UK: Good deeds in Leeds! - 17 Jan 2005

"Exciting things are happening in Leeds!" writes Gemma Bonham, who's just finished a 6-month research project looking into the prayer-life of this English city. "It has just been a great experience going around the city interviewing everyone from communities of nuns to guys from Sowing Seeds for Revival (prophetic types that pray for cities and have prayed ino the Reading Boiler Room  -Ed.), people from every denomination in the city (except I got no reply from the Moravians!!)
 
I've spoken with over-65s and 14-year-olds, it has been so humbling - God has already opened so many doors."
 

Having finished the research phase, Gemma now has to write up the report and submit it to her funders, so they can decide whether to fund a further 6 months or not. "I'm SO praying they do," says Gemma, "as there is so much hunger to pray in this city and to pray together, learning different styles and finding unity in prayer."
 
 
One of the most exciting things is that Emma found was so many people wanting to have a prayer room, from so many different traditions.
 
"I started to ask people whether they would like to do a 24-7prayer week as part of the research, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
So, we are going to start off with a week (but we are hoping for much more in the future!) from 5 - 13 March, in one of the oldest churches in the city centre (which has become the chaplaincy to the arts).  The vicar has really embraced the vision for the week of 24-7prayer and is really excited about it.
 
As part of it, we are going to have a city-wide vigil on Wednesday 10 for those affected by the tsunami. And on the last day, Saturday 13 March, we will close with an event called 'the Feast of Nations', which has already been organised by a steering group (set up to bring unity and reconciliation between predominately black churches and those which are predominately white). These relationships have been being restored in the city for a number of years now, and this event is intended to be a celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as being a welcome to those newly finding faith and a home in Leeds from other nations.

We really felt that this 24-7prayer week should have a focus on JUSTICE and PEACE. In November this year there will be a high profile project in Leeds called 'Together for Peace', geared towards declaring Leeds as a 'city of peace'. Then there's the 'Making Poverty History' and the 'Big Dress' campaign (by 24-7's UK partners SPEAK) launches this year... and the fact that this year the G8 group of nations will meet in the UK, with all the International Development secretaries meeting in our city. We felt that these factors pointed us towards the JUSTICE and PEACE themes, and we are partnering with SPEAK as part of this.

During the research, I noted that people frequently talked of wanting to 'escape' from the lie that either you *do* or you *pray*... but that and you can’t do both. I think that the two are inseparable - our intercessory cries feed our action, and visa versa. The synergy of the two coming together also breaks down some of the historic division between 'social action' and traditional 'evangelism'. So to explore this we might loosely base the week on the beatitudes looking at one each day, taking them from Matthew 5, then there is the perfect number for the number of days! (A new book by 24-7prayer and Faithworks, entitled 'PrayerWorks', to be released by Easter, will practically explore this theme. Stay tuned! -Ed.)

It's so exciting to see so much enthusiasm. Although we are encouraging people to come to the 24-7prayer room, and to drop into the church when it is open during the day, we are also going to run a remote programme for those who can’t get into town. One of the groups clearly committed to prayer are the elderly, and it has been fantastic to be able to encourage them by developing a prayer diary so they are not excluded due to immobility. I have discovered so many hidden praying people in our city, who are just longing for information to feed their prayers.

So far we also have endorsement from Leeds Churches Together in Mission, Network:Leeds and Spirit in the City (all Leeds networking/unity groups), and (as yet unofficially) from the Bishop and the Chair of Methodist District, and we have not even tried yet to get endorsement yet, God is amazing, ...I don't know why we have waited so long!! It's ace."

For more information on what Gemma's up to in Leeds, check this - http://www.networkleeds.com/index.pl?z=4 
 
And do tell us what you're up to in your city!? (...in the UK, email: [email protected])

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