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The Aim and Vision of Ipswich in
Prayer
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To surround and immerse the town
of Ipswich in Prayer.
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To lift Jesus up as Lord in this
town.
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To pray against spirits of
darkness.
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To bring to God the needs of our
community.
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To support each other in prayer as
the Family of God in the town, within our own church environment, and in the
work that we do as churches.
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To come together in prayer, in a
spirit of unity, and in purpose. To work more closely together, and to break
down old established barriers.
The Beginning of Ipswich in Prayer
Ipswich in Prayer
was birthed during the
Summer of 2000, and officially launched as an initiative at a joint celebration
on October 8th 2000. We are working under the banner of IPEC (Ipswich
Partnership of Evangelical Churches), which is the voice of the Evangelical
Alliance in Ipswich. We are notifying the other church bodies (Concern, and
Churches Together) of our progress, events etc, and pray we receive a favourable
response from them. It is our prayer that all Christians in Ipswich may become
involved in prayer for our town.
My personal
Testimony (Liz Beaton IIP co-ordinator)
Until the Summer of 1999 I was a
secondary school teacher, at Ipswich High School. It was during the early part
of 1999 that God called me to come out of teaching, always knowing that He had a
specific job for me to do. This however did not become clear until the Summer of
the following year. When the instruction to "pray for Ipswich" did come, it
could not have been clearer. The directions I have received during personal
prayer times, and in my many prayer times with church leaders throughout the
town, have been very definite and specific. So we are moving forward as we feel
God is leading, and already we are seeing positive things happening.
Our Picture
Before the launch, one of the
church leaders was given a picture, as we prayed. They saw a powerhouse set in
the middle of a circle, which they took to represent the town. Around the
perimeter of this circle, small fires were starting to light, fed from the
powerhouse by pipes. The power was going back and forth in both directions
through these pipes, and the sectors in between were starting to warm and glow
as the fires caught alight.
Words from God
We have received several specific
words from God from the Bible. The text which we were given very strongly before
the launch was 2 Chronicles 7: 14. In the week prior to October 8th,
this text was continually appearing from many different sources and directions.
At our first Evening of prayer we received a direct word from God which was
"Behold, I have begun a great work". This was confirmed over the following week.
Our e-mail
network
When we began to pray about how
to pray for Ipswich, the direction we received was to make use of e-mail. This
was a new thing for me, as our computer was not even connected to the internet
at the time, but it seemed so definite that we quickly got ourselves connected,
as have many other Christians in the town. I have a large and ever increasing
address list under the group of Ipswich Prayer Contacts. This works by contacts
sending me in items for prayer or thanksgiving, which I then redirect (about
twice weekly) to all the contacts on the list. This is working very
successfully, and several people, especially ministers, have said that they feel
much less isolated now: we are all praying in unity, though we are not always
physically together. We can also update each other on ongoing evangelical
projects, such as the Jesus Video Project several churches are involved in, and
ask for ongoing prayer. We are also able to publicise events at different
churches, whilst praying for them as well.
The Monthly
Prayer Focus
As well as the 30 or so churches
involved in the above, an extra 20 churches receive the monthly prayer focus.
This is to use in Sunday worship, and to concentrate on in prayer throughout the
month. In this way we can really concentrate our prayers, and be united in them.
Evening of
Prayer
We held our first Evening of
Prayer together from 7pm – midnight on Friday December 1st 2000. This
was attended by about 50 people, many of whom came for an hour or so, and stayed
all evening! We covered a lot of spiritual ground here, and it was a very
positive and exciting start to our prayer together. 17 different churches were
represented.
Not enough time
to pray?
When visiting ministers
before the launch of
Ipswich in Prayer, I was surprised and saddened to learn that of
four prayer cells for leaders and ministers meeting every other month in
Ipswich, only one was still functioning, and that very intermittently. Many
ministers admitted to having not maintained enough prayer time.
Through the beginnings of
Ipswich in Prayer, several of those ministers had come into a new
awareness of this, and determined to do something about it.
Ministers
Prayer Breakfast
We held our first minister’s
prayer breakfast (Full English of course!) on Tuesday February 13th
2001. 25 of us came together from 8.30 to 11.15 for food, sharing, worship,
and prayer. At least 7 more sent apologies. It was a wonderful time, and the
Holy Spirit was very much at work. Several old problems were addressed, and
the worship and prayer times were very powerful. As a result of this, two
minister’s prayer cells are now set up again under new leadership, and many
of the minister’s at the breakfast have committed to come and pray together
every other month.
Day of Prayer
On March 24th 2001
we will be holding our IPEC Day of Prayer. The response to this is building
all the time, and it is going to be a very exciting day. We are aiming for
each church to prayer walk their own territory, and we are coming together
for an Evening of Prayer that evening. Some churches are also holding their
own prayer breakfasts or prayer lunches on that day, to pray for their own
neighbourhoods. We are expecting a good gathering in the evening, as many of
the churches, and their ministers are so keen to be involved. Please
remember us on that day.
Church Visits
I have been doing a lot of
travelling, visiting different churches to share
Ipswich in Prayer at their Sunday service, or midweek meeting. It has
been very encouraging to move around some of these churches and get a feel for
what is going on in different parts of the town. There is a great deal of
goodwill around towards prayer, and a new feeling of coming together, and
encouraging one another. Several churches have said they are being challenged
about their parochial outlook, and are now grasping a wider vision. This has
been one of the blessings of my new job.
The Spiritual Battle
Please pray for us as we
continue to move into the battle zone under God’s direction. By Christmas
2000, the police had been investigating 5 murders in 6 months in the town.
This is unheard of previously in Ipswich. However, we feel sure that through
God at work, the tide will turn.
Plans for the
Future
We are obviously waiting on
God as to how we should move forward after March 24th. We feel
that if there is an election in the Spring, our next move may be a
rolling day of prayer in one of the town centre churches on election day.
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Thank you for your help, encouragement, and prayers.
Yours in Christ, Liz. |
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