24-7 Prayer 2014

Something amazing is going to happen in 2014. Every minute of the year, someone, somewhere in Northern Ireland is going to be praying.

It’s all the bright idea of Bishop Harold Miller (who, you might remember, also had this bright idea for church in the Titanic Quarter a while back). He has challenged the churches in his area to maintain a constant vigil of prayer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from midnight on 31/12/13 to midnight on 31/12/14. The prayers can take many forms – spoken, written, sung, silent, artistic, interactive – but the baton will be passed from one church to another, one person to another, right throughout the year, covering our city, our nation and our world in a constant chain of prayer.

And guess where it all begins? Correct! The Dock is hosting the Launch Ceremony for the whole initiative, and is then the location for the first three days of 24-7 prayer – from midnight on New Years Eve until 10am on 4th January.

During that time the cafe will still be closed to the public for its Christmas holidays – so the entire space of Dock Cafe will be given over to different creative prayer stations at each table. You’ll be able to write a prayer leaf on the tree in the Prayer Garden, or pray through the stories in the newspapers on a sofa, or pray for streets and homes on a massive map of the city, or write thanksgiving cards for all the reasons you’re thankful, or join a prayer walk around the Titanic Quarter, or… the ideas just keep coming! You can join in praying with others, or engage in prayer on your own – it’s completely up to you.

You are very welcome to turn up at any time to be part of our three days of prayer – but what I’d really like you to do is to commit to a particular time slot so that we know we’ve got every second of our 3-day stint covered. Have a little look at the menu bar above and you’ll see a new link for ’24-7 Prayer’. Just click the link, pick a time and book in. Ta!

And if you’d like to join us for the launching ceremony at midnight on New Year’s Eve – the launch is taking place (appropriately enough) on the Titanic Slipways – meet at the big rusty Titanic sign outside Titanic Belfast at 11:30pm on 31st December (and bring a nice warm coat).