Wondering what this whole 24-7 Prayer thing is all about?
Here are five videos from Spain, Australia, Canada and England showing you 24-7 prayer rooms, mission and boiler rooms. Click between them and enjoy!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Nordic Gathering 2008
Tillsammans
11.-13.1.2008
Are you a part
...in God's plan for this generation?
...in the network of 24-7 friends in your country?
...in a prayer movement in the Nordic and Baltic countries?
We are inviting these pieces to come together to the Nordic and Baltic 24-7 Prayer gathering in Turku, Finland on 11-13th of January 2008.
We are coming together to ask/see/wonder what 24-7 looks like in the Nordic countries and what Jesus wants to do through these relationships. That’s why the weekend will be interactive – we want to hear stories and share ideas.
We expect to meet people from Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, England, Lithuania and Latvia.
During the weekend we will pray, that God would clarify/strengthen our national identities and would show what is our place in the puzzle made from these different pieces.
We believe that God made us to live in fellowship with each other and that He wants to show us the practical ways of doing that.
Welcome!
Where: at Heinänokka, Turku
When: Fri 11.1.2008 at 17.00 -Sun 13.1.2008 at 14.00
Cost: 50 € that includes the stay and food (the price is the same no matter how long you stay)
Ask for more info: the link to our email address is at the top of the righthand column.
Registration: before 5.12.2007 at http://tillsammans.auvinen.ws
NOTICE:
Unfortunately we can accept only a very limited number of participants from each country. Please fill a form at http://tillsammans.auvinen.ws. We will contact you personally to confirm your place at the gathering.
Friday, November 16, 2007
24-7 in Latvia!
Most of you know we are having a Nordic and Baltic Gathering in January. Well our friends in Latvia have just out up their trilingualwebsite and plan to start praying around Latvia at the start of the new year! Lets pray for our friends Stuart, Ieva and Sarah in Riga who are putting this all together.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Feasting...
It was great to see some of you in Seville! What a great weekend...
Just to let you know there is a Facebook group called 24-7 Nordic and an event called 'The Feast' where you can post pictures/videos.
Just to let you know there is a Facebook group called 24-7 Nordic and an event called 'The Feast' where you can post pictures/videos.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Stories from Iceland
On Easter Sunday earlier this year, while London was basking in hot sunshine, a group of 24-7ers went on a mission trip adventure to Iceland, where the temperature was just above freezing. Were we crazy? Absolutely. Especially as there was no plan. Well…I had a few half-baked ideas to pray here and there, but this was essentially a leap of faith, a hope that God would lead us somewhere.
The story had started three years ago in August 2004 when I went to Iceland on holiday with a friend. I was fascinated and intrigued by this beautiful, remote and vibrant country with its mysterious scenery and cool music. On one occasion we stayed at a remote hostel in the middle of a golf course near a remote town called Borganes. The setting sun reflected incredible red and orange colours on the hills in distance and so we drove up to higher ground and watched the most amazing sunset I had ever seen. It felt like such a holy moment that I prayed with my friend in the car, and at that moment I felt like something had stirred and come alive in me, and that I would be back to Iceland before too long.
In 2006, Phil Evans from 24-7 heard of my interest in Iceland and suggesting I took a mission team to Iceland. My life was crazily busy and despite Phil’s constant pestering (!) I decided I didn’t have the time or energy to take the team that year. However, I decided to give up my job in September and shortly afterward I attended the 24-7 international leader’s gathering in London. During the gathering, a friend of mine, Rosie, bumped into a friendly American called Eric on the tube (metro). They got chatting (which, if you know London, is very unusual on the underground) and discovered they were at the same conference. Eric told Rosie that he had a vision to move to Iceland and start a House of Prayer in Reykjavik. Rosie then told him about my Icelandic interest (you have to understand that in a city the size of London, this meeting was such a co-incidence!) So Rosie introduced Eric to me and we exchanged details and decided to go out there on a fact-finding visit later in the year.
