Stanford le Hope Boiler Room 10-08 -7 to ?

We are currently visiting a 24-7 Boiler Room in Stanford le Hope, east of London, on the River Thames and we really like it here. The Boiler Room is in a 100 year old house [see photo right] and it's really nicely kept. There's a prayer room, a creative arts room, guest bedrooms upstairs, big kitchen and a dining room. We have the house to ourselves, though people come to pray in the prayer room or in the creative arts room, at regular intervals throughout the day. The people are so lovely and hospitable and inviting that we just feel at home here.

What's the Boiler Room about?

The 24-7 Boiler Room is a place where people pray at any time of the day or night. It was born out of a community of people who were engaging in 24-7 prayer regularly in their church and felt that a Boiler Room (a permenant place of prayer) was to be the next step. Many churches in the area are also engaging in 24-7 prayer in some form and God is using our 'common' need for prayer to draw people together. The Boiler Room in Stanford-le-Hope is not a live-in community, but a group of people who live in the area, who attend different churches, whom God has drawn to prayer. The main aim of the Boiler Room is, of course, 24-7 prayer, but the community is not quite large enough yet to uphold a state of continuous 24-7 prayer. '24-7 prayer weeks' are held every few months, which draws a wider community of people to prayer than just the core group. These are full weeks of 24-7 prayer, in which someone is praying at every hour and minute of that week. In order to persevere in 'the down time', between 24-7 prayer weeks, the community has established a 'rhythm of prayer', in which people come to pray at the Boiler Room at three set times a day from Monday to Friday.

Prayer builds community...

Em - My first impression of the prayer room (the Boiler Room itself) was people and community. Everywhere I looked, I saw people and the connections or relationships between people - people caring for people by praying for them. On one wall (the prayer wall, see photo left) are post-it notes and pieces of paper of all shapes and sizes with prayer requests on them. The wall is filled with people and their needs and I could sense in my heart that God cared for these people - that He was listening to their prayers. On the opposite wall is a display for the Bar'N'Bus ministry (explained below, see photo right), with paper cut-outs of the hands of all the kids that visit the bus and of the workers too. Below it is another display of people and children that attend a local preschool. The prayer request don't stop in the prayer room, either! They also hang in the dining room where people get together, in the hall, and on the walls of the creative arts room! The house is just full of prayer! And when you pray for someone from your heart, you can't help caring for that person. I think it's just how God made it to be and it's beautiful.

Prayer leads to action...

There are several things that the Boiler Room community engages with (on an individual basis) in ministry to others and this week we got involved in those things too...

On Tuesday we helped with a local mercy ministry (BESOM) which delivers household items to people in need and does things like painting and maintenance for those who need it. On Thursday night we helped 'man' a double decker bus called Bar'N'Bus (Barnabas) where local kids come for a free drink, to play board games, card games, playstation, hang out and talk, or get prayed for in a little prayer room in the top of the bus. It's great because the Christians who serve there are from at least three different churches and about 40 kids come to the bus each week! Praise the Lord!

Where are we?

Below is a map showing Luton (the blue marker), north of London, and Stanford le Hope (the orange marker), east of London. For those of you not familiar with Europe, it might help to look up an atlas (or Google Earth if you have it) to get 'the bigger picture.' The river just south of Stanford le Hope is the Thames.

We originally planned to stay here for two weeks, from the 10th to the 24th of August, but we are feeling like it might be longer! We have no idea or sense of where to go next, so we're really just waiting for God to let us know where and when.