls and homes around South Africa. No television broadcasts were allowed, but Christians around the country followed the event from the social media posts of their friends. Busses and airplanes were chartered for the event.

Despite the magnitude of the event there was no television advertising and little news coverage beforehand. Farmers in the area opened their farms to hundreds of thousands of campers at no cost. Gridlock was reported for up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) away and the event was delayed for an hour and a half to allow more to arrive.

Read more on Assist News website

After the publicity this week, we continue to declare:

“know also that wisdom is like honey for you. If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off”
Proverbs 24:13,14

We thank You that You desire all the nations of Europe shall have a future and a hope, so in the Name of Jesus, we decree right, fair and just outcomes for the United Kingdom and all the nations of Europe as Brexit is negotiated. We declare as Your people pray, You will do more than we ask or think.

We speak Godly authority, Godly wisdom and creative ideas to Theresa May, David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson. In the Name of Jesus, we decree and declare every agreement, relationship, covenant, bill or treaty that was for the last season will be replaced and renewed according to Your perfect will. We decree immigration, trade, and justice policies will be set according to Your purpose and plan and we call forth Your strategy for every aspect of Brexit.

We stand as Your Ecclesia, and we silence every voice of the enemy to bring fear, intimidation or confusion at this time and we speak peace to the storm which has been stirred through media.
We declare according to Psalm 22:28 “the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s and He rules over the nations”

Source: Passion for the Nation

Launched on the 25th March 2017, we are aiming to see at least one church per day encourage their congregation walk 'A Mile with Jesus' over the next two years. We are trying to see one church in every postcode area of the UK take part. To date we have had 30 churches from across the UK take part.

The vision came to our Neighbourhood Prayer Network, prayer co-ordinator at the end of a 2 week period of fasting in October 2015. As she was praying she said to God, ' I will go a mile with you.'

She felt the Holy Spirit respond saying, as many as will go a mile with Him, He will go with them.

People have had profound encounters with God as they have walked a mile, or for those unable to do a physical mile, sat at home with a map.

When I personally did several miles with Jesus, I felt God asking me to pray for people I would not normally pray for (silently) and He also told me to look around at all the people that I saw and He told me that He didn't want just some of these people 'saved' but for every last person I could see, to come into relationship with Him. He reminded me of the scripture, 'the Harvest is plentiful, the workers are few, pray for Lord to send more workers into the field.'

My heart attitude to people I might normally walk by without much thought was changed as God reminded me of the love he has for all people without exception. This experience has had a lasting impact on me as I now pray for my heart to be open to loving people more.

'A Mile with Jesus' is also intended to prepare the ground for the HOPE 2018 year of mission where denominational leaders have pledged to aim to see church growth of 10% next year.

Our partners for this are HOPE, World Prayer Centre, Pray for Scotland, National Weekend of Prayer, National Day of Prayer and Worship and 24-7 prayer. Our partnerships are expanding.

One of the things we hope to see is people who would not normally take part in prayer walks joining in. We have written a prayer guide with these people in mind.

Some church leaders have commented that this is something fairly easy to encourage people to do.

To take part

1. Choose a date for your church and sign up at www.neighbourhoodprayer.net/amilewithJesus
2. Decide if you are just going to encourage people to walk a mile on this date as they go to work etc, or if you want to do it as a church altogether...
3. If you want prayer pointers, order our resource 'A Mile with Jesus' from www.resourcesforchurch.com
4. Consider asking other churches to join and get any feedback from people's prayer times that might reveal something God is saying specifically to Your church.

We are keen for churches to sign up in July and August as this part of the calendar is hard to fill with holidays.

If your Church would like to get involved, Click Here to Sign Up.

We've produced a great 36 page, full colour, Prayer Guide to complement A Mile with Jesus,and it's available in single copies, Digital Download or as a Church Pack of 15 with Free P&P.

Originally designed for those with little or no experience of prayer walking, seasoned prayer-walkers have also said how much they have enjoyed using it!

