Calling all prospective Nutcrackers!

NutcrackerRoom4Last May eight prayer rooms were set up around the circumference of the orbital M25 motorway in the lead-up to the Global Day of Prayer. Their mission: to pray for London, their locality, and the UK, in one simultaneous event lasting 240 continuous hours.

These ranged from a massive prayer chapel full of contemplative stations to a lean-to with enough room for four people at a squeeze, to a 10-day marathon around 10 different churches across 2 boroughs, to a 240 hour long non-stop prayer-chain! The possibilities were endless!

So… we’re doing it again!

The dates are Sunday 23 May (GDOP & Pentecost Sunday*) to Sunday 30 May (National Prayer Event at West Ham United Stadium**).

Sidcup9We hope that the trimming down to seven days between these two significant Sundays will make the Nutcracker more accessible and more achievable to more people and more groups in the M25 region. The Nutcracker will act as a bridge between the two events.

Once more, the Nutcracker will be principally in a 24-7 Prayer room style as part of the GDOP activities in May. And once again, the focus of our prayers will be upon London, and our own localities and the nation in respect to our capital city. The aim is to continue with the process of cracking open with prayer the nut of the City!

This year we are asking folk to participate in whatever way fits their local situation best and to not feel they can’t join in just because they cannot get enough people to fill every hour of the week or be able to set up a prayer room – there are plenty of other ways to be creative, interactive and prophetic. You could facilitate:

  • a series of daily prayer gatherings
  • ‘prayer actions’ in particular locations
  • a series of strategic prayer walks
  • by focussing on specific themes or places each day
  • gatherings in service stations on or near the M25
  • prayer chains by phone or via the internet
  • open spaces and/or ‘treasure hunting’ for praying for members of the public
  • by having a London emphasis in existing prayer meetings and church services

As last year, closer to the event, a simple prayer guide will be sent to participating churches and groups, and there are plenty of resources available on how to set up a prayer room on www.24-7prayer.com, as well as ongoing news on www.gdoplondon.com and www.globaldayofprayer.org.uk.***

GreenStreetGreen16Last year we focussed on trying to get all 30 junctions (gateways) of the M25 covered. Again, this year we are avoiding trying to be so prescriptive, but 30 or more London-focussed prayer initiatives during the Nutcracker week would be amazing. So please pass this article onto your friends around the M25 region, 24-7 Prayer Roomers, and intercessors’ networks who maybe interested in the Nutcracker.

The big key in all of this is UNITY – the Nutcracker is supported not only by GDOP London but also being helped by 24-7 Prayer, who will be posting information on their UK website. 24-7 Prayer already have good links with GDOP, principally in South Africa, where it all started only a few years ago (last year there was a GDOP event in every nation on Earth). Local networks will also be promoting the Nutcracker on their websites or via email – we will be using the Transformation Thurrock website in our borough.

Slough22There is also a cross-the-board recognition of the times we are living in and the spiritual climate – and the very real expectancy of awakening, mobilisation and harvest. We are all watchmen in this together. Many believe the UK has yet to play a big part in global evangelisation. 2010 is set to be a year of change with the likelihood of a new government coming into power. But whatever our style of prayer, and whatever our interpretation of current and future events, the vision remains Jesus.

This article has been sent out in an email to all who were involved in the Nutcracker last year and also to some prospective participants this year, as well as some network facilitators active in the London/M25/Home Counties region.

TRANSFORMATION THURROCK IS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO SET UP A NUTCRACKER PRAYER ROOM! If you are interested in getting involved somehow in the Nutcracker and seeing our capital, our localities, and our nation invaded by the love, grace and joy of Jesus Christ, then please contact Tim Harrold, who is over all facilitator of the M25 24-7 Prayer project.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Tim can be contacted via tim@transformationthurrock.com

Englefield Green12* On Pentecost Sunday, all 33 London boroughs and those in the hinterland of the home counties are invited to observe the GDOP by organising their own cross-denominational borough-wide events, as they did last year. For areas around the M25, such an event can be used as the kick-off for local their Nutcracker prayer weeks. Transformation Thurrock will be facilitating a boroughwide united church event on this day.
** The following Sunday’s corporate event at Upton Park (facilitated by GDOP London) can be the seen as the culmination of the Nutcracker prayer week. Along with the borough events, this is a stepping stone towards holding a major prayer event at Wembley Stadium in 2011. Transformation Thurrock encourages everyone from the church of Thurrock to jump on the train and go to this!
*** See also www.gdop2010.com and www.globaldayofprayer.com for a worldwide perspective.

Pictures from the 2009 Nutcracker, from top to bottom:
Prayer map at Aveley Christian Centre
Sidcup – inside the lean-to
Green Street Green Baptist Church (Orpington) – chapel
Part of the massive display of prayer stations in the side chapel at St Paul’s, Slough
The Journey, Englefield Green (facilitated by former Thurrockite Vicky Earll)