The famous red gates of Strawberry Fields
The Liverpool children's home that became world famous after The Beatles 1967 hit song "Strawberry Fields Forever" has just re-opened its doors as 24-7 Prayer's Liverpool Boiler Room - operated  in association with the Salvation Army.
 
This legendary site, where John Lennon spent time as a child, has lent its name to businesses, literary publications, sporting events, and even a memorial in New York City's Central Park (near John Lennon's home of his later years). So what is the significance of this site becoming a Boiler Room?

Strawberry Fields Forever

Strawberry Fields was a place of joy and beauty for John Lennon during his childhood. Now, with excitement and expectation, we re-open the site as a place of joy and beauty for many of his fans as well.
 
That Strawberry Fields is not being shut down for good is a victory in and of itself. The children's home was shutting because it is preferable that children be cared for by foster families or small group homes rather than in large institutions.
 
But Strawberry Fields is not only a site with a rich heritage of mercy and social justice - the site remains, to this very hour, a centre of pilgrimage to Beatles and John Lennon fans worldwide .
 
Our prayer is that some of these pilgrims may find One greater than Lennon at the gates of Strawberry Fields...
 
 
Central Park's 'Strawberry Fields Memorial'

It all began with prayer (imagine that!) 

It all began with a six-month-long prayer effort in the city. As Liverpool churches 'passed the prayer baton' to one another week after week, something amazing happened: Gary and Dawn Lacey, Salvation Army officers, were presented with an open-door opportunity to keep Strawberry Fields open as a Boiler Room and a Salvation Army centre for community action.
 
Now, as the six months of prayer draws to a close in November, we sense that the adventure has only just begun, and we feel the Spirit's invitation to chase after Him.
"...the adventure has only just begun."

Nothing to get hungabout

Boiler Rooms are Christ-focused community centres that 24-7 Prayer is establishing all over the world. Part of the dream behind the Liverpool Boiler Room, which is being run by the Salvation Army, is a longing to establish a place where anyone can come and find a ‘home’ with God.
 
 Prayer for current events at Strawberry Fields
 
Jesus told us that his Father's house has many rooms, and that one is one being prepared for each of us. At the Liverpool Boiler Room, we foresee the youth, the homeless, the churched and unchurched, the loud and the quiet, the creative, the contemplative, the hyperactive, the sinners and the saved sinners alike gathering for prayer, community and outreach.
Strawberry Fields now houses eight prayer rooms of different shapes, sizes and themes - including a Global room, a Liverpool room, and the 'Tabernacle'. There's also a chill out/drop in area, and studio art space. Walking in, you cannot fail to be hit by the presence of God and a huge sense of ‘as yet unrealised potential, just waiting to explode.

Come Together

Prayer at the Liverpool Boiler Room
 
The Laceys are now running the Boiler Room. As things get moving at the Boiler Room, Liverpool's 24-7 community are gathering friends and dreamers around themselves in order to form a small Boiler Room team - spreading the word through Liverpool's network of churches, and seeing the church mobilised to prayer like never before!
 
"Last week we gathered together as a team to prophetically pray over a diary of 2006, and to say that God turned up would be a massive under-statement," said Anna Beaumont. "In faith, we envisioned a year of prayer in Liverpool."
 
On Friday 9th December, we are holding a 24-7 party at the Liverpool Boiler Room  to celebrate the success of these six months, and to welcome the next chapter of this adventure: an entire year of non-stop prayer in the  Liverpool/Merseyside area in 2006.

Pray!

Please join us in prayer for the Liverpool Boiler Room:
  • For a team to be formed who can devote themselves to city transformation through the Boiler Room
  • For Gary and Dawn Lacey (projecti56@aol.com) to have wisdom and impact and they embark on this new phase of their life
  • That Beatles fans and other pilgrims would be impacted by the love of Jesus when they visit Strawberry Fields
  • That Strawberry Fields could be a place of intimacy and transformation to all who visit - especially people who don't know Jesus
Thanks to Anna Beaumont for this story.