So, in November 2006 I set out for Iceland, via the 24-7 Nordic gathering in Stockholm. Eric got up and shared about his vision for Iceland, and it seemed an honour and responsibility that Eric (an American) and I (a Brit) were here to represent Iceland, a country with no national representatives at the gathering. The gathering was a great time of preparation and getting to know other people from the Nordic nations. When we eventually arrived in Reykjavik a few days later we felt a sense of anticipation at what God had in store. We spent a good few days wandering around Reykjavik, praying, chatting, drinking coffee from cosy cafes, just trying to take in and listen to the things God was saying to us. The temperature was well below freezing and the snow lay thick on the ground. I had one Christian contact- a Vineyard pastor whose name was the only fruit of a long internet search for churches in Iceland. He was away in the UK for a conference but had asked Eric, Mark and I to speak to the youth group, and so we made arrangements to meet his daughter Helene-Inga in a downtown restaurant. After a quick meal, we followed Helene-Inga back to her house where the youth group was to meet. However, one by one the youth group cancelled, and so it was just the three of us thirty-something guys with two teenage girls in the house, feeling a little awkward. Helene-Inga then remembered there was an IHOP-style prayer meeting in the Philadalphia Pentecostal church in central Reykjavik. (IHOP is a night and day prayer movement that started in the USA around the same time as 24-7 in UK). So we jumped in the car and were very soon back in Reykjavik walking into a worship/prayer meeting in Icelandic! After the meeting Helene-Inga introduced us to the worship leader, a girl in her mid-twenties called Gugga. Eric briefly explained why we were here and she immediately fell to the ground in either shock, amazement or under the power of the spirit. Either way, it seemed like we were right in the middle of God’s purposes as Gugga explained many Christians have been praying in Iceland for a movement of night and day prayer, a house of prayer for the city and nation.
Our new Icelandic friends also introduced Eric to a Christian estate agent (realtor) who was fully behind the vision for a house of prayer in Reykjavik. We looked at one property in downtown Reykjavik and dreamed of prayers and pilgrims praying non-stop for the city, and for a place of revelation and love for the people of Iceland.
We also spent time praying in Hallgrimskirkje, a beautiful modern church on a hill in the middle of Reykjavik, with windows behind the altar from which you can look out over the city and to the hills beyond. We just felt a sense of God’s peace there where we could chill out and pray and hear God. We longed that one day this place would be full again with people praising God and seeking his face. I also had the opportunity to see the northern lights for the first time – eerie but awesome green streaks across the dark sky, viewed from the hot-tub in our guesthouse! We returned to our respective nations with a strong sense of God’s purposes and excited by what may be to come.
After Christmas I began planning to take a team to Iceland in Easter as one of the pioneering /mission teams 24-7 were planning to send out to various nations across Europe. After advertising on the 24-7 website we gathered a team of 7 (including Eric and Katie), and flew out to Reykjavik on Easter Sunday 2007.
I was excited, but underneath completely unsure of what we would actually do. Normally, I am a planner, liking to organise and plan things to the nearest detail, strategising and dreaming months in advance. I had ideas for 2 or 3 days……. but we were here for 7! I had broad aims and objectives and ideas for places we could pray but nothing concrete. It was difficult to do focused evangelistic outreach as I was very keen we build strong relationships with churches, something really significant as Iceland has often had people coming out, doing independent outreach and then disappearing as fast as they came. We wanted to build for the long term, not do ‘hit and run’. We arrived mid afternoon, and settled into our accommodation (BB44 in Kopavogur) where we had stayed in November. Sigga, Tolli and her family who run the guesthouse gave us the warmest welcome, having known Eric for a few years. The first afternoon we spent chilling, praying, organising food and hijacked the conservatory for our team meetings! We shared communion and ate together and prayed for God’s blessing on our time. I was desperately praying for inspiration and that God would do something – I didn’t want to bring a team all they way here for everyone to be bored or disappointed.
On Easter Monday we wandered around Reykjavik, praying and trying to listen to what God was saying, taking photographs, getting a feel for the nation and people. One downside of this is that it was so cold that we couldn’t stand to be outside for too long! So we wandered between shops and coffee bars praying, talking, listening, freezing and thawing. Due to the adverse weather we were back sooner than I planned, so we spent more time praying and laughing and getting to know each other in the guesthouse. The following day we drove out to the hills north of Reykjavik, taking in the breathtaking scenery. It was now that I was running out of ideas. There were more trips we could do, but I wanted to avoid this being a tourist holiday. We met up with Gugga, in the classy coffee shop where she worked in downtown Reykjavik, and she also invited the children’s pastor from her church and another friend called Kolbeinn Sigurdsson, who was really excited to meet us as he had a specific vision for night and day prayer in Iceland. He invited us to a prayer meeting later that evening that he led each week. After this, Eric and Katie had arranged to meet the Christian estate agents who were looking for a house to be used as a house of prayer. We all agreed to go along as we figured seven people praying and listening to God was better than two! We started to get inspired as we looked around houses and began to dream of the potential for a 24-7 prayer monastery in the heart of Reykjavik. It was cool to be able to pray in one of the houses with the estate agents!! We also looked round a run-down warehouse near the harbour. We clambered in over dust-covered junk and climbed the stairs. Looking round we felt that this definitely wasn’t the right place…however, the property owner handed Eric a box containing a small pair of silver clogs as a random present…..which was incredible because at the Nordic 24-7 gathering Eric had received a prophetic picture from someone, which involved Eric walking across Iceland in clogs!! So even in this run down place, the presence of God was already there.
