Unite in prayer for revival!
Yorkshire-based Prayer for Revival is growing in number and beyond its borders. The united prayer gatherings that took place on 14 July were again a great encouragement to all who participated.
The eight meetings around Yorkshire were attended by a total of 180 people. At every meeting there was a good spirit; and prayer flowed freely, as led by the Holy Spirit.
We prayed for our own churches, for the outpouring of the Spirit to empower the preaching of the gospel in our own county, across the nation and throughout the world.
We are aware of a further 14 meetings that took place around the country, from Exmouth in the far south-west to Edinburgh in the north. Another 300 people were involved in these.
It is so encouraging to see that what began as a small initiative of a group of churches in Yorkshire is now spreading to cover much of the country. It was particularly thrilling to hear of some folk in one of the meetings in the south of England who were enabled to pray publicly for the first time in their lives.
As the Concert of Prayer for Revival is now growing beyond its original Yorkshire boundaries, it is necessary to plan further ahead. This will make nationwide co-ordination easier and enable people around the country to plan ahead effectively.
Diary dates
We are therefore intending, from now, to meet for prayer on the first Saturday morning of each quarter — in January, April, July and October.
These dates have been deliberately chosen as an act of fellowship with brothers and sisters in Northern Ireland who were already meeting in united gatherings to pray for revival before the Yorkshire initiative began.
They meet on the first Friday evening of these months, so our programme will enable us to pray during the same weekend as they do.
It may be that local factors will sometimes make it impossible for a particular group to meet on one of these dates. In that case, there is, of course, freedom to adjust the programme and meet on an adjacent Saturday, or on a nearby evening.
We must not get legalistic about the programme. It is simply a way of facilitating united prayer; there has to be flexibility where that is necessary.
The date of the next united gatherings is 6 October. The plan in Yorkshire is to hold a central meeting at City Evangelical Church, Leeds, and a satellite meeting at Whitby Evangelical Church. Both meetings will run from 10.00am until noon.
We hope that those of you in other parts of the country will be able to unite with us in prayer on this date.
Jonathan Bayes and Erroll Hulse