Teaching and prayer days - May 2017

We invite you to join us as we welcome Alistair and Marie Petrie from Partnership Ministries to share their wide experience of seeing how healing the land can release evangelism and bring transformation to lives, communities, cities and nations.

Healing the land is intimately connected with people. What people think, do and say has a direct bearing on either the extension of the Kingdom of God or the resistance of others to it. Alistair’s book’s including Releasing Heaven on Earth and A Sacred Trust interactive workbook will be on sale at all venues

Working with our partners, South East Prayer Leaders Network and Community Watchman Ministries and with other UK leaders and members of the World Prayer Centre team, we hope to see representatives from many churches, networks, towns, cities and regions as possible to come so we can learn and be equipped how to pray more effectively. We believe the Petrie’s visit is timely. God is changing things in our nation and this is an opportunity to be equipped and engaged.

You can opt to register for days in Canterbury May 12-13, Liverpool 19-20 or Birmingham 23 May 2017. We do need you to register for the days in Liverpool and Birmingham – click here for full details.

How to pray with children – some creative ideas

This year the dates for Thy Kingdom Come fall during the half term holidays for many schools in England.

It’s a lovely opportunity to take time to pray together as a family without rushing off to clubs and school commitments.

We’d like to introduce the amazing Kingdom Kit – to help families pray at home together. This will guide you and your family with a daily prayer prompt and activity. Everything you will need to follow the suggestions is included in the pack from mustard seeds, keyrings and balloons to smarties and bookmarks.

Also available is our Family Creative Prayer Journal and the Thy Kingdom Come Bright Prayer Ideas for Families at home. https://www.cpo.org.uk/thykingdomcome

Download the Kingdom Kit
https://www.thykingdomcome.global/search/resources?tags=3&theme_id=34

Or order https://www.cpo.org.uk/product.aspx?prod=C5229GT&cat=3745

Westminster
It is shocking to see how easy it is for one person to create so much carnage! As we have all seen recently with the attack in Westminster. We need to remain vigilant in prayer in the days ahead.

Please pray:
1) Every person plotting to cause death and destruction will be exposed before they get anywhere near their target.
2) For the police and security services to be in the right place, at the right time, watching the right people to foil every plan of the enemy.
3) Our enemy is not the flesh and blood but the principalities and powers. In prayer lift the flesh and blood into God's presence and pray for their salvation.

Ghost Ships
On 10th March Sky News covered an issue of Ghost Ships where vessels on our coast lines are suspected of turning off their GPS devices to avoid being tracked by the authorities. See http://news.sky.com/story/questions-over-ghost-ships-sailing-under-the-radar-10797433 for more information.

Please pray:
1) There will be no collisions.
2) Every vessels attempting to slip into our waters unrighteously will be exposed.

We have been told by the Police that there are greater dangers in our nations from domestic violence than terrorism. Yet it still remains such a hidden danger.

According to the Office of National Statistics 1.8 million adults between 16 to 59 said they were a victim of domestic abuse in the last year to March 2016. 1 in every 10 crimes reported are domestic violence...but that will only be the tip of the iceberg as many people do not report domestic violence.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2016

Much domestic violence can be due to drug or alcohol addictions and mental health problems.

Pray that:
1) The victims will have the courage to seek help
2) The perpetrators will get help to deal with their anger in a healthy way.
3) The children who often witness the violence or are victims of the violence themselves. They often grow up to be victims or perpetrators themselves if the pattern is not broken.

Source: Coastlands & Gateways

The 30th March 2017, the UK Government formally ‘triggered’ Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, to start the process to leave the European Union. A new chapter in this nation’s history is being written.

Thousands of words have already been written about ‘Brexit’ since the Referendum on 23 June, and tens if not hundreds of thousands will no doubt be written in the days, weeks and months to come.

So today we do not wish to add to the deluge of comment. We simply ask the Church in Scotland – the ‘family of God’ – the ‘army of ordinary people’ – to stand together ‘As one!’ and to pray, crying out to Almighty God, to the One who holds the fate and the destiny of every nation in His hands, on behalf of Scotland and all parts of the UK – and for Europe.

