How can a church cover a day of 24/7 prayer?

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In "Build the Wall" starting on page 7 I share part of the inspiration for the vision for 24/7/365 prayer.  It says, "as I began to study and pray, I found two keys to my question. The first comes from the Hebraic word iyr, translated "city" in English.  It literally means, "a place guarded by a waking or a watch."  When you combine that definition with Jesus' command to watch and pray always, we get marvelous insight into the current state of so many of our cities. Our cities are in such disarray - crime, poverty, homelessness, etc. - because no watch is guarding them."  

The book goes on to describe how to build the wall of prayer personally, in your family, then in your local church.  The same principles can be used to build the wall of prayer in a city using the 1Church1Day strategy.  But the truth is, building the wall of prayer in your city actually begins in the home and in your local church. 

The premise under-girding 1Church1Day is that continual prayer praise and worship creates an atmosphere that invites God's abiding presence.  His presence is beneficial to all and is the key to transforming our communities.  However, most churches or ministries are to small to maintain 24/7 prayer all week, all month or all year long!  

But what local congregation could not cover at least one day each month with 24/7 prayer?  All it would take is 24 people doing one hour each day, 12 people committing to 2 hours each day, or 6 people committing to fours each day.   The Moravians who launched a 100 year long continual prayer gathering from which the modern day missionary movement was birthed utilized a strategy of having 2 people prayer together for an hour.  It took 48 people each day. 

When leaders have asked me over the years how does a church cover their day with 24/7 prayer my typical response is, "any way they want."  I urge them to "pray and obey" because every congregation is unique. 

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In my book Operation Rolling Thunder - Revised Edition pages I described how churches began to employ the 1Church1Day strategy. (10 Cities in 2005 – Seattle, Tukwila, Olympia, Federal Way, Sammamish, Kirkland, Coupeville/Oak Harbor, Monroe, Bellingham and Deer Park) 
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Operation Rolling Thunder -Revised Edition pages 107-108

The churches in each city selected different ways to actually do 24/7 prayer. Olympia followed the International House of Prayer model and had one church serve as the host for the whole city. Federal Way had one church cover each day and host a corporate prayer gathering for the city. Hence, each day the location of corporate prayer changed. Tukwila used a phone prayer chain for their ten days. The examples of how 24/7 prayer was established as each community prayed and obeyed the leading of the Lord. But the one common theme was uncommon cooperation. As each church did their share, a canopy of prayer was lifted over their city.
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The transformative results of inviting God's presence to our region and state proved to be remarkable, powerful and reproducible.  Here's the bottom line.

• More prayer is better!  Even if a congregation or ministry can't cover the whole day.  They might cover 3 hours, 6 hours or 12 hours.
• Some churches caught the vision and felt called to commit to covering one day each week with 24/7 prayer (ie. Deer Park)
• Pray and obey!  The leadership of each congregation can determine the best way to manage their day of 24/7.  Here's some examples:
  1. Everyone comes to the church building to stand their watch.
  2. The congregation that covers their day of 24/7 invites other congregations to join them at a certain time for an hour of prayer at their building 
  3. People can stand their watch and home or anywhere they want as long as their pray.
  4. International House of Prayer model.
  5. Phone tree - each person stands watch at home and calls the next person or team scheduled to take the next watch.  
  6. Comment below if your church has a different model.
• How do you determine what day your church will pray?  My advice is, ask our Lord!

One church one day (1Church1Day) is also a strategy which serves to unite congregations to build our Father's house of prayer for all nations recognizing that when each church does their share (Ephesians 4:16) we can do this quickly.  If 31 churches will cooperate together in a state, county or community it can be done quickly.

To learn more about the 1Church1Day strategy you can click here to download the app and then I encourage you to visit the Training section of the app.  There are many free videos. 

Want to see some of the Results other communities have experienced?   Click here! 

I hope you will catch the vision and join us in building our Father's house of prayer together.  Sign up for your watch today in the app.