A Best Practice Guide to Forming 24-7 Prayer's Boiler Room Community Northw
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Planting and Growing Prayer Communities in Europe: A Best Practice Guide to forming 24-7 Prayer’s Boiler Room Community Northwest University Christine Aurand Planting and Growing Prayer Communities in Europe 2 Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... 3 Purpose................................................................................................................................ 4 How the Guide Works............................................................................................ 4 Methodology........................................................................................................... 6 24-7 Prayer Development................................................................................................... 8 Prayer...................................................................................................................... 8 Teams...................................................................................................................... 8 Boiler Room Communities..................................................................................... 9 Boiler Room Development................................................................................................10 Vision.................................................................................................................... 11 Mission.................................................................................................................. 11 Process of Becoming a Boiler Room ....................................................................11 Need for Guide.......................................................................................................12 Guildford Boiler Room Community Story........................................................................14 Best Practice: #1 Strategy..................................................................................... 21 Prayer ....................................................................................................... 22 Flexibility.................................................................................................. 23 Kindness.................................................................................................... 24 Rhythms.................................................................................................... 25 Best Practice: #2 Leadership................................................................................. 27 Action........................................................................................................ 32 Colchester Boiler Room Community Story...................................................................... 33 Best Practice: #3 Partnership................................................................................ 40 Best Practice: #4 Funding..................................................................................... 46 Relationship with Money.......................................................................... 46 Fundraising Strategy................................................................................. 48 Fundraising Factors Model........................................................... 49 Action.................................................................................................................... 65 Ibiza Boiler Room Community Story............................................................................... 66 Best Practice: #5 Asset Approach......................................................................... 73 Action.................................................................................................................... 79 Macedonia Boiler Room Community Story..................................................................... 80 Best Practice: #6 Vulnerability.............................................................................87 Best Practice: #7 Urban........................................................................................ 95 Action..................................................................................................................104 Stanford Boiler Room Community Story........................................................................105 Best Practice: #8 Children................................................................................... 112 Best Practice: #9 Environment............................................................................ 120 Action...................................................................................................................128 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................129 References........................................................................................................................132 Appendix......................................................................................................................... 136 Planting and Growing Prayer Communities in Europe 3 Abstract The distance between European society and Christian Churches has been rapidly increasing over the last hundred years. 24-7 Prayer is an international organization that has a global vision to reconnect all people to Jesus through prayer. Their re-visited Vision 2020 has focused on planting and growing prayer communities, known as Boiler Rooms, in Europe. Acting as a guide, the stories of current European Boiler Room leaders will explain the significance of nine community development aspects to include: strategic planning, leadership, partnership, funding, asset approach, vulnerability, urban, children, and the environment. Prayer communities that are aware of these nine best practices are able to increase Europeans opportunities to love God, be kind to others, care for the environment, and take the Gospel to the nations. Keywords: Europe, prayer, community, strategy, leadership, partnership, funding, asset approach, vulnerability, urban, children, environment. Planting and Growing Prayer Communities in Europe 4 Purpose The combination of prayer and community are processes that lead people to experience life fully since they encourage meaningful relationships with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Through a prayer community people are able to experience meaning, help the vulnerable, alleviate poverty, undergo healing, experience reconciliation, and form authentic relationships that encourage the actual worth of people. My purpose is to explain the best practices of planting and growing European prayer communities to be renewable, relevant, and effective ways that people can connect to God and further His Kingdom. For this reason I am going to provide evidence of 24-7 Prayer’s intentional prayer community model—called Boiler Rooms—and their recent commitment to plant and grow Boiler Room communities in Europe as a new approaches to Christ-centered community, care for the marginalized, and love for Jesus. How the Guide Works The fear of forming a specific “how to” document is in creating the false illusion that there is a “silver bullet” that will guarantee the success of a Boiler Room regardless of any situation or context. For this reason I prefer to refer to this document simply as a Guide. Oxford English Dictionary defines a Guide as “one who is hired to conduct a traveler or tourist and to point out objects of interest” (Oxford English Dictionary, December 2010). This definition supports my desire to recognize that a relationship with God is a life long journey with him that also connects us with people and provide opportunities for Christ-followers to point God out, as well as encourage and disciple other people to be his follower. Planting and Growing Prayer Communities in Europe 5 This will happen first as this guide collects and shares the stories of European Boiler Room Leaders. As many of us have experienced tour guided walks or explorations, what makes them so delightful is that guides have the ability to point out both the obvious and the easily missed landmarks and explain their importance. Jean Vanier (1998), the founder of the L’Arche communities supported this value of words and stories when he stated “To name something is to bring it out of chaos, out of confusion, and to render it understandable” (p. 25). Later he went on and explained, “As we start to really get to know others, as we begin to listen to each other’s stories, things begin to change... We begin the movement from exclusion to inclusion, from fear to trust, from closedness to openness, from judgment and prejudice to forgiveness and understanding. It is a movement of the heart” (p. 83). In the same way the purpose of a guide is to help form appreciation of the surrounds primarily through the process of sharing stories and naming the unknown. This also is the reason we humans find the process of story sharing so powerful. Stories invite both author and audience into a special personal relationship that connects our unique life experiences in a shared moment. Stories are born not just through the pen of an author, but also through the enchanting moment that author and audiences meet to form an intentional relationship of both giving and receiving. Therefore, the collection of Boiler Room leader’s stories will share nine best practices that support the relational development of innovative prayer communities all over Europe.