A week ago I was part of a workshop on 24/7 Prayer at a mission-themed conference in Helsinki. While there, I met a guy called Janne from Joensuu (around a 6 hour drive north-east of Helsinki), who is part of a community of young people there. A couple of days later they were starting their first prayer week. I mentioned that it would be cool to visit them some time, and in response Janne offered that I could get a lift with them the next day on their way back to Joensuu. I figured that I could potentially do it, so I asked God if I should go. His response was a pretty clear "Yes". I also asked what day to come back, and God suggested Thursday.
So, on Sunday morning, myself and Jenni (who's also part of our Jakomäki community) went to Joensuu. Jenni stayed until Tuesday morning, and I left on Thursday afternoon. We kinda just joined in with the life of the community there. Essentially, it's a group of friends from a few different parts of the Church in Joensuu. Some are involved with a 'media team', which has a house where they make music, videos and various other stuff (and Janne also lives there). Some of the community are also involved with running a youth cafe for the young people in the city. One room in the youth cafe building was used as the prayer room for the week.
So, we spent time getting to know some people from the community, eating, seeing some of Joensuu and just hanging out there. In addition to all this, we were privileged to take part in their first prayer week. It was so great to be there for the first couple of hours in the prayer room with around 10 others, aware that God is really up to something here. I filled in some open slots, maybe an hour or two each day. It was wonderful to see the room fill up with artwork and written prayers, and to see people really enthusiastic about getting to spend time in the prayer room. It seems quite clear that this won't be the last prayer week they host.
I really enjoyed being there, getting to spend time praying for Joensuu and the community, and getting to connect with people there. I also got to record one of my songs in the Media house's studio with Janne - you can hear it here: http://soundcloud.com/john-allison/john-allison-the-boat-song So all in all it was a great 5 days.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Stand up
From the sixth to the ninth of October, people from all over Europe gathered in Frankfurt for 24/7 Prayer's Eurogathering, and I was privileged to be there. It was a truly wonderful time of worship, prayer, sharing vision and inspiration, and meeting family.
I arrived in the hall at the beginning of the first meeting, and it was full of people on their knees, silently listening to God. As I quickly joined in, I felt God say that He had brought me here to show me that there is hope for Europe, and that the people in this hall would become family to me.
By the end of the gathering, I'd heard many stories of different communities across Europe who are praying, reaching out, and living to see their cities, nations, continent and world transformed. Truly, I could see that there is still hope for Europe, and that these people, ordinary yet set-apart people, are truly family to me. After meeting many amazing people, and knowing that there were many more I didn't get a chance to talk with, I know that these are people I want to walk with and learn from.
The gathering was called 'Aufstehen' ('stand up' in German), and I was both inspired and challenged by the call to stand up. Hearing from people in places like Greece and Spain, where there is a great deal of pressure right now, was pretty inspiring. I was also very inspired by hearing about various 'Boiler Room communities' across Europe, and also attending a seminar on building communities. There is so much to learn, and I guess most of it really has to be learned in practice. It really challenged my thinking about the developing community here in Jakomäki, and I'm looking forward to how things will develop.
I also had the privilege of being part of the worship team in the main sessions, made up several different nations, most of whom had never played together. The 3 worship leaders were from Macedonia, Spain and Greece, and getting to be part of it all was so much fun. Some of the leaders of 24/7 Prayer in Europe also shared during the main sessions, and it was really inspiring and challenging stuff. I was particularly challenged by Brian Heasley, who's lived and worked and prayed in Ibiza for several years.
Amongst it all, there was time to just chat and get to know people, which was really great. Meeting people who are so real and 'down-to-earth' and yet so passionately following Jesus was wonderful.
Ultimately, I left Frankfurt longing to see change - in myself, in Jakomäki, in Finland, in Europe and across the world. And I pray that this longing will again draw me into prayer and action, into careful listening and wholehearted obedience. We need to stand up.
I arrived in the hall at the beginning of the first meeting, and it was full of people on their knees, silently listening to God. As I quickly joined in, I felt God say that He had brought me here to show me that there is hope for Europe, and that the people in this hall would become family to me.