In the evening we had been invited by Kolbeinn to the weekly prayer meeting he led in a church in Kopavogur, about 10 min drive from the guesthouse. I must admit to feeling tired, and the team was running late as we rushed to get dinner cooked and then get out to the meeting. My initial thoughts were ‘We’ll go along, pray for a bit and then come home and get an early night and work out what we are going to do tomorrow’. We arrived at the prayer meeting about 15mins late, but we were immediately put at ease by the warm welcome we received from the Icelanders present at the meeting. Eric got up and shared his vision, and we split off to pray individually for about an hour before coming together for corporate prayer. What followed I can’t really describe in much detail because it was too awesome for words. There was a real sense of God’s presence and some of us shared prophetic words and bible verses we had been meditating on during the personal prayer time. Then, one by one, our new Icelandic friends called us out to pray for us and prophecy over us. This time was so powerful and so personal that it wouldn’t be right to share on a public website! But it was like we had the secrets and dreams of our hearts revealed, and although I can only speak for myself, I came out just about speechless, and I can honestly say it was the most powerful prayer meeting I can ever remember being in!
The next day was spent chilling at the Blue Lagoon (amazing geo-thermally heated outdoor natural pool) where we chatted and reflected on our previous night’s experience. The following evening, Kolbeinn and his wife Ella had invited us to their home in Hafnafjordur for an evening meal. We tucked into a great chicken curry while chatting to Kolbeinn more about why we were here. While we there Eric mentioned that he came from Charlotte, North Carolina. Kolbeinn and Ella then explained that they had been praying a few months earlier and had received the word ‘Charlotte’ as they were praying. They wrote it down and didn’t fully understand this at the time, they didn’t even realise it was a town in the USA. It was only now that they realised the significance of that word! I felt this sense of what I can only describe as ‘Holy Fear’ – this sense that somehow we were right in the middle of God’s purposes for this nation – purposes that had led Kolbeinn and Ella to leave their missionary life in Rwanda and come back to Iceland because of a vision for night and day prayer….purposes that would led Eric and Katie to leave their lifelong home in the States and follow God’s call to move to Iceland….purposes that led me to go to Iceland on holiday 3 years ago and to eventually take a 24-7 team here…purposes that had seemingly randomly drawn us together for this moment…..(not to mention the fact that Kolbeinn’s old pastor in Rwanda was friends with Greg who was on the team from Charlotte) After dinner we felt we had to pray, and had another awesome time of worship, prayer and mutual encouragement….
The following day we returned to Kolbeinn’s home to share with some more Icelanders why we were here…Greg talked about the history and ethos of IHOP, while I shared about the history and vision of 24-7 (I somehow managed without a copy of Red Moon Rising to hand!). We then prayed for the Icelanders who were there ,which was a real privilege as the Icelanders had kind of blessed us a whole lot more than I felt we had blessed them! We returned home the next day bewildered but excited at what God had done…he had taken my fragile plans and tendency to want to organise something to the finest detail and done something completely different and unexpected. You could argue that we didn’t see anybody saved or healed, we didn’t do the frontline mission stuff…but God seemed to have completely different plans for this trip. We had felt part of a much bigger plan that God was bringing together in his timing…and for now it was a time to be still and reflect on God’s awesomeness.
There is so much more I could write, and if this has aroused your curiosity and interest then I highly recommend reading Carol Baker’s report on the trip from the perspective of a team member! Carol is a journalist by trade and a great writer. There should hopefully be a link at the bottom of this article!
To sum up, and for you to pray for this tiny but incredible nation, I’ll leave you with some general prayer points and prophetic insight that came from the team prayer times/prayer walking and conversation, usually in a coffee house or hot tub!
-Iceland had Christianity forced on it in 1000AD – it was a 50%-50% decision between Christianity and Paganism – they decided on Christianity and everyone was baptised in a day! The state Lutheran church has a membership of something like 98% - but very few devout believers. We felt that God wanted to do something bubbling up from below, organically, a move of God springing up from the grass roots like a geyser, to counter the top-down approach. We would love you to pray for this move of God and for Eric and Katie as they move to Iceland this month, with the vision of starting a prayer room and urban monastery, and that they would live out the Kingdom of God amongst the Icelandic people.