We ask that from today - individually, in prayer groups, prayer assemblies and in our church meetings, we all commit, whatever our political views, to bringing our Governments and all those with any responsibility for the negotiations before God on a regular basis – for their protection and well-being - that His will may be done and that through it all His Kingdom may be advanced.

At this early stage in the process, please pray:

• for Theresa May, the UK Government and officials – especially those directly involved in the negotiations – for their protection, health and energy, and for wisdom and integrity in all they do;
• for those negotiating on behalf of the European Union, in the same way;
• that, despite all the predictions of how complex and difficult the negotiations will be, especially with 27 EU Governments plus EU institutions having to agree on their position as discussions proceed, the negotiations turn out to be surprisingly straightforward;
• that on both sides the negotiations would be carried out in a civil, positive manner – without harsh words or disruptive behaviour
• for Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government – that notwithstanding the desire to hold a second independence referendum, they will contribute positively to the process for the benefit of all of Scotland, and through that for the UK as well.

Source: Pray for Scotland

Neighbourhood Prayer Network are looking for Churches who will commit to a Prayer Walk. The trial last year resulted in over 1,000 miles of the UK being Prayer Walked.

Called 'A Mile with Jesus' - On 25th March 2017, Neighbourhood Prayer Network launches a continuous 2 year baton of prayer, walking across the U.K. in support of the HOPE 2018 year of mission. We hope this will add to the wave of prayer taking place across the UK as we pray for God to transform our Nations.

Partners of 'A Mile with Jesus' include HOPE, World Prayer Centre, Pray for Scotland, Prayer Storm, National Day of Prayer and Worship, National Weekend of Prayer and 24-7 Prayer. Please see endorsement from these ministries here.

The vision for this initiative came after Rachael Fola-Taiwo, (NPN's prayer co-ordinator), was fasting and praying for 14 days in October 2015. She said to God, ‘I will go a Mile with You and she felt the Holy Spirit answer “not just you, but as many that will go a mile with Him.”

People who have already taken part have had profound encounters with God as they have prayer walked, prayed on trains, in cars, or at home for those unable to walk so far.

The aim is to have at least one Church congregation in all 3114 postcode areas of the UK, prayer walk their local streets over the next two years. Imagine the whole of the UK being Prayer walked....

The campaign begins in London and Manchester on 25th March, and this will begin a chain of continuous Prayer Walking, with one or more Churches taking responsibility for each day. (Details below).

Could your church take part in your area?

http://www.neighbourhoodprayer.net/amilewithjesus/participating-churches/

We urgently need to fill these dates with a church. There are dates over the next two years also available.

29th March
31st March
3rdApril
5thApril
8th April
9th April
10thApril
11th April

If your Church would like to get involved, Click Here to Sign Up.

We've produced a great 36 page, full colour, Prayer Guide to complement A Mile with Jesus,and it's available in single copies, Digital Download or as a Church Pack of 15 with Free P&P.

Originally designed for those with little or no experience of prayer walking, seasoned prayer-walkers have also said how much they have enjoyed using it!

The Mile with Jesus prayer guide is one publication in three sections.

Part 1) The Prayer Guide will have an A-Z of things you may come across while you are prayer walking, with three prayer points for each place. For example a Post office, a park, a betting shop, a school.

Part 2) There are inspirational scriptures that you might want to use while walking.

Part 3) Is for those who wish to use the opportunity as an outreach either as a church or a home group.

36 Pages in full colour, this neat prayer guide will enable you, your prayer group or Church to pray transformational prayers in and around your community. It is our hope that through this initiative, Crime, will fall, abuse will subside and God will visit the area you live in.