By the end of the gathering, I'd heard many stories of different communities across Europe who are praying, reaching out, and living to see their cities, nations, continent and world transformed. Truly, I could see that there is still hope for Europe, and that these people, ordinary yet set-apart people, are truly family to me. After meeting many amazing people, and knowing that there were many more I didn't get a chance to talk with, I know that these are people I want to walk with and learn from.
The gathering was called 'Aufstehen' ('stand up' in German), and I was both inspired and challenged by the call to stand up. Hearing from people in places like Greece and Spain, where there is a great deal of pressure right now, was pretty inspiring. I was also very inspired by hearing about various 'Boiler Room communities' across Europe, and also attending a seminar on building communities. There is so much to learn, and I guess most of it really has to be learned in practice. It really challenged my thinking about the developing community here in Jakomäki, and I'm looking forward to how things will develop.
I also had the privilege of being part of the worship team in the main sessions, made up several different nations, most of whom had never played together. The 3 worship leaders were from Macedonia, Spain and Greece, and getting to be part of it all was so much fun. Some of the leaders of 24/7 Prayer in Europe also shared during the main sessions, and it was really inspiring and challenging stuff. I was particularly challenged by Brian Heasley, who's lived and worked and prayed in Ibiza for several years.
Amongst it all, there was time to just chat and get to know people, which was really great. Meeting people who are so real and 'down-to-earth' and yet so passionately following Jesus was wonderful.
Ultimately, I left Frankfurt longing to see change - in myself, in Jakomäki, in Finland, in Europe and across the world. And I pray that this longing will again draw me into prayer and action, into careful listening and wholehearted obedience. We need to stand up.
Svendborg, Denmark
In the evening of Thursday 29th September, I was flying back from Copenhagen to Helsinki, looking back on the previous 4 days. I'd traveled to Svendborg that Monday to do some teaching at a YWAM DTS, and it was one of my first real experiences of that sort of teaching. In the weeks beforehand I'd taken some time to prepare for the teaching on the subject of worship. It's a subject very close to my heart, and I was aware that more than sharing merely concepts or ideas, I wanted to share my heart.
So, after a brief time of getting to know each other and a bit of an introduction on the first evening, the next morning it dawned on me just how much of a challenge this was. That day I had roughly 6 hours in which to share with the 5 students, and I was pretty daunted. Then I felt God speak to me from Jeremiah 1:5-9 that He would put the words in my mouth, and I simply had to share what He gave me to share.
So, on my journey home, several things were pretty clear in my mind.
Firstly, I loved getting to share my heart with the students, and being able to interact with them around God's Word and various concepts. Getting to share about something I'm passionate about and see it inspire and challenge them was really great.
Secondly, just meeting members of this wonderful family of God was great. I feel like I also learned a lot from just being around the staff and students there, and it was inspiring to see what God is doing in people in our generation.
Finally, I am overwhelmed at the privilege of it all - to share my heart and talk about worship and ultimately God, to speak into people's lives, to be able to bless and encourage and inspire people. I'm really looking forward to the opportunities God has for me in the future.
So, after a brief time of getting to know each other and a bit of an introduction on the first evening, the next morning it dawned on me just how much of a challenge this was. That day I had roughly 6 hours in which to share with the 5 students, and I was pretty daunted. Then I felt God speak to me from Jeremiah 1:5-9 that He would put the words in my mouth, and I simply had to share what He gave me to share.
So, on my journey home, several things were pretty clear in my mind.
Firstly, I loved getting to share my heart with the students, and being able to interact with them around God's Word and various concepts. Getting to share about something I'm passionate about and see it inspire and challenge them was really great.
Secondly, just meeting members of this wonderful family of God was great. I feel like I also learned a lot from just being around the staff and students there, and it was inspiring to see what God is doing in people in our generation.
Finally, I am overwhelmed at the privilege of it all - to share my heart and talk about worship and ultimately God, to speak into people's lives, to be able to bless and encourage and inspire people. I'm really looking forward to the opportunities God has for me in the future.
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