Tim Abbott

24-7 Prayer Network Day

Friday I was in Bath at the very splendid Bath City Church for the 24-7 Prayer network day. These things move about a bit to even up the travelling required - the previous one was in Gateshead - and as a result loads of new people turn up each time. There were people there from literally all over the UK sharing some amazing stories. A prayer room in a hall under a brothel, a new city centre prayer room in Oxford, work with marginalised people in Earls Court, and prophetic words for members of the public in an Essex pub.

After lunch we heard from Tear Fund including news of this weekend's Wave march in London, had an overview of the new, beautiful and much improved 24-7 Prayer web site and updated people on the nationwide movement of Prayer Spaces in Schools. The stories are beginning to come in! If you're interested in the possibility of setting up a prayer space in a school where you already have a good relationship, please email us:
schools@24-7prayer.com

Big thanks to Phil for the splendid organisation and the people at BCC for their excellent hospitality.

Prayer Spaces in Schools - resource pack

The Prayer Spaces in Schools resource pack is now available, thanks to a load of work by Phil Togwell over the summer.

The pack brings together a bit of the story so far, case studies and examples of a whole variety of ways of doing prayer rooms in schools, advice on how to get things started, good practice guidelines and lots of prayer station ideas that have been tried and tested in secondary and primary schools. The aim is to inspire and equip churches and organisations who would like to offer to run a prayer space for their local school.

This whole prayer spaces in school seems to have taken off in an amazing way. We keep hearing of people who have simply got on and done it. It feels like a national movement, co-ordinated by no-one but the Holy Spirit, inspiring a simple idea in many places, catching a moment of extraordinary openness in our nation. Even so, it still feels like a beginning. The potential for more prayer spaces in schools seems to be amazing and we've already had a torrent of interest from people all over the UK (and some from as far afield as Australia!) who all seem to have had a vision for this kind of thing and are glad of a few ideas and stories to help them on their way.

And that's what this is all about... hundreds of people taking an experience of prayer to thousands of students up and down the country and developing this idea beyond any of our wildest dreams. We're all on a learning curve, including those of us who have been doing this for a while. Where might we be this time next year? How many prayer spaces will have been run in schools? How many students will have explored prayer in a meaningful way for the first time?

Whether you've been doing prayer spaces in school, or you're interested in getting hold of a pack (email only, 2.4 MB) to have a go for the first time, please email us at

schools@24-7prayer.com

We'd love to hear from you.

More prayer rooms in schools

This idea of setting up a prayer room for a week in a secondary school seems to be turning into something of a movement. Over these last few weeks of term there are several going on that I know about, and possibly a few more (if you know of others please get in touch).

In Romford Phil has this week been in St. Edward's CofE Comprehensive.

And in Gloucester Joe has been running a payer room in partnership with the chaplain at Bishops College CofE comprehensive.

I was glad to be able to get to the 24-7 Prayer Network Day in Newcastle on Saturday, not just for the chance to meet others but for opportunity to discover more about the different ways people are doing what could broadly be described as prayer rooms in schools. I say 'broadly' because each person or group is doing it their own way, inspired by one simple idea, creating space for students to pray, and making it work in their context. It seems absolutely clear to me that over about the last year there has been an explosion of people starting prayer rooms in schools and I've previously blogged about the networking that's taking place to begin to gather this emerging collective wisdom into something that might be useful to others. (This gathering of collective wisdom is still a work in progress!) But what is happening has all the hallmarks of a movement - there's just this idea, and lots of people are 'getting it' and getting on with making it happen. And then, later, people discover they're not alone and that others are doing it as well.

It's our turn again next week and the week after as we run what will be our fourth and fifth Sanctum in two state secondary schools here in Colchester. I hope to blog daily about how they're going... we shall see.

Sanctum - Colchester Sixth Form College - day 5

Our final day and further encouraging visits and conversations. Once again the mosaic activity proved to be the perfect setting for some more in depth conversations about God. It was wonderful how readily people opened up to the Sanctum team about their lives and their questions. One guy stayed for a whole (free) period, and we got to pray for him at the end.
At the end of the day we packed everything up and turned the room back into a drama studio.

