'I Discovered Who I Am' - Laying the Foundations of a World Changer - 21 May 2013
In September 2012 we launched the inaugural Vision Course: a five/ten-month adventure in radical discipleship, character development and 24-7 Prayer, based in the USA and Great Britain. Since September the GB course has welcomed 9 students, who have helped on one prayer tour with the Archbishop of Canterbury, travelled Thessaloniki, Macedonia and Ibiza, driven a van to one 24-7 Euro Gathering in Frankfurt, consumed countless cakes, stewarded at 2 24-7 GB Resource days, set up and run around 20 prayer spaces and hosted 170 mind-blowing lectures. It’s been an incredible journey!
The Vision Course has proven to be deeply life-changing for all the students involved and as a movement we have been so blessed by their presence.
I expected to grow and be changed by the Vision Course, but I didn't expect to grow this much, or be changed like I have. God did more than I asked him to, and more than I imagined he would. He has been faithful in the little things and the big things, in Guildford and in Greece. God has called me into a new adventure with him and to hear his voice in a fresh way." Scott Riddle
The Course contains a mixture of Biblical and theological teaching, missional expression (both locally in Guildford and on a 5 week overseas placement), character development through mentoring and learning and practicing hospitality whilst living among a 24-7 Prayer community in Guildford. We have found this mixture of ‘Live, Love, Learn’ aspects to come together very effectively to form a life changing environment for our students.
The Vision Course is up there with my baptism as a pivotal moment in my spiritual life and walk with God. It gave my biblical and theological knowledge an exponential boost. It allowed me to make new friends and hugely widen my networks. It brought me opportunities I wouldn’t have had anywhere else but most importantly, it gave me a hunger to see prayer, mission and justice flow through everything. To see God’s kingdom come." Christie Harman
Hosting the Vision Course within the heart of the 24-7 movement means that our core values of prayer, mission, hospitality, creativity, justice & mercy and learning are central to the students’ experience. They receive teaching from a host of world-class speakers working through an extensive curriculum, serve the local church and volunteer alongside the 24-7 staff team.
The teaching the students receive is then cemented in their encounters with God in the prayer room. It is here that they have discovered more about the heart of God and the truth of their identity in him.
The Vision Course has given me time, space and resources to discover who I am, what I am and where I’m going in God. It’s allowed and encouraged me to discover the things that I’m good at and accept the things I’m not so good at. Being in a new place and around new people has allowed me to start from scratch, to build the foundations in my relationship with God that I will carry with me the rest of my life." Nicky McMullin
As we approach the end of our second term running the Vision Course we have so much to be thankful to God for. He has been so faithful in equipping us to train the students and we have already seen miraculous growth in their lives. We are also incredibly thankful to our partners who continue to support the visions and dreams of the 24-7 Prayer movement. As we look ahead to the next term starting this September, it is with very high expectations of all that God can do as we seek to train up a generation of world-changers!
This course will bring even more life to this amazing movement that is changing people all over the world. I’ve been honoured to have this time to restore my life with God and to learn and be in a wonderful community. I am so thankful to have been a part of this course." Nick Ashman