Amazing Report! Conversions & Crime Falls in Squatter Camps thru 24-7 Prayer - 3 Sep 2006
 | Peter Sekhonynane has been an evangelist for many years; during 22 years of evangelistic crusades he has planted 175 churches all over South Africa. Sadly, in the weeks and months after each crusade, he was accustomed to seeing new converts |
| slowly slipping away, until after 2 years only 3 or 4 % of the original converts remained. However, in 2004 all of this was about to change. Pete Greig and Carla Trundle unearthed the following amazing story of transformation through prayer during their recent visit to South Africa. | |
Humble Beginnings
|
Peter lives in an informal settlement (squatter
camp) of 1.4 million people on the outskirts of Soweto called Orange
Farms. In August 2004 he decided that he would use his home town to
experiment with a new evangelistic strategy suggested by friends:
setting up a 24-7 prayer watch. Over the next 3 weeks he taught his
friends and neighbours how to pray, using a huge 300 seater tent that
had been donated. | 
An informal settlement near Soweto |
| The idea was an instant success; during the following 6 months another 12 prayer watches were established in Orange Farms, with people praying 12 to 15 hours a day. This was a shadow of things to come... | |
In the months and years that followed, the idea of 24-7 prayer watches took off like wild fire. At present there are more than 1407
prayer watches in townships, informal settlements, villages and towns
across South Africa. “Roaming prayer tents” are used to plant prayer
watches; after a few weeks they are dismantled and moved on to the next
location. There are currently 64 prayer watches in Orange Farms, Peter’s home town, 40 of which are praying 24 hours a day. Most incredibly, over 100 new prayer watches are being established every month, and this growth has continued steadily for the past 25 months!
Social Transformation
 |
These remarkable events have not escaped the
notice of the authorities. Crime is an enormous problem in South
Africa, which has one of the highest rates of murder and violent crime
in the world. The police superintendent of Orange Farms has been
astonished to note a steady reduction in crime in the area: a decrease
of 20% a month since the beginning of 2006. |
|
Not slow off the mark, the police superintendent
and his colleagues have begun to work with Peter and his friends when
choosing the location for the next prayer watch, because wherever the
prayer tents go, crime is inevitably reduced. | |
Peter has been amazed to see that more people are
now being converted in prayer tents than through evangelistic crusades.
The new converts, a large proportion of which are between 20 and 35
years old, are joining 24-7 prayer watches, and the most amazing
stories of healing, restoration of marriages and families, and
conversions are circulating. Peter is overjoyed to report that over 80%
of the past two years' new converts are still attending church, and are
actively involved in praying South Africa towards a more
Christ-centered future.
 |
Shirley Cameron grew up in South Africa; she now lives in
Wokingham, close to Reading, U.K. She studied English literature at
university but currently earns her living as a computer geek. Her wider
interests include singing, watching sci-fi, running marathons and
walking in the mountains. |