This is an interesting journey and one that God seems to be driving.

PS - this is a quick post - I might update it once I've unpacked the van and can get to some more info!

Sanctum - Colchester Sixth Form College - day 4

Today we've had visits from students in ones and twos and from several staff. As ever, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

However, what made today so special was one of those unplanned moments that hint at the guiding of a divine hand. Three girls, one returning for a second visit, decided to sit with some of the team around the mosaic activity resulting in over 20 minutes of in depth conversation about faith and God. This was a quality discussion, initiated by the students, that went much further than normal. Although it seems so obvious now, we'd overlooked the possibilities for conversation inherent in these creative activities.

Today was not about quantity, it was about quality.

Some visitor quotes:

Fantastic meaningful space. Thanks for coming and making us think. (staff)

This is a meaningful space that helps me reflect my life immensely. T (male)

V. good. Found some peace in this hectic college. R & C (female)

Sanctum - Colchester Sixth Form College - day 3

Well, today was a bit of a surprise. Only about 10 people came through the prayer room all day - rather confusing given the overwhelmingly positive responses we've been getting from students for the last two days.

Wednesday is a slightly odd day at the College as the afternoon is left free for activities and as some students only come in for one or two lessons there are not that many people around with free time to spend in a prayer room.

There may be another factor. All over the College there are landings, lobbies, corridors and open areas that create both formal and informal 'social areas'. One such area, a large lobby with up to 40 students sitting and chatting loudly, is just outside our room. Because of the slightly 'tribal' ownership of these areas some students avoid them if they're not part of that particular group. Are some people reluctant to visit Sanctum because the trip through a 'foreign' zone creates too high a threshold to participation? There's not much we can do about it if this is the case. We'll do some more research tomorrow.

Since there was just the team in the room we made the most of the opportunity to pray into this situation and recommit what we were doing to God trusting to whatever tomorrow brings.

Sanctum - Colchester Sixth Form College - day 2

Day 2 in the Sanctum prayer room and, strangely, not as many people visiting as yesterday. As before, we went out and about in the college to chat to students and hand out flyers and were well received. Many students were still barely aware of Sanctum but were gald to know and showed real interest.

Later in the day several small groups of people poked their heads in and took a look. One group of girls spent 5 minutes checking the room out before going to find a drama lesson and, initially unsure, were soon transformed into wildly enthusiastic endorsers of Sanctum. "It's magical" they said promisong to come back tomorrow.

One of the new stations we've created encourages people to write up one thing that they're sorry about (without using their name or the names of others). When we created this activity we were really very unsure how well it would work and whether peole would 'get it'. We needn't have worried. Here are some typical responses from people, written on the slips of paper you can see in this picture:

• Sorry for lying to the people that are closest to me.
• I'm sorry I don't always show my love for someone and the appreciation of things people do for me.
• I'm sorry for... judging her and hating her while overlooking the happiness she brings to some people.
• I'm sorry when I get grumpy with other people for no reason. I hope they know I love them!
• Sorry for not feeding the dog last night.

Those that have come through Sanctum today have, like yesterday, really engaged with the different activities and made some profound and moving contributions. Sanctum is certainly making an impact and we've had several people come back bringing friends with them. Our concern is that, in a college of nearly 3000 students with two large buildings, getting word out to everyone takes longer than we've ever encountered before. My hunch is that ideally we should be doing this for two weeks, not one, but we're still so grateful that this opportunity is open to us. So is nearly everyone who has visited Sanctum so far. Here are some of today's comments from the Visitors Book:

I wouldn't call myself religious and I still don't believe there is a God, but I found this very thought provoking. V (female)

Great. Really makes you think and reconsider things. M (male)

This was so lovely... Sanctum should be here permanently not just a one off!!! D (female)

Sanctum - Colchester Sixth Form College - day 1

Today all our planning and preparation and praying came to fruition as we opened up a Sanctum prayer room in Colchester Sixth Form College.

