Boiler Room Meals 29 November 2007
Posted by jamesbutler in What we're thinking about.., What we're up to...., What we've done....1 comment so far
We have been meeting weekly to eat together, to pray together and to discuss what it means for us to be a community. Over the last few weeks we have had some really good discussions…
three weeks ago – what’s the vision?
We met together to discuss the vision. What is the vision of the Boiler Room, and what is it that we’re excited about? We lookd at where we were heading as a community. Our key words to describe where we are going are Community, Catalyst, Refuge and Voice. A community of mission-minded, Christ-centred prayer. A catalyst for increased prayer in the area. A refuge where people can come and engage in creative prayer. A voice for those who aren’t heard and and in the sense of preparing the way for God.
two weeks ago – mission
We had an amazing time of discussion on mission. We talked about what mission is and how we engage in it. How we put things in place practically that will help us to be better witnesses. We were challenged by the words “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” from 1 Peter 3.15. Could we answer everyone who asks us for a reason for our hope?
last week – the word of God in devotion
The place of reading the Bible in our devotion. We shared ideas of how we read the Bible and why we read the Bible. We reflected on some of the verses from Psalm 119 about how God’s word gives wisdom, guides our feet and gives us Joy.
Boiler Room meals continue every Monday. If you would like to come along, you are very welcome – just let me know.
“Every little helps” 19 November 2007
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We have just come out of the TEAR Fund (www.tearfund.org) prayer week, during the week days were focused on different issues facing the globe at large. These included issues such as climate change, increase in natural disasters, HIV, water/sanitation and justice in trade. It was really awesome to see groups and individuals from different parts of the local area unite in prayer for God’s creation & people in desperate need. I was really challenged by Christ’s call to action that was taken from Matthew 6:14-15 and stuck to the Boiler Room wall it reads: Matthew 6:14-15 (The Message)
14-15“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
Jesus used the example of forgiveness, but I believe it can be related to all things. Sometimes it is easy to pray, to sit back and ask God, beg God, tell God, demand God to fix His world. The injustice, oppression, global warming… but didn’t mankind bring on this stuff anyway?! It’s not to say that God does not act and that He leaves us to clean up our own mess! But He has quite clearly called us to action as well. A combination of prayer and action is required!
It is always sickening to me to see football clubs and individuals who earn more in a year than entire nations, it is also sickening to think there are nations with billions of dollars in budget surplus that just sits around as people die of diseases that the ‘western’ world eradicated early last century! Suffering from curable diseases, starving at a time when the world as a whole is producing more food than it needs.It was a real kick in the behind, with Jesus’ words resounding in my ears. Prayer is essential, but it is not an excuse for inaction or an excuse to not look at what things we can change in our own lives to make a difference in this world. Just as the Tesco slogan reads ‘every little helps’.
-MICK
End of another prayer week 19 November 2007
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We have just finished another week prayer, with the focus being Tearfund’s Be a part of a miracle.
Keep your eyes peeled for some thoughts from Mick (one of the Transit students), but in the meantime check out some photos from the week!
xLauren
More from the feast… 14 November 2007
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The Feast happened in Seville a couple of weeks ago. A gathering of people in the 24-7 movement to celebrate and to challenge. Have a look at these two articles from the 24-7 sites for a bit more information and some exciting and challenging words…
http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/content/781
http://uk.24-7prayer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=327&Itemid=175
One of many.. 13 November 2007
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Look how many people are praying at the same time as we are…
http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/nowpraying/
It’s great to know prayers are going on across the world!
Now Praying 12 November 2007
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We have kicked off the Be Part of a Miracle prayer week – focusing on the tearfund material.
Here are so photos. Do come and join us if you can.
The Practice of Prayer 7 November 2007
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Recently at the Feast in Seville (see earlier post) Pete Greig challenged everyone involved in 24-7 Prayer to live up to the name, i.e. pray! In response to this challenge we spent Monday night talking about the practicalities of being a praying community. What can we put in place that will help us pray better?
All sorts of things were suggested – from praying for each other using a prayer ladder where you move a different person to the top of the ladder each week and pray for them for that week. Suggestions of having certain days of the week as certain themes in which we can pray for on our own but all praying for the same things. We also talked about the possibility of meeting together more to pray together and perhaps opening up the prayer room so people can use it at certain points during the week. It was even suggested we have skype conference praying!
We have by no means made clear decisions but we are keen to explore these ideas and push on to be better at praying, both individually and corporately.
Tearfund Prayer 5 November 2007
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Often I find that when I sit on my own in a prayer room I tend to focus on myself first and if I have time say a few prayer for other things going on in the lives of people around me and across the world. The exception is when there are stimuli around the room that draw me into other situations. A few months back we had the prayer night for Stop the Traffick, praying for people being trafficed – the modern day slave trade. It was a very powerful time for me focusing on something that previously I knew very little about and really asking God what his heart was for these people.
This coming prayer week (12-17th Nov) will hopefully be the same. A chance for us to come together and share God’s heart for the things that are going on in his world. Themes such as HIV, sanitation, trade justice and disasters will be displayed with information to help us really pray for these things in an engaging way.
The inspiration for 24-7 Prayer were the Moravians who prayer in watches, in a similar way to 24-7, and kept it going for 100 years! When they were doing their prayer watch the rule was they shouldn’t pray for themeselves but for the community and the people around them; the thinking was they had 23 other hours in the day to pray for themeselves. It’s a good challenge for me to make sure I put aside proper time to pray for others.
I really encourage you to sign up for an hour slot as we cry out to God for his world.
