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Global Day of Prayer London Vision Reloaded
The annual GDOP London event for 2009 will now not be taking place in a football stadium as it has been in 2007 and 2008.
 Dr Jonathan Oloyede, GDOP London's convener, has sensed that God is asking for him to concentrate on 'widening and deepening' the movement of prayer for the capital. So instead of one main event, GDOP's vision is to see local events take place on Pentecost Sunday (31 May) in each one of London's 33 boroughs and beyond - including Thurrock.
This movement away from a major one-off event to the encouragement of prayer for London and the UK - at this critical time in the nation's history - has been building up since last year's GDOP at Millwall FC's ground. Rather than becoming just 'another thing' to add to the already busy diaries of churches across the London and Thames Gateway region, Jonathan's vision is to galvanise the church into United Prayer for the Kingdom of God to Come. In a sense, taking GDOP outside the stadium context makes the whole of London and its hinterland one enormous stadium with the potential for many, many more individuals to become involved.
Transformation Thurrock would like to sponsor a local GDOP event on 31 May. The logistics of this would be a locational and spiritual challenge. We have been trying to think of creative ways in which the borough's church would be engaged in one act of collective worship and prayer, so believers from the west, central and east areas of the borough would feel included. Here are some options:
- One major united evening event in a central, neutral venue
- An afternoon 'lark in a park' with litter-picking, picnic and prayer
- A number of events held simultaneously (in different churches/parks)
Maybe you have an idea. Who would be 'up' for joining Transformation Thurrock in taking this vision forward? Please let us know!
There are a number of ways all praying believers and churches can become involved in the GDOP movement besides the events on 31 May (details at www.gdoplondon.com unless stated):
- say the Lord's Prayer every day at 12 noon
- get your church to join the Canopy of Prayer, a massive 24-7-365 prayer chain for London, each church taking a day of the month to fill
- hold a London Prayer Night once a month
- join the M25 "24-10" Nutcracker - a vision to see prayer rooms all around London's orbital motorway praying continuously in the lead up to Pentecost Sunday (21 to 30 May) - contact Tim Harrold on tim@transformationthurrock.com
- sign up for the daily 12-hour Thurrock Prayer Wall, a local expression of GDOP, praying for our borough, London, the Thames Gateway, the UK and the world - contact Roy Edworthy on mr.ed@blueyonder.co.uk
The modern version of the Lord's Prayer is:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
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Tim Harrold, 11/03/2009 |
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