Christians from all denominations across Rotherham Metropolitan Borough stepped out in faith to prayerwalk as many streets in the area as possible during the month of March. On Friday 4 April we came together to give thanks to God that 97.1% of the roads in this area had received prayerwalkers at least once, a distance of 2117 miles. That’s as far as Denver Colorado, travelling in a straight line! Some walked 100 yards, others 100 miles or more, but the efforts of 245 people registered on the prayerwalking app add up.
The genius of this approach is that it’s so easy to organise. Most of it involves individuals registering on an app and then walking when it suits them. On an average day, 10s of people will be out in different areas. Soon the map began to fill up with roads that had received prayer. We were blown away by how enthusiastically people received this and how the numbers registered grew daily.
Adrian Dexter from Liberty Church said, in the final week:
‘With over 96% of the Borough soaked in prayer, we are believing for a spiritual climate shift to take place over these beautiful hills and valleys.’
Michael, a local councillor, used his knowledge of the area to create a prayerwalk through some of our most deprived communities. Both in his faith and in his role, he aims to serve them. He wanted others to come, to see and to pray. This event ‘gave legs’ to our own diocesan commitment to the lowest income communities. Along the way, we also encountered lavish welcome and lively worship at the RCCG Freedom Centre, a Nigerian church in the heart of Eastwood.
In the Cornerstone Mission Area, they organised a prayerwalk between four of their churches. This is a great way to mobilise prayer and to get to pray for your streets. It doesn’t have to be restricted to the month of March; the Silverwood Mission Area has a walk planned for Saturday 19 April.
Is this something you could do during Thy Kingdom Come? Last year, we had prayer pilgrimages in each deanery. In total, they drew in about 250 people.
The obvious questions are: what next? Would you do it again? This will be a discussion for church leaders in April but we are already looking towards a cycle and prayer event round the boundary of the borough in late September. Arise Rotherham received such a positive endorsement right across the churches and it feels as though it has taken our ecumenical working up a couple of gears. So, we really hope we can build on this for the future.
If you would like more information on any of this or to register interest in the cycle and prayer event or on how to organise your own prayerwalking event, contact john.hibberd@sheffield.anglican.org