February, 2007.

We started meeting on Friday evenings to pray for Seaford once a month in September, 2,000. We are very grateful to the R.C. Church and Colin Purchase in particular, who have kindly hosted us in their building since that time. We prayed regularly for the youth in the town and for Church unity, using the Apostolic prayers in scripture and worship as the basis of our praying.

We hosted two Conferences led by Teams from IHOP, Kansas City, a 24/7 prayer and worship centre since 1999. At no time did we ever wish to replace already existing prayer groups in the town, we wished to supplement the praying already in existence and are grateful to God to be part of a praying company of people. Our desire is to sing the songs that are on his heart and join with Him "Who ever lives to make intercession for us" praying the prayers with Him that He is praying, being led by the Holy Spirit.

We have long had a deep conviction that we should establish a 24/7 prayer centre in Seaford, (Pete had a vision of a centre in 1990/1), and made an additional step towards that by meeting every Friday (except over Christmas) since September 1st, 2,006, in Cross Way, small Hall, Clinton Place, from 10:00 - 16:00. When we suggested this to some praying friends, we found that others had already put the day aside to support this venture. We now have a team of six who are committed to every Friday full time and five others who come at various times throughout the day.
The ethos of the SHOP is based upon P. 27: 4
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple."

We seek to worship Him throughout the day, meditating on the beauty of His character and attributes as well as to intercede. Fridays are based around the Lord's prayer.
We start with worship and adoration,
"Our father, who are in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name",
Pray for our locality, "May Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done on earth as in heaven."
Meditate on his goodness, including a time of prayer for personal issues and a time of healing;
"Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."
Pray for our nation, Government, legal system, NHS etc.
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Pray for international needs, for Israel, the persecuted church and other countries, missionary societies, etc. "For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory"
And end with praise, "For ever and ever. Amen."
We still gather to praise and pray on the first Friday evenings of the month (in addition to the day-time gathering) from 19:30 - 23:00+


We invite any Christian from the area who is leading a local event, to come along and share the passion of their hearts so that we can all pray. We have had many wonderful visitors, including the Mayor of Seaford, a representative of WAVES, of Fairtrade, of outreach events, representatives of youth events, a local NHS executive, members of the schools prayer group and have prayed for churches running "open space" events, inviting the public to visit them etc. Latterly, we have had between 12 - 15 people attending who are involved in prayer for local issues. Currently, members of five churches in the town gather with us to pray together.

We were blessed by helpful instructions from a member of the Parliamentary prayer group, by a leader from Christian friends of Israel, and a representative of Shofar, a Doctor and his wife teaching on AIDs relief in Africa, a missionary to Cambodia, a representative from France, from "Prayer City", Nigeria and others. We pray regularly for the above and other initiatives, like the Beachy Head Missions team in the wonderful work they are doing in saving lives. We are currently praying the "Friday Focus" from the Hope 2,008 initiative, and will participate fully in this.

We continue the music throughout the day in order to worship Him who is worthy of all praise, and to be like Mary, sitting at His feet to love and adore Him, as well as interceding for our locality and the nations. We are deeply blessed in being served by young worship leaders from St. Thomas More, SBC, and FSCF. The 12:00 - 13:00 meditation hour, includes a time of healing as well as personal prayer requests being prayed into up to 40 times.

We hope to increase the hours in SHOP this year and would like to launch a 24/7 prayer event from Friday May 25th, 6.p.m. to Saturday 26th, 6.p.m. Sunday 27th is the Global Day of Prayer.
Watch this space!

There is an increasing group who are longing to see Him move in our area, that "His kingdom should come and His will be done." This is His initiative, His idea and He constantly surprises us in the way that He orchestrates the day. We would feel privileged to host more local people and thank you all for your prayerful support. Please come and join!