A lot of our prayer for the capital is going into gun and knife crime, affecting particularly young people. There are young people in churches who are living in the estates where the gangs are almost ruling like a criminal class. We need to pray for these young people who are living on these estates.

There is a strong community feeling in gangs but we need to find a way to bring them to the community of God. The process now is getting understanding and a real insight into what these killings are a symptom of and understanding the gangs on the estates. Hope 08 is bringing detached youth work and the Street Pastors are in London boroughs, and possibly extending to Brent. So there is quite a bit of hope.

We prayed for the Parliament, music, media, and the film industry to have the fear of God and for unity among the churches in London. We felt that God was saying that prayer is the role that the church has to be playing, that the church should be praying.

Our prayer was around Parliament and the Royal Family, that God would touch their hearts. We also prayed for gun and knife crime. There is so much death among young people. But God is answering our prayers. The averted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow were a clear act of God. We are praying for Him to send confusion to their [the terrorists’] camp.

Until people are willing and ready to obey the Word the situation won’t change. So we are praying that God will break down the hearts of young men and women – without that there will be no change. When the Berlin Wall fell, people were praying for change for 25 years. Consistent prayer over a period of time is needed. If we don’t get tired, God will change situations.

God is raising up watchmen for the nation. It seemed they had gone back into the closet and lost courage. We prayed for a fresh fire. We need people who won’t give up. There is a lot of two-facedness that is driving away children from churches. We prayed for adults and parents to be examples and mentors for the younger people. If we keep going at it, we’re going to see change. We need to pray more and keep going like Elijah who prayed until he saw a cloud as small as a man’s hand.

We prayed for our MPs and the people leading, that they would believe and the Lord may help them to make the right decision. We also prayed for our youth, that they would find God Almighty and the Lord would block the devices of the enemy and commit them to the will of God. We feel very strongly that the Lord is pulling down every pillar of difference. He has started His work in this nation so we should not relent.

We are praying for Hope 08 because it is a major opportunity for the church to release the gospel into the nation, a renewal of confidence in the gospel and for the spirit of unbelief and cynicism across the nation to be broken down. The key is united prayer. If we could only come together as a people of God in a united way, a whole lot more could be achieved. But I think things are moving. We are agents of change and the challenges we face are God’s opportunities. We are just praying for the church to respond in faith.