UK News - A New SeasonPhil Togwell - 16 Dec 2010

We try and steer clear of country specific news on the 24-7 Prayer international website, but this farewell to the UK 24-7 Prayer co-ordinator just had to be shouted about! Andrea we will miss you, thank you for all you've done.

For more than five years, Andrea Percy has been 24-7’s ‘first person’ in the UK, which is why we’re sad to announce that Andrea is leaving her role with 24-7 Prayer.

For more than five years, Andrea has done a brilliant job of supporting 24-7 Prayer Rooms all over the UK. She’s answered questions, via phone and email; How do we host a Prayer Room? What happens if we can’t fill all the hours? How do you keep a prayer room secure and safe? How do we inspire our whole church to join in? We’ve run out of post-it notes – what do we do?! She’s encouraged the timid, strengthened those who have felt weak and ill-equipped, and reminded the over-enthusiastic to keep their feet on the ground.

She’s gathered some incredible stories too. I know that she’s been thrilled, over and over again, to be be the first person to read and hear these stories of people meeting with God in 24-7 Prayer Rooms, sometimes in extraordinary ways. You only need to click back through the pages of story-articles on the UK 24-7 Prayer site to see what I mean.

And not only that, but over the years Andrea has developed the role itself… she’s written resources for those who’ve wanted to develop rhythms of prayer and life beyond their Prayer Room. She spoken at conferences and prayer schools, encouraging and teaching many. She’s led teams who’ve run Prayer Rooms/spaces at festivals. And developed partner-relationships with other Christian organisations and projects… and much more. And she’s prayed, that this messy movement of people in/out of Prayer Rooms would somehow inspire people to seek first the kingdom of Heaven.

As an office team, we will miss her because of all of this… and for other reasons too. Andrea was… ‘unique’ is probably the best word! Many of us could tell a story or two… the one where she ‘playfully’ punched a random guy in the face (thinking it was Pete Ward) springs to mind – but you had to be there. ;)

Thankfully, this ‘goodbye’ isn’t as complete as it sounds. Andrea has been an important part of the Anglican/24-7 Prayer Reconcile community in Reading for a while now. She’s leaving her current role with 24-7 prayer to release more time into her involvement there, and into a new job in Reading. So, friends, please pray for her, for God to bless her, as she makes this transition. We are very grateful to her, and to God for her.