-Iceland is an intensely spiritual place, with a lot of occult and new age activity as well as Christianity…please pray that the openness to spirituality would lead to the Icelandic people seeking and receiving God in a powerful way!
-Iceland is very creative and produces the most amazing music, including the likes of Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum… the music often reflects a sense of deeper spirituality than much of western pop culture…pray that Icelanders would discover God the creator, who loves music and who loves them even more!
-Pray for unity amongst the churches, and a pastors prayer conference that Kolbeinn is organising in November. Pray that God would stir the hearts of the Christians to seek him more and more in prayer.
-One of the pastors we spoke to said Icelanders have the opposite to ‘Janteladen’, in that they believe they can do anything- they are a very entrepreneurial nation…pray that they would come to rely on God as the source of their confidence.
-Pray for the young people who hang out on the main street in Reykjavik, Laugavegur, know for its crazy drunkenness…pray for creative outreach and relationship building by Christians in the cafes, bars and clubs and the possibility of having a prayer room on this street…
-Pray that Eric and Katie would settle in well into their new environment and that God would supply all of their financial need, good friends, direction, resources and would mightily bless them!
-Pray for some Icelanders to come to the Nordic 24-7 gathering next year!
If you are interested in being involved in future Iceland teams, or would like to be kept informed of developments please e-mail me on sieuro@hotmail.com and I would love to chat to you!
The story had started three years ago in August 2004 when I went to Iceland on holiday with a friend. I was fascinated and intrigued by this beautiful, remote and vibrant country with its mysterious scenery and cool music. On one occasion we stayed at a remote hostel in the middle of a golf course near a remote town called Borganes. The setting sun reflected incredible red and orange colours on the hills in distance and so we drove up to higher ground and watched the most amazing sunset I had ever seen. It felt like such a holy moment that I prayed with my friend in the car, and at that moment I felt like something had stirred and come alive in me, and that I would be back to Iceland before too long.
In 2006, Phil Evans from 24-7 heard of my interest in Iceland and suggesting I took a mission team to Iceland. My life was crazily busy and despite Phil’s constant pestering (!) I decided I didn’t have the time or energy to take the team that year. However, I decided to give up my job in September and shortly afterward I attended the 24-7 international leader’s gathering in London. During the gathering, a friend of mine, Rosie, bumped into a friendly American called Eric on the tube (metro). They got chatting (which, if you know London, is very unusual on the underground) and discovered they were at the same conference. Eric told Rosie that he had a vision to move to Iceland and start a House of Prayer in Reykjavik. Rosie then told him about my Icelandic interest (you have to understand that in a city the size of London, this meeting was such a co-incidence!) So Rosie introduced Eric to me and we exchanged details and decided to go out there on a fact-finding visit later in the year.
So, in November 2006 I set out for Iceland, via the 24-7 Nordic gathering in Stockholm. Eric got up and shared about his vision for Iceland, and it seemed an honour and responsibility that Eric (an American) and I (a Brit) were here to represent Iceland, a country with no national representatives at the gathering. The gathering was a great time of preparation and getting to know other people from the Nordic nations. When we eventually arrived in Reykjavik a few days later we felt a sense of anticipation at what God had in store. We spent a good few days wandering around Reykjavik, praying, chatting, drinking coffee from cosy cafes, just trying to take in and listen to the things God was saying to us. The temperature was well below freezing and the snow lay thick on the ground. I had one Christian contact- a Vineyard pastor whose name was the only fruit of a long internet search for churches in Iceland. He was away in the UK for a conference but had asked Eric, Mark and I to speak to the youth group, and so we made arrangements to meet his daughter Helene-Inga in a downtown restaurant. After a quick meal, we followed Helene-Inga back to her house where the youth group was to meet. However, one by one the youth group cancelled, and so it was just the three of us thirty-something guys with two teenage girls in the house, feeling a little awkward. Helene-Inga then remembered there was an IHOP-style prayer meeting in the Philadalphia Pentecostal church in central Reykjavik. (IHOP is a night and day prayer movement that started in the USA around the same time as 24-7 in UK). So we jumped in the car and were very soon back in Reykjavik walking into a worship/prayer meeting in Icelandic! After the meeting Helene-Inga introduced us to the worship leader, a girl in her mid-twenties called Gugga. Eric briefly explained why we were here and she immediately fell to the ground in either shock, amazement or under the power of the spirit. Either way, it seemed like we were right in the middle of God’s purposes as Gugga explained many Christians have been praying in Iceland for a movement of night and day prayer, a house of prayer for the city and nation.
Our new Icelandic friends also introduced Eric to a Christian estate agent (realtor) who was fully behind the vision for a house of prayer in Reykjavik. We looked at one property in downtown Reykjavik and dreamed of prayers and pilgrims praying non-stop for the city, and for a place of revelation and love for the people of Iceland.