Setting up took a bit longer than on previous occasions because we had some new stations to put together for the first time and twelve stations rather than the nine we've done previously. We got part of it done on Friday evening and the rest finished off this morning, so it was about 10am before we were ready.

Take up was slow to start with. The room opens onto a social area and the top of a staircase so people knew we were there, but needed encouragement to come in and find out what it's all about. As we had predicted, being in a college meant that people came through in small groups pretty much any time of the day. By late lunchtime we'd seen about 20 people and been encouraged by their responses. But it was clear that, in spite of advertising all last week through posters, flyers and the college info screens, many people didn't know Sanctum was happening. So we printed off a load more flyers and set off round the College social areas chatting to people and inviting them to come and try out the prayer room.

As a result the numbers picked up for the last hour and a half of the afternoon and another 20 students visited. So far, people typically come to Sanctum in groups of 4-7. One group rushed things because it was clear one member of the group was uncomfortable. But other groups noticeably slowed down, took their time and were obviously deely engrossed in the different activities. Every now and then a couple of them would chat briefly and quietly before engaging in another activity.

All those who have come have appreciated it. May it continue. Here are some quotes from the visitors book for today:

Very enlightening, peaceful and relaxing. It has allowed us to think more about God. W & M (male & female)

Very inspiring and a very good target audience. It helped, I think, to open people up to spirituality at an age where religion is confusing and blocked behind dogma. S (female)

Very comforting, eye opening. Really made me think about life. Thanks! J & L (males)

Sanctum in the Sixth Form College

Since we got back from the Christmas holidays life in CYO-land has been dominated by preparations for another week of Sanctum, our prayer room for students, this time in Colchester Sixth Form College.

The college are really enthusiastic about it and have given us a wonderful drama studio/classroom to use. Planning for a week in a sixth form college has given us the welcome opportunity to develop new material for this older age group and we're still in the process of writing, designing, recording and producing as well as buying stuff. It feels a bit like doing it all for the first time again, which has to be a good thing. As before, I'll blog about the week as it unfolds.

Prayer Rooms in Schools gathering

Today I spent an inspiring morning with a load of people who have all, in different ways, run prayer rooms in school. The gathering was hosted by the Phil Togwell and the City of London Boiler Room team. It was great to see their new home in Dowgate Hill, right in the City of London by Cannon Street station, even if it is still a bit chaotic following their sudden move there a few weeks ago.

Meeting in the local Starbuck's (the only suitable space... really!) we shared stories from Colchester, Chichester and Romford about what had been done, the impact it had made and what we sensed was the next step for each of us. We then looked at how we develop this amazing emerging opportunity so that others can pick it up and run with it in their own area. Phil helpfully identified three key areas that we need to refine and develop:

1. The way of working - differentiating the model of spiritual development and prayer that is appropriate to the age group and context of a school situation, as distinct from the ways we would set up and run a prayer room in a church for people who are predominantly Christian. This will include some reflection on the spiritual development of young people and the opportunities and expectations presented by the school curriculum, the Department for Children, Schools and Familes and OFSTED.
2. How to - developing the necessary educational and procedural foundations for prayer rooms in schools. This would include reference to educational goals as well as stuff like Risk Assessments and Child Protection policies. We already have these for Sanctum.
3. A creative bank of resources and activities - we felt it was important to gather together the wide variety of proven creative ideas that people have used for others to access. However, it will be imprtant that people wishing to run a prayer room in a school understand 1 & 2 before diving into 3!

We also discussed briefly a helpful definition of spiritual health, the spectrum of implicit vs explicit Christian spirituality and how this might be represented appropriately in school, the interplay of information, experience and relationships, and one or two ways in which we might widen the discussion and encourage others.

At 1pm I set off back for Colchester, only to get stuck in a train traffic jam caused by vandals cutting through the wires controlling the signalling system between Marks Tey and Colchester. In the end my one hour journey took nearly three hours which wiped out the rest of the day! However, I'm looking forward to getting more involved in the process of deepening and broadening our understanding and experience of running prayer rooms in schools and colleges.