What's next for 24-7 Prayer? Carla Harding shares her big newsRebecca Swarbrick - 25 Apr 2013

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Carla Harding. Here's what she had to say...

1) So, what’s your news?

I’m  about to have a baby. Very, very soon, the Harding family is expecting an addition. I don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl so waiting for the big surprise.

2) How are you feeling about it?

I am mostly very excited; can’t wait to meet our little one. And a little but daunted if I’m honest because life is about to change so massively.

3) What do you think you’ll miss most about working for 24-7 in the coming months?

 Everything. I love it so much. The people particularly. The people that serve this movement are amazing. And just incredible to live and share life with and work alongside. I will definitely miss hearing all the stories first from all the prayer rooms, which is such a privilege and celebrate getting to celebrate all those little victories we hear about all around the world. I’ll miss the travel, but it won’t be for long. I’m looking forward to coming back to it.

4) What’s been the highlight or key moment in your journey with 24-7 so far?

It’s been a long time! 24-7 has been so formative to me and my faith. It’s difficult to pick just a few things. The obvious ones would be the first ever prayer room and the impact it had on me as an eighteen year old student in a new city, working out how important my faith was and God becoming completely central to my life through my experience there. I genuinely don’t know where I’d be without that experience.

My first time in Ibiza on mission. That’s probably the next biggest milestone connecting what I was learning about living in relationship with God and then how you express that love and the possibilities for letting prayer loose with other people – Ibiza was incredible.

Starting to work full-time on serving the movement, that was pretty amazing too. I remember when Pete (Greig) offered me a job. I don’t think I even though, I don’t think I even hesitated, I just said YES immediately. I was like 'this is my dream job, I get to work on what God is doing around the world, why would I even think about this?'

So yeah, that’s definitely a mile stone and I’ve learnt so much just from the people that I get to work alongside.

There are so many incredible people, some of which you might have heard their names like Pete Greig, Pete is fantastic, an excellent friend, a really wise mentor and just somebody who really lives what he talks about. But people that many may not have heard their names who serve in the background have equally challenged me and have taught me so much and have been incredible friends on this journey. They have shaped me in a million tiny ways. If I keep going I could give you a milestone for every single year and seeing as it’s been about fourteen years this could take a while : )

5) Did you expect the movement to grow in the way that it has?

No not at all. And if you told me that 10 years later I would still be doing it full-time I would have been really surprised. I don’t think any of us thought it would still be a movement. We didn’t did we? God has constantly outdone my expectations. Every time I think it has grown as big as it’s going to get it gets so much bigger and that has been the most amazing encouragement because I know we’re not making it happen. I know that we couldn’t if we tried. We really couldn’t – you should see our office, it’s funny! But I know it’s God and to be a part of something with so much of His Spirit and His life it’s so humbling and that’s why I’m going to miss it. That’s why this period of time is bitter-sweet. Incredibly sweet, I can’t wait to be a mum, but I am sad to be pausing the way I’ve been involved in 24-7. I’ll still be around, I’ll still be praying, but I won’t be serving like I have been for a little while.

6) What around your hopes for the future of 24-7?

I think that part of the original vision, the original call that galvanized us is still yet to be fulfilled.

Two aspects of it particularly:

One was around the continent of Europe, though we have seen so much and it’s the continent with the most activity in the movement around the world which is really encouraging there is so much yet to see. I fiercely believe in the church in Europe and it’s not popular and it’s not cool and it has some great challenges ahead of it. But I really believe that God’s got more for it and I think that part of the call of 24-7 is around this continent.

The other thing that we haven’t seen all of what we’re going to see is around young people. I think that 24-7 is wonderfully inclusive of all generations, but there’s something particularly at the sharp end of it around young people, teenagers and student age and early twenties particularly.

That might be my bias because it had such an impact on my at that age. But I think it still does and when I meet people within those age brackets, when I see what’s happening with Prayer Spaces in Schools, not just in the UK, but Germany, New Zealand, Ireland, Uganda, when I see how 24-7 all the heart or the core and the creativity and the passion and the activism, with the challenge and extreme nature of 24-7 interacts with those generations it just sparks things. And I think we’ve seen so much and I’m really grateful, but I think there’s a lot more to come. So I think the future of 24-7 has more within those generations. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but I don’t think I should yet so it’s alright.

7) Are there particular lessons that you’ve learnt in your role here that you’d like to share?

Yes. There’s no such thing as a person who can’t pray. There really isn’t. I think we have misrepresented prayer at times, or we miss what it is and what it isn’t and then when we struggle with those ideas we think we’re struggling with our relationship with God and conversation with God and intercession and all the big and scarey words that come with that, but

the more people I meet and the more I see God do, the more I realize that there’s no such thing as someone who is bad at prayer, only people who haven’t discovered their language yet.

God has been so gracious in giving us creativity, in giving us the wealth and breadth of the church as it is today and the history of the church as it’s been through the ages – Celtic and monastic traditions, so many have inspired us and we get to draw from that massive palette to find our language in God and in talking to God and I truly believe that there is a language out there for everyone, that’s definitely been true of me and I’m constantly discovering more depth and more connection and more challenge and more questions, but I feel more and more equipped to handle them, because I have that relationship, that conversation  established and that’s been through 24-7 Prayer.

8)  Is there anything in particular you’d like to say to 24-7 Partners?

Thank you. I know that probably sounds really obvious and I don’t at all mean  that flippantly and I pray for you guys and will keep praying for you guys whilst I’m on my maternity leave.

It really is a big part because of you that we get to help people all over the world to pray and then not just pray, but go out and become the answer to that prayer and I really, really couldn’t thank you enough for the small and large ways you’ve sacrificed and given.

I’m a Partner too and I give alongside you and I’ll keep doing that and it is such a joy to see it multiplied. God has always taken what we can give and multiplied it a thousand fold. You would not believe what He achieves through what we can give. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I look forward to speaking to you again when I’m a mum and probably a lot more sleep deprived, but hopefully very happy.

Thank you very much Carla.