We also spent time praying in Hallgrimskirkje, a beautiful modern church on a hill in the middle of Reykjavik, with windows behind the altar from which you can look out over the city and to the hills beyond. We just felt a sense of God’s peace there where we could chill out and pray and hear God. We longed that one day this place would be full again with people praising God and seeking his face. I also had the opportunity to see the northern lights for the first time – eerie but awesome green streaks across the dark sky, viewed from the hot-tub in our guesthouse! We returned to our respective nations with a strong sense of God’s purposes and excited by what may be to come.
After Christmas I began planning to take a team to Iceland in Easter as one of the pioneering /mission teams 24-7 were planning to send out to various nations across Europe. After advertising on the 24-7 website we gathered a team of 7 (including Eric and Katie), and flew out to Reykjavik on Easter Sunday 2007.
I was excited, but underneath completely unsure of what we would actually do. Normally, I am a planner, liking to organise and plan things to the nearest detail, strategising and dreaming months in advance. I had ideas for 2 or 3 days……. but we were here for 7! I had broad aims and objectives and ideas for places we could pray but nothing concrete. It was difficult to do focused evangelistic outreach as I was very keen we build strong relationships with churches, something really significant as Iceland has often had people coming out, doing independent outreach and then disappearing as fast as they came. We wanted to build for the long term, not do ‘hit and run’. We arrived mid afternoon, and settled into our accommodation (BB44 in Kopavogur) where we had stayed in November. Sigga, Tolli and her family who run the guesthouse gave us the warmest welcome, having known Eric for a few years. The first afternoon we spent chilling, praying, organising food and hijacked the conservatory for our team meetings! We shared communion and ate together and prayed for God’s blessing on our time. I was desperately praying for inspiration and that God would do something – I didn’t want to bring a team all they way here for everyone to be bored or disappointed.
On Easter Monday we wandered around Reykjavik, praying and trying to listen to what God was saying, taking photographs, getting a feel for the nation and people. One downside of this is that it was so cold that we couldn’t stand to be outside for too long! So we wandered between shops and coffee bars praying, talking, listening, freezing and thawing. Due to the adverse weather we were back sooner than I planned, so we spent more time praying and laughing and getting to know each other in the guesthouse. The following day we drove out to the hills north of Reykjavik, taking in the breathtaking scenery. It was now that I was running out of ideas. There were more trips we could do, but I wanted to avoid this being a tourist holiday. We met up with Gugga, in the classy coffee shop where she worked in downtown Reykjavik, and she also invited the children’s pastor from her church and another friend called Kolbeinn Sigurdsson, who was really excited to meet us as he had a specific vision for night and day prayer in Iceland. He invited us to a prayer meeting later that evening that he led each week. After this, Eric and Katie had arranged to meet the Christian estate agents who were looking for a house to be used as a house of prayer. We all agreed to go along as we figured seven people praying and listening to God was better than two! We started to get inspired as we looked around houses and began to dream of the potential for a 24-7 prayer monastery in the heart of Reykjavik. It was cool to be able to pray in one of the houses with the estate agents!! We also looked round a run-down warehouse near the harbour. We clambered in over dust-covered junk and climbed the stairs. Looking round we felt that this definitely wasn’t the right place…however, the property owner handed Eric a box containing a small pair of silver clogs as a random present…..which was incredible because at the Nordic 24-7 gathering Eric had received a prophetic picture from someone, which involved Eric walking across Iceland in clogs!! So even in this run down place, the presence of God was already there.
In the evening we had been invited by Kolbeinn to the weekly prayer meeting he led in a church in Kopavogur, about 10 min drive from the guesthouse. I must admit to feeling tired, and the team was running late as we rushed to get dinner cooked and then get out to the meeting. My initial thoughts were ‘We’ll go along, pray for a bit and then come home and get an early night and work out what we are going to do tomorrow’. We arrived at the prayer meeting about 15mins late, but we were immediately put at ease by the warm welcome we received from the Icelanders present at the meeting. Eric got up and shared his vision, and we split off to pray individually for about an hour before coming together for corporate prayer. What followed I can’t really describe in much detail because it was too awesome for words. There was a real sense of God’s presence and some of us shared prophetic words and bible verses we had been meditating on during the personal prayer time. Then, one by one, our new Icelandic friends called us out to pray for us and prophecy over us. This time was so powerful and so personal that it wouldn’t be right to share on a public website! But it was like we had the secrets and dreams of our hearts revealed, and although I can only speak for myself, I came out just about speechless, and I can honestly say it was the most powerful prayer meeting I can ever remember being in!
