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By Gary Bennett
SINCE Good Friday, April 10, 35 churches throughout the Greater Victoria area
have been joining together in a coordinated effort to cover the city with
prayer – 24 hours a day, for 52 consecutive days leading up to Pentecost Sunday. Reports documenting the impact of this year’s ‘52 Days of Prayer’ initiative are now starting to come in.
Congregations were encouraged by ‘Passing the Torch’ – ceremonies in which a symbolic electronic device was passed from one church to
another.
Most participating congregations established a prayer room in their facility, to
be used exclusively by people wanting to come night or day to pray.
A father of young children, who came for prayer early one morning, exclaimed: “I haven’t been able to pray like this for years! To have one hour of uninterrupted time
with the Lord was incredible.”
A middle-aged business man reported: “I could have stayed home and prayed, but usually the phone rings, or the dog
jumps into my lap and I’m distracted. Having a place to get alone with God was a huge blessing.”
A married couple spent an hour praying together on their wedding anniversary.
Leaders from the various churches participating have been greatly encouraged.
Jacquie Patrick, of the Victoria Citadel of the Salvation Army, reported:
“There has been a beautiful movement of the Spirit amongst the people in the
Salvation Army. [Many] have made recommitments to the Lord, and there is a
spirit of loving and care developing. People are looking forward to the
celebration gatherings, just to be together again to worship.”
Lambrick Park Church covered the week of April 12 – 19. The experience went so well that they decided to ride the momentum. They
continued keeping the prayer room open one day per week; they hope to expand to
more days.
Cathy Clarke reported that Lambrick’s involvement this year far surpassed last year’s experience. She cited the critical involvement of leadership, both in
promoting and extensively participating in the prayer process.
“This 52 days of prayer is such a wonderful step in the right direction of
city-wide church unity; so please receive our heartfelt gratitude.”
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Lorraine Friesen, from Lion of Judah, remarked: “It was amazing how quickly the list filled up once we had the torch. We also created a sign-up sheet on our website, and we had people take more
spots when they could see where the gaps were. We covered nearly 24 hours a
day! It was wonderful.”
Even churches that didn’t participate in the 52 Days of Prayer were impacted positively by the
initiative.
A pastor of one of those churches reported: “We didn’t sign up this year, as it was clear from last year that most of my people do
not have much competence in prayer. We spent our time telling God what he
already knew, and then told him what he should do about it all.
“I have used the 52-day season to launch a time of teaching on prayer, and our
people are starting to catch on slowly. I am currently concentrating on personal connection with the Lord in prayer; and
then we’ll move into learning about intercession. Just wanted you to know that the 52-day movement is not only mobilizing the
church to pray, it is also stimulating learning about prayer.”
At press time, the story was still being written on this year’s 52 Days of Prayer. On Pentecost Sunday, May 31, the city-wide Church of
Victoria was planning to gather at Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church for a
closing rally.
On the schedule were testimonials from a variety of congregations; and a message
from Brad Jersak, of Fresh Wind Christian Fellowship in Abbotsford.
June 2009
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