Urgent and Persistent Prayer

When we get to a point of great need, and know that our efforts have failed and our prayer is fuelled by desperation for God to act, it seems that He is much more likely to answer.
Our right relationship with God is one of total dependence, but our affluent lives seldom bring us to the place of desperation for God. We have seen a beginning of this since September 11th

United Prayer

Christians recognising Jesus' call to unity are coming together to pray.
The prayer of individuals and separate congregations is of value, but the authority of the Church to pray God's blessing upon a whole community is released when we act in obedience to His call to be One.

Informed Intercession

The faith to pray is stirred by seeing God's faithfulness and power as He answers. General prayers of blessing upon a city may be of some value, but specific prayer for God to intervene in certain identified needs allows the answers to prayer to be seen. This is a challenge to faith (what if He doesn't answer?) but brings prayer and faith to bear on the real issues.
Researching a local community to discover the social, physical and spiritual needs and barriers and using this information for focused prayer has been a common factor in the communities that have seen transformation.
An example would be asking the local Mayor and council and the local police what issues they consider urgent problems in the community. Telling them that the Church will pray for God to intervene in these areas. Then going back a week or month later and asking what is happening in those areas.

Humility and Compassion

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

Quotes from those at the frontline

Katy, Texas

"The growing "city transformation" movement that is seeing leaders put aside their differences to work together in new ways to impact their cities for God.

"We have chosen to put many of the things that are near and dear to us personally aside so that we can come together as brothers and sisters who have a common calling, which is the spiritual welfare of this community," said Charles Wisdom, senior pastor of First Baptist Church and recently designated "elder" of the Church of Katy. Going beyond traditional ministerial fellowships, the "city transformation" movement is bringing pastors together to pray, plan and work beyond the scope of their own walls. Around 25 leaders from local churches meet together each week in Katy. "There's a deep love and commitment to one another," Wisdom said. "We really want to see the other guy flourish and his church do well." That spirit of cooperation is replacing the previous "competition and turf protection," he said.

Jack Dennison, Citireach Movement USA

Whereas previous attempts at building unity centred on events–after which participating churches usually went back to doing their own thing–the new moves were being based in relationships. "The Scriptures tell us that there is a spiritual power that is released in the midst of unity," Dennison said. "There's a great spiritual effectiveness when the body of Christ is linked together and functioning as a healthy body–in all its diversity and heritage–than when it functions in a dismembered way."

Congregations that are part of a "city church" can maximise their resources and avoid duplication of effort, instead of competing for "dollars, territory, people," said Jon Sharpe, who heads Reach Seattle, the group coordinating citywide efforts there. Next month they start City Discovery Tours that will take congregational groups on visits to urban ministries to get a better feel for the parts of their city that they don't routinely visit.

Jim Herrington, Mission Houston

"We believe that God has a strategy for the transformation of the city, and that He will only reveal it when there's real, substantive unity that is based in relationships. It's not about cooperating once on a project. It's a whole new way of life for the church."

Dennison

Dennison said that initiatives like those in Houston and Seattle were rediscovering a Bible truth. "In our isolation we have lost our capacity to affect real change [in society] because each group and individual is living much like Israel did at the time of the judges, with each one doing what is right in his own eyes," he said. "But when you look at the New Testament, you see that the church in a city was seen as one church in many congregations."

"Transformation"- Video stirs an eagerness for Revival

A video depicting the transformation of four cities when Christians began to pray has been distributed around the world. "Transformations" describes how cities in Colombia, the United States, Guatemala, and Kenya were changed by the power of God. The 60-minute video, released in 1999, demonstrates how "informed, sustained prayer can change a community," spokesman Alistair Petrie told "Religion Today"

….Distribution of the video "has absolutely exploded," Petrie said. More than 80,000 copies, about 75,000 more than expected, have been sold since its release last June, he said. Almost all sales have come by word of mouth. "People hear about it third- or fourth-hand and decide they have to see it," he said. Sentinel offices in Lynwood and Canada receive requests for the video daily.

…The film has been seen by an estimated 25 million people in 150 countries, Petrie said. It has been shown on television in some countries, and 40 international ministries use it. It is being translated into 25 languages, including Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Hebrew

….The video is a tool for churches to change their communities, Petrie said. It depicts how churches identified the cultural, historical, and other influences that blocked revival, then "prayed against them," he said. It "helps churches see their communities through the eyes of the Lord."

…Spiritual revival in the four cities has reached all levels of society, the video shows. In Almolonga, Guatemala, rates of alcoholism and crime dropped dramatically and the once-poor town began prospering economically after churches began praying. The crime rate also has dropped in Cali, Colombia, where more than 60,000 people come to all-night prayer meetings twice a year, the video says

….Christians in more than 700 cities have started prayer groups since watching the video, Petrie said. Churches in Cape Town, South Africa, are holding all-night prayer meetings with as many as 2,500 people. Pastors in dozens of U.S. communities are meeting to pray for their cities after watching it, he said

….Government officials are embracing the video's message that prayer can change a city. The mayor of Cape Town showed it to his municipal leaders, Petrie said, and the mayor of Pretoria, South Africa, received 100 copies and promised to distribute them to other leaders. The mayor of London, Ontario, Canada, said her city needed the blessings depicted in the video, as did the Mormon mayor of Boise, Idaho, the Sentinel Group said

….A New Mexico sheriff sent a letter and a video to 90 churches asking them to pray for their community. Michael Davidson of San Juan County asked the churches to "enter into partnership" with his office to defeat pornography, drugs, and domestic violence. Twenty-five pastors held a news conference backing his call, news reports said

….The strong response is an indication of people's desire to see revival pervade their communities, Petrie said. Most such spiritual movements last only about three years and "never leave the church," he said. The media, government, and schools are rarely affected and destructive social conditions such as poverty, crime, and drug abuse remain unchanged, he said

….That will change when people develop a longing for God's presence in their cities, Petrie said. He and Sentinel Group founder George Otis, Jr., hold seminars in churches, teaching Christians to find "spiritual pathologies" to discover what blocks revival in their cities, he said. Change comes when people "come to the end of their own answers and begin to ask God for the answers," he said.

Since then, a new "TRANSFORMATIONS II" video has been produced showing a number of other nations and cities where God has brought significant transformation of communities.

So – Why not Melbourne, Victoria??

Let's claim Melbourne – one local city at a time through earnest, persistent, informed, united prayer. For more information or a copy of the Video "Transformations" ($30 posted) contact Transforming Melbourne

Category: International

Keys to Transformation