The next day was spent chilling at the Blue Lagoon (amazing geo-thermally heated outdoor natural pool) where we chatted and reflected on our previous night’s experience. The following evening, Kolbeinn and his wife Ella had invited us to their home in Hafnafjordur for an evening meal. We tucked into a great chicken curry while chatting to Kolbeinn more about why we were here. While we there Eric mentioned that he came from Charlotte, North Carolina. Kolbeinn and Ella then explained that they had been praying a few months earlier and had received the word ‘Charlotte’ as they were praying. They wrote it down and didn’t fully understand this at the time, they didn’t even realise it was a town in the USA. It was only now that they realised the significance of that word! I felt this sense of what I can only describe as ‘Holy Fear’ – this sense that somehow we were right in the middle of God’s purposes for this nation – purposes that had led Kolbeinn and Ella to leave their missionary life in Rwanda and come back to Iceland because of a vision for night and day prayer….purposes that would led Eric and Katie to leave their lifelong home in the States and follow God’s call to move to Iceland….purposes that led me to go to Iceland on holiday 3 years ago and to eventually take a 24-7 team here…purposes that had seemingly randomly drawn us together for this moment…..(not to mention the fact that Kolbeinn’s old pastor in Rwanda was friends with Greg who was on the team from Charlotte) After dinner we felt we had to pray, and had another awesome time of worship, prayer and mutual encouragement….
The following day we returned to Kolbeinn’s home to share with some more Icelanders why we were here…Greg talked about the history and ethos of IHOP, while I shared about the history and vision of 24-7 (I somehow managed without a copy of Red Moon Rising to hand!). We then prayed for the Icelanders who were there ,which was a real privilege as the Icelanders had kind of blessed us a whole lot more than I felt we had blessed them! We returned home the next day bewildered but excited at what God had done…he had taken my fragile plans and tendency to want to organise something to the finest detail and done something completely different and unexpected. You could argue that we didn’t see anybody saved or healed, we didn’t do the frontline mission stuff…but God seemed to have completely different plans for this trip. We had felt part of a much bigger plan that God was bringing together in his timing…and for now it was a time to be still and reflect on God’s awesomeness.
There is so much more I could write, and if this has aroused your curiosity and interest then I highly recommend reading Carol Baker’s report on the trip from the perspective of a team member! Carol is a journalist by trade and a great writer. There should hopefully be a link at the bottom of this article!
To sum up, and for you to pray for this tiny but incredible nation, I’ll leave you with some general prayer points and prophetic insight that came from the team prayer times/prayer walking and conversation, usually in a coffee house or hot tub!
-Iceland had Christianity forced on it in 1000AD – it was a 50%-50% decision between Christianity and Paganism – they decided on Christianity and everyone was baptised in a day! The state Lutheran church has a membership of something like 98% - but very few devout believers. We felt that God wanted to do something bubbling up from below, organically, a move of God springing up from the grass roots like a geyser, to counter the top-down approach. We would love you to pray for this move of God and for Eric and Katie as they move to Iceland this month, with the vision of starting a prayer room and urban monastery, and that they would live out the Kingdom of God amongst the Icelandic people.
-Iceland is an intensely spiritual place, with a lot of occult and new age activity as well as Christianity…please pray that the openness to spirituality would lead to the Icelandic people seeking and receiving God in a powerful way!
-Iceland is very creative and produces the most amazing music, including the likes of Bjork, Sigur Ros and Mum… the music often reflects a sense of deeper spirituality than much of western pop culture…pray that Icelanders would discover God the creator, who loves music and who loves them even more!
-Pray for unity amongst the churches, and a pastors prayer conference that Kolbeinn is organising in November. Pray that God would stir the hearts of the Christians to seek him more and more in prayer.
-One of the pastors we spoke to said Icelanders have the opposite to ‘Janteladen’, in that they believe they can do anything- they are a very entrepreneurial nation…pray that they would come to rely on God as the source of their confidence.
-Pray for the young people who hang out on the main street in Reykjavik, Laugavegur, know for its crazy drunkenness…pray for creative outreach and relationship building by Christians in the cafes, bars and clubs and the possibility of having a prayer room on this street…
-Pray that Eric and Katie would settle in well into their new environment and that God would supply all of their financial need, good friends, direction, resources and would mightily bless them!
-Pray for some Icelanders to come to the Nordic 24-7 gathering next year!
If you are interested in being involved in future Iceland teams, or would like to be kept informed of developments please e-mail me on sieuro@hotmail.com and I would love to chat to you!
