Here in Ireland, one of the things we are known for is our political and religious division, despite this we have been discovering the unifying power of prayer.

Over the last few years from Cork to Derry people have been taking prayer from the church to the high street and it has been exciting to see how churches have come together around offering a space for prayer and offering the kindness of someone caring enough to pray.

In Cork City the Methodist, Roman Catholic and Church Of Ireland churches took prayer to a shopping centre. In Lisburn, Lurgan, Ballymena, Belfast, Downpatrick, and Newtownards, an empty shop front became transformed into a place of prayer and encounter.  Not just prayer for mission but prayer itself becoming missional.

University students are catching it and uniting across campus’s to pray for their friends and nation.
We have been excited about two groups of pupils one in a school in the north the other in a school in the south, asking their teachers to allow them to open a prayer room in their schools for a week. One pupil told us of how students were overheard having a conversation about someone they were looking for and the answer was ‘have you checked the prayer room?’

In a primary school in Belfast one child wrote

I think the prayer room is the coolest, quietest place ever. That’s y I come! It is the best room in our school, in any school really! You can learn about God. I love it!

We have just opened a City Centre prayer room in Belfast, on the main shopping street, for the month of May and have been really challenged in our preparation by the Nehemiah story. Challenged by how Nehemiah ‘enquired after the state of the city’ and how each household took their part of the wall. We are excited about churches taking their part of the wall and building a wall of prayer around this city in the next month.

Please pray for

• Belfast City Centre Prayer Room in the month of May
• Churches exploring high street prayer
• For Unity among churches on this island
• For pupils and students as they explore the values and vision of 24-7 Prayer in their contexts.

To join with Christians all over the world in praying for the prodigal continent of Europe visit our new website 24-7prayer.eu where you can sign up to pray, for weekly newsletters and prayer resources. You might also like to read Ian Nicholson's article Restoring the Romance or watch our excellent European Prayer video.

If you've missed our earlier posts in the European Voices series you can catch up:

Euro Voices - Albania

Euro Voices - Bosnia

Euro Voices - Croatia

Euro Voices - Bulgaria

Euro Voices - Malta

Euro Voices - Hungary

Euro Voices - Czech Republic

Euro Voices - Finland