The World Prayer Centre’s As One National Prayer Conference was held at The Hayes conference centre, Swanwick from 13 – 15 March. It was a rich mixture of inspirational teaching, powerful prayer, heartfelt worship, great fellowship and an awesome presence of God. Out of it, we enter a period of tremendous promise and challenge for the Church. Our focus was AS ONE. We believe this is a time when God is building a new level of unity in His Church so that the world can see Jesus through our love for each other, our respect and generosity. We were reminded of the Roman testudo (Tortoise) – which fought and moved as a unit as soldiers interlocked shields and moved as the centurion shouted “As One”.  Here’s some of the key themes from the conference:

• 2017 is an extraordinary year of anniversaries – 500 years since the Reformation, 70 years since Smith Wigglesworth’s prophecy, 50 years since Jean Darnall’s and many others. We believe it is a year of extraordinary promise. We see 10 days of prayer in the Thy Kingdom Come call from the Anglican Church, unprecedented unity between the key Christian events with a common call to pray and stand together, and large evangelistic initiatives. Cities and towns are working together to pray for their place, many Muslims are coming to Christ and Christians are seeing a significant response when they take prayer, evangelism and healings onto the streets.
• Call to people of prayer – our hope is that the whole church will learn to love prayer! However we recognise there are many with a particular passion and calling. Our speaker Malcolm Duncan refers to them as the lungs – refreshing and energising the body. We will cover this in more detail with an article in the next Pulse.
• Call the Church – we have a love relationship with Jesus that is expressed in prayer. God wants to change our world through a revived and awakened church. We need to take personal responsibility – how well have we prayed for our leaders to be filled with the spirit and our church events to be filled with his presence? The church is not called to be a bucket – being self-absorbed and focused inward, but a whole series of drain pipes filling up with water and letting the water gush out of us. The church must be distinct – full of love, mercy and compassion and reflecting Jesus. Leslie Newbiggin said, “The local church is called to be an explosion of joy in the community.”
• Call the midwife! We believe a number of key things were birthed at Swanwick, for the nation, for WPC and for many individuals. The promises and prophecies are coming to fruition. On the final morning fifteen midwives came to the front and prayed for the new birth for it to flourish and grow.
• Call to witness – Yinka Oyeken from Reading shared his experience of praying to God for his city before a mission and seeing a tremendous change in the spiritual atmosphere with hundreds wanting to find out more about Jesus. His church has pursued the presence of God since 2008, it went through tremendous tensions and strains but there was breakthrough and a heaven to earth enabling in 2016. Yinka gave us this challenge – the church will never know multiplication until ordinary people lead others to Christ. We need to pray passionately for God to release people to witness – and it starts with praying for ourselves.
• Call to openness before God – Jesus did not come to save super heroes. He himself was broken so we can be changed, not from perfect people but from our own brokenness. We need to be open if we are to be filled to full measure.
• Prayer for the UK –We need to pray for God’s breath in his church, and His presence and fire to move across every part of the UK. We are praying for the seven spheres/seven mountains – politics, economy, children, arts etc. – so we can say – Your Kingdom Come.
• Prayer for Europe – God has called the UK to bless Europe with the gospel. In this year of Reformation we felt God was creating a strong spiritual bond between the UK and Germany this is the moment to reclaim our joint call to send the gospel to the nations.
• Prayer for WPC – we are now in the 25th year since God gave Ian a vision for a Prayer Centre. It was after 25 years of promise that Isaac was born to Sarah. We believe something very significant happened at this Swanwick that causes us to pray for the centre with renewed faith and expectation.

Our call and our commission

Swanwick is not just a blessing for those who attended. It releases something important into the nation. This Swanwick was a spiritual tipping point – all of us are impacted.
We have had a period when we believe God was telling the church in the UK to get ready, now we believe we have been called and mobilised. It is time to

• Be continually filled by God’s Holy Spirit
• Have a deep hunger for his presence
• Expect God’s extraordinary to be released in you and around you
  o His extraordinary resilience in times when the storm blows
  o His extraordinary faith – God can work miracles through you
  o His extraordinary unity – let us passionately promote unity, praying generously for others success, and wanting Jesus to be seen in his church.
  o His extraordinary love – that we might know a deeper and deeper intimacy with Him and have a revelation of how much He loves us.
  o His extraordinary promise that the church will be awakened and our nations will be changed – by his overwhelming mercy.

We are being mobilised. The command is simple – be filled with the Holy Spirit, be ready for action.

Download a PDF with all the dates and anniversaries for 2017

Steve Botham

Director of World Prayer Centre