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Who will be feasting?
We'll be feasting and you're invited! The date is October 19-21st and the place is Seville, Spain. The occasion? the annual 24-7 International family gathering.
More info and an invite is here.
So, who will be feasting with us?
More info and an invite is here.
So, who will be feasting with us?
Sunday, July 8, 2007
from Jyväskylä
Feedback and testimonies are still encouraging. God is encouraging all those who prays (and praise) in the room. But I`ve found it great how these prayers influence also outside the room! -Topi
Topi and Jarno on the opening day of the prayer room
Topi and Jarno on the opening day of the prayer room
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Hello from 24/7 Jyväskylä!
Over 100 prayers has visited in our 24 7 room in Jyväskylä! Our vision and mission (visions will changes) is to get 500 prayers that use our room... By the grace of God, every hour from begining there has been prayer :) God bless ya alla manniskor!
Jarno
Jarno
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Prayer trip to North
Greetings from Rovaniemi!
We are having our prayer trip to North now, 1000 kilometers is behind and 2500 still coming. We have met 24-7 friends in Oulu, visited the 24-7 prayer week in Rovaniemi and now we continue our journey up to Norway, to Tromssö. 27th of May we meet two Swedish friends in Kilpisjärvi and we have prayer meeting in Treriksröset, where the borders of Sweden, Finland and Norway meet.
You can read more from our blogs (www.followingtheway.blogspot.com and www.tixu.blogspot.com) and we write some stories here too after we have finished our journey.
blessings,
Petra and Tixu from Finland
We are having our prayer trip to North now, 1000 kilometers is behind and 2500 still coming. We have met 24-7 friends in Oulu, visited the 24-7 prayer week in Rovaniemi and now we continue our journey up to Norway, to Tromssö. 27th of May we meet two Swedish friends in Kilpisjärvi and we have prayer meeting in Treriksröset, where the borders of Sweden, Finland and Norway meet.
You can read more from our blogs (www.followingtheway.blogspot.com and www.tixu.blogspot.com) and we write some stories here too after we have finished our journey.
blessings,
Petra and Tixu from Finland
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Reflections on the Copenhagen/Malmö trip
I wrote a reflection*slash*report on the Copenhagen/Malmö trip in April. If any of you are interested in reading it just write me a line and I'll send it to you (sorry, only in Swedish). If you don't already have my e-mail, you can find a link to it on our blog.
Peace be with you as the sun is shaking off its sleepiness and spring is giving way to SUMMER.
Peace be with you as the sun is shaking off its sleepiness and spring is giving way to SUMMER.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Next Family Gathering
So we have finally set the dates for the next Family gathering!
It is 11-13 of January 2008 in Turku, Finland.
You are welcome :)
It is 11-13 of January 2008 in Turku, Finland.
You are welcome :)
Friday, May 11, 2007
Iceland and 24-7
For anyone who is on Facebook, there is now a group for 24/7 Iceland. Simon (Brittish guy from family gathering) took 24-7 mission team to Iceland in April. Eric and Katie, who are planning to move to Reykjavik went as well. They made lots of connections, found a possible perfect building and went to a Bjork concert.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Finally some stories from Finland :)
Hi everyone!!
This update took some time, but better now than never :)
So here´s some experiences from our first national 24-7 gathering, Turku -Finland, March 2007
This update took some time, but better now than never :)
So here´s some experiences from our first national 24-7 gathering, Turku -Finland, March 2007
Aki:
The 24-7 gathering in Finland was an excellent place to form new connections with 24-7 minded people. I've been doing the 24-7 training course Transit in England for the last six or seven months and learned to like the ideas behind 24-7. It was great to meet people that carry a similar vision about praying communities that we are exploring in here.
After the weekend I'm really looking forward to get back to Finland and to start to learn what God has in store for Finland and the 24-7 movement in there.
Asta:
24-7 connecting people. ;)
our weekend was amazing! really relaxing and peaceful. People were really friendly and treated eachothers warmly like familymembers. We had LOT of bread, for our body and spirit. ;) it's so cool just to spend time with sisters and brothers,with our Saviour and friend, Lord Jesus and do nothing but seek His precense.
I got really encouraged again when I saw other youth from all around Finland worshiping the only living God and heard about their dreams for Finland and the rest of the world. Hopefully our frienships will last as they are build on Him.
John 17:11.
Sinikka:
I came to Turku meeting expecting very little since I only had a short while to spend there. But God makes the most of the time that we have and it was pretty amazing few hours that. I managed to meet just the right persons and had such a blessed time talking about God's plans and all the amazing stuff that He has done in our lives.
