"Here in Leeds we have just finished a week of 24/7 Prayer, but just as our prayer for the week just gone was to expect the unexpected, our hope now is that this is just the beginning of a journey not yet trodden," Gemma Bonham writes from Leeds, a city in northern England.

 

"God is good and quite mysterious - I like that! I think that He has been filling the shape, and the week seems to have a real eclectic mix of stories to tell, from straight down the line a guy who had just come out of prison wandering into the prayer room and asking to know Jesus; to a whole Spanish/Colombian church coming, kids and all, to pray that Britain would unlock Europe; to people I don't expect to be praying about justice issues weeping about unfair trade, Europe's hold over the world in the issue of debt and our terrible attitude to those seeking asylum.

 

What has been really great is how so many threads have come together and this has really helped us pray in unity. New Frontiers’ church, Mosaic held a joint creative prayer service with Revive, an ‘alternative’ community of postmodern arty-types, inside a city centre Anglican church, with the current and former Bishops of Ripon and Leeds taking communion with a group of young people who work with refugees (no ceremony just loaves of bread and glasses of wine)!

Also in the prayer room have been those who focus on more strategic prayer alongside those whose focus is on action, both groups starting to understand the connections between their passions.

The real blessing is that of the generations, each night on their knees praying for the nations of Europe was such a broad mix people from different places from those in their late 70s down the generations; 50s; 40s; 30s; 20s and students just 18. I think that the prayer room has seen all from 9 months to 90! The Christian Unions committed to two nights, both the Leeds Uni and the Metropolitan.

It has also been great to see people discovering the prayer room and the prayer stations down stairs in the main church (which are amazing – all thanks to a group called Open Space) just coming in off the streets. The church that hosted the prayer room is in one of the city's main streets (in fact it was the first street built in the city), lots of really positive comments from people who have just floated in. Other groups also used the prayer stations, such as the Speak:City group when they met.

It has not just been about that place either, although most of the week was covered in the prayer room, others from across the city have engaged in the week and its “themes” in other ways. A prayer diary following the beatitudes was distributed, which included prayer for a diverse range of things from global issues such as Make Poverty History to local projects such as Kidz Klub, an amazing cross church initiative which holds a crazy event each week for children across the city, and is then committed to make home visits each week. The themes of witness; parenting; debt relief, those affected by HIV/Aids; children; International Women’s day; tsunami victims; peace; the injustice of poverty and homelessness; trade justice; and welcoming the stranger (focusing on asylum seekers), created a shape for the week, and many churches incorporated them into the church life, so as a city each day we were praying with one voice, even if style may yet prevent us from gathering.

The best thing though was that we did gather at certain points during the week. Wednesday we held a vigil for those affected by the tsunami, remembering the long journey back for so many. We used the prayer stations, shared a short service facilitated by Jon who works for Oxfam, and then witnessed some live art from Heather Jones, an art student from the University, which lead into a wonderful time of prayer and reflection.

"I suddenly realised that things are so deeply connected... wrong use of power inside and outside the church, injustice, prejudice, stumbling blocks to salvation...and on the reverse side freedom, justice, mercy, redemption, peace, love…"

We also gathered for a Fairtrade Prayer Breakfast on Saturday and then finished the week with the Feast of Nations event. This was held in partnership with the Spirit in the City group and was really bought together through the work of the Seymour Group, who are a collection of people from around the city who have been working to bring reconciliation between what were once called’ black majority churches’ and those with white majorities. This has lead to them looking outwards and in order to ensure the established Church in the city is not responsible for the same patterns of neglect and rejection, many of the city’s new international Christian communities were invited to this prayer event, with a hope that relationship can be built from here. It was a wonderful evening; about 500 people attended, representing at least 42 nations, gathering with many languages, but with one voice.

And as for the prayer room, it is still open during the day, and at 10pm each night people are still gathering to pray for Europe…