Announcing our 2020 VisionPete Greig - 20 Sep 2010

‘Where is 24-7 Prayer going next?’ It’s a question I’m often asked and in Scotland last week we responded by launching our 2020 Vision; a roadmap for the next decade of prayer, mission and justice.

We have an amazing opportunity to impact our generation with the gospel and in particular we believe that the Lord is giving us three strategic keys:

1. Prioritizing Prayer – We are blessed with Prayer Rooms all over the world so we’re going to continue to catalyze, connect and resource focused intercession in churches, on campuses and across cities. We’re not backing off, because we know that prayer is where all true transformation begins and ends.
2. Mobilizing Mission – We are also blessed with a growing network of Boiler Room communities around the world, so we’re going to build a few of these into Resource Centers that can plant hundreds of other missional communities for the sake of the poor and for those who don’t know Jesus. Our passion is for justice and our particular focus remains Europe, the darkest continent on earth.
3. Training Leaders – We are blessed with an emerging network of gifted, young leaders so we’re going to equip them to pioneer in every field of society. We’ll do this by mentoring one-on-one, establishing an international college and by nurturing a radical, risk-taking attitude to releasing talent.

2000-2010

Looking back on the last decade, solid foundations have been laid for exponential growth:

• More than two million people have heard the call to 24-7 prayer
• More than 150,000 friends visit this website each month
• More than 7,000 non-stop prayer rooms have been established in 105 countries. Maybe you’ve been involved in one of them, in which case you’ll have your own stories of answered prayer.

It’s been a wild ride by any standard since that first, unsuspecting prayer room ten years ago. Countless people have come to know Christ, missionaries have been shot out like rockets, people have heard God’s voice, others have fallen in love with Him afresh, new churches have been planted and broken hearts have been put back together again.

Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is that there’s been someone somewhere crying out to God in a 24-7 Prayer Room every minute of every hour of every day, continually, for the last ten years. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we were already praying. During the 9/11 attacks? Yep, we were praying then too. Through two Olympic Games, a new pope, a new President, and the invention of Google, we’ve never stopped seeking God’s will for our world.

A ten-year pregnancy

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary he told her that: ‘Nothing is impossible for God’ (Luke 1:37). She was only a teenager and not yet married but when she found out what God was going to do, she worshipped with all her heart. Then, once Jesus was actually born, it got even crazier. Sometimes it honestly feels like 24-7 has been pregnant for a decade, carrying a miraculous new life – a vision to see the world changed through the power of prayer. If you were with us in Scotland you’ll know how we’re worshipping God with all our hearts for what has been conceived in 24-7. But this is just the beginning. Mary’s story reminds us that it’s going to be even more incredible once this beautiful baby gets born.

2010-2020

We were also challenged in Scotland that the vision with which we began is far from fulfilled. So although we’re grateful for the past, we’re not satisfied – in fact we’re actively preparing for exponential growth. We may have started seven Boiler Rooms but we need to start 7000 more. We’ve seen countless individuals impacted but we’re dreaming of seeing entire communities totally transformed. God’s calling us to be agents of reconciliation in the most broken generation of all time. It’s time for this baby to get born.

He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:19-20)

God is sending us to be connectors – agents of reconciliation – in a disconnected generation. Our friends are alienated from God (many of them don’t even believe in Him), they are alienated from one another (broken families and the pandemic of loneliness) and they are alienated from the land (environmental, economic and societal breakdown). And 24-7 has been raised up with a message of hope such a time as this by modeling reconciliation on all three levels of dislocation:

• Reconciliation with God, through prayer and evangelism,
• Reconciliation with one another, through inclusive, welcoming communities,
• Reconciliation with the land, through humble, celebratory, sustainable rhythms and models of life.

We’re looking back and celebrating, but we’re also looking forward and anticipating the exciting possibilities for the next ten years of 24-7 Prayer. What amazing things might God do by the year 2020, if we keep praying and obeying the way we are now?

Is God calling you to join us in this 2020 Vision? We need your prayers, your skills, your giving, and above all we simply need YOU to help fuel this movement of prayer, mission and justice. Together we can change the world for good.

Find out more and explore 24-7 Prayer's 2020 Vision in full online.