In March this year the Dutch 24-7 Prayer team concluded two things:

1, We were receiving many similar questions about prayer

2. Video calls were becoming the new normal

So, linking these two things together, we came up with 24-7 Connect.

We invited a bunch of people throughout the country to meet with us online, to learn about prayer in this strange time. That evening our laptop screens were filled with 30 squares showing faces (or foreheads, or cats,  or cups of tea…) , soon to become friends on a joint mission of prayer.

In that first meeting we shared our vision and stories, got to know each other and prayed together, before inviting everyone to join us online every month. We would’ve been delighted to start with just a few people, but we were amazed that 21 leaders signed up, from all over the country!

“these meetings are faith-giving and life-giving…”

Over the past few months, in two small groups, we’ve been sharing and learning about how to support our communities to pray. We meet over Zoom, from the comfort of our own homes, with no travelling time required (except, perhaps, from the kitchen to the sofa)!

Everyone listens to the same teaching, either beforehand or during the meeting itself, before we discuss it together in breakout rooms. Each time, we pray together using a creative prayer activity that matches the topic we’ve been discussing.  These meetings are faith-giving and life-giving, even though the concept is quite simple.

It’s been so encouraging to hear how 24-7 Connect is equipping our group members; one of them shared this with us:

“More people are joining our church’s prayer group and together we’re growing in prayer. During the last prayer meeting with the Alpha Course team in our church I shared some insights from our 24-7 Connect meetings. We had great conversations about our relationships as a team and how we work and pray together. Prayer used to be seen as the task of the prayer team. But now the whole Alpha Course team is willing to join our monthly prayer meetings focused on future Alpha Course participants!

There’s a change… We already were a good team, but our roots are growing.”