The one important lesson I learned is that 24-7 really is all about friendships and connections.Can't wait for God's plans to unveil here in Oulu and in Norhtern Finland. Let's all dream big, our Heavenly Father sure does:)
Tixu:
The tears are watering the floor under me. It might sound cliché, but God´s presence is just so thick. I can sense His power, love, mercy and fear of the Lord stronger than ever before. The room is filled with worship, prayer and repentance. Soon I start to see how the Finnish bride (Suomen Neito - The Maiden of Finland) begins to dance. She brakes down the chains she have on her feet and she just starts to dance. "Vapauta Suomen Neito tanssimaan", I cry out to God. "Free us, free us. Have your mercy on us!".
I´m a Finn. But for many years I wanted to move somewhere else and I just didn´t have any special love for my own people. Some years ago God started to give me His love, as it seemed that I´m staying here longer than I first thought and I realized to ask some more love! For some time now, I´ve been able to say that I love my nation, I love my people.
But did I ever believe how much deeper the love towards Finns could be?!
Not really before our weekend. The weekend in itself was full of connecting with people, friends, good time, praying.. But for me personally, it was the last hours of our weekend. God just met me stronger than ever before. And I got this desperate longing to see Finns to live in freedom. In His freedom.
So my prayer is to see the Suomen Neito dancing in full Freedom!!
Friday, April 27, 2007
living room = prayer room
Greetings from Finland.
I live with three girls in a big flat and we decided to open our home for prayer. So this week, from Monday 8pm until Wednesday midnight, we just invited people to come and pray in our living room. And they came. Different people prayed 52 hours non stop. Sometimes the whole house was filled with praises and different groups praying, sometimes there was just one person in hammock or someone quietly reading the bible. And even one non-believer girl spent three hours with us.
I also loved how our kitchen became meeting place for people. Often we had some people praying in the living room and at the same time you heard joyful laughter and talking from the kitchen. I just liked so much how the whole house was filled with life day and night.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Copenhagen
Krister hoped (see the post below) that our time would be a bit connecting, a bit prayer and a lot of fun. Well, I need to say, it really was that. We didn't have too many plans beforehand and we knew just one person in Copenhagen so we ended up to have lots of fun and adventures. It was absolutely great. Good friends, beautiful and creative city, wonderful weather, picnic in a park, spending mornings in a huge balcony and enjoying the sun, prayers, interesting people, long discussions, street action against human trafficking... It was also really encouraging to meet some young leaders threre, we have prayed for Danish connections already long time.
It's really interesting to see what plans God has for this growing network of Nordic friends!
It's really interesting to see what plans God has for this growing network of Nordic friends!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Copenhagen awaits!
So a swede, a finn, a norwegian and an american are heading off to Copenhagen tomorrow to meet friends and see what adventures God has for them there. Hopefully a bit of connecting, a bit of prayer and a lot of fun.
More later!
More later!
Friday, February 2, 2007
Nordic dreams and plans
We had great time in Stockholm archipilago 19th-21st of January with Swedish, Finish and Norwegian friends. Talking, cooking together, planning, dreaming, long walks and lots of SNOW!!!!! Thanks for Stockholm Kollektiv for inviting us too.
We were also praying and planning some Nordic adventures with Anne Maria and others. We are going to travel to Copenhagen after Easter and spend there few days just to meet some friends and build up connections. The dream is that we would have small group of friends traveling together from Finland, Sweden and Norway.
And then the other great new was that it looks like that we have Nordic mobile mission team traveling to Baltic countries on July 2007! That would be so awesome. So many have been praying for that for so long time.
So: Who is in ?!?!
We were also praying and planning some Nordic adventures with Anne Maria and others. We are going to travel to Copenhagen after Easter and spend there few days just to meet some friends and build up connections. The dream is that we would have small group of friends traveling together from Finland, Sweden and Norway.
And then the other great new was that it looks like that we have Nordic mobile mission team traveling to Baltic countries on July 2007! That would be so awesome. So many have been praying for that for so long time.
So: Who is in ?!?!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Finish Family Gathering
So, now it is official.
We have a national family gathering 16-18th of March here in Turku! We have arranged a nice place next to the sea and we expect something like 35 people to come.
It is just for Finns this time, sorry (but if you are not Finn and still absolutely want to come, contact me ;) . But anyway, it would be great if you could pray for us.
We have a national family gathering 16-18th of March here in Turku! We have arranged a nice place next to the sea and we expect something like 35 people to come.
It is just for Finns this time, sorry (but if you are not Finn and still absolutely want to come, contact me ;) . But anyway, it would be great if you could pray for us.
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