The UKI Boiler Room: One year on

Territorial Prayer Network Coordinator Major Gary Lacey talks about the first year of the UKI Boiler Room.

As the UKI Boiler Room celebrates its first anniversary on 28 January, Gary shares his belief that prayer is vital – without it there is no mission!

Based on a story told of Charles Spurgeon, a boiler room is a large group of people deep in prayer. While it was God who transformed people, Spurgeon always acknowledged the relentless prayers of those gathered in the boiler room as being a part of God’s action.

‘It’s God’s mission we’re joining,’ Gary explains. ‘If we’re not talking and listening to God at a basic level, there is no mission in my book. Our mission isn’t going to have an impact at all.’

In the coming year, Gary’s aim is to get that message across while encouraging people to give room for God to develop that mission and grow it organically.

Organic growth of the boiler room means the team have taken their hands off it in a lot of ways.

‘We’ve let it go in whatever direction,’ Gary adds. ‘The Holy Spirit does stuff that’s not in our control. Our job is to motivate people to pray.

‘This first year the boiler room has been in its early stages. There are two parts to it. The first is the daily rhythm of Prayer Matters, which my colleague, Lyndall Bywater, writes and publishes in Salvationist and online.’

Last year, Prayer Matters was downloaded over 1,800 times, and it’s believed that more than 1,000 people use the resource daily.

‘That prayer rhythm is well under way,’ he continues. ‘The second part is to get groups – existing groups and new prayer groups, which we call furnaces – to pray locally for the mission of The Salvation Army in their setting and nationally.’

There are currently five formally established furnaces in the territory, with approximately eight more in the pipeline, although the prayer team expects there are more they are not officially aware of.

Gary is keen to get everyone connected, and the team is looking at ways to share stories and encouragement between furnaces. Other useful resources have already been developed and are available by contacting Gary directly. If you’ve set up a furnace, get in touch and get linked in!

‘It’s been a good year. A lot of people have connected with the vision. At the Encounter Prayer Gathering this year, Lyndall and I will talk about changing the culture and the atmosphere. The most important thing for us is to have an impact on the world and in this country. This needs to come from our spiritual lives, and prayer is at the centre of those.’

Gary asks two questions: How can we go deeper with God? How can we connect with God in a way that intertwines with our mission?

The word ‘prayer’ can conjure fear and misconceptions. Many people struggle with what they think they should do, and how and when they should do it.

Gary explains: ‘It’s about developing your own character. Each of us has a different contribution. With me I might, in a prophetic sense, feel God saying or asking a particular thing, and share that information with others so we can pray more informed prayers.’

‘Be yourself,’ he encourages. ‘There’s not one set way. We like to teach a lifestyle of prayer – engaging with God in your everyday life.’

Spiritual art and practical action can come from this kind of personal prayer, and Gary believes this happens when people are released to realise that prayer isn’t confined to snippets of organised activity but from every part of our lives.

The rhythm and lifestyle of prayer extend to the furnaces, and the UKI Boiler Room team can provide a simple document that can help you develop in your own Spirit-led way.

Another strand of praying as mission is the Encounter Prayer Gathering. Gary is mindful that some people are nervous about attending events like this, worried about praying with others.

‘It’s actually a teaching conference about prayer,’ he shares. ‘The culture needs to change so people know that their prayer life isn’t rubbish; it’s active and they can express it in different ways.

‘God’s there in it all. God listens to our deepest frustrations, fears, hang-ups, whatever. God wants to hear our hearts, however it feels.

The team share a desire to release people from their fears around praying.

‘The Enemy steps in and makes you feel inadequate, that you’ll never be good enough to pray like someone else, so you’d rather just keep quiet,’ Gary reminds us. ‘We want to release people into just being themselves.’

The year ahead is about consolidation, making more connections, releasing people into prayer, and trusting God. Details and goals can be helpful, but Gary is mindful that the Holy Spirit does what is needed:

‘There’s a tension between wanting to know what is happening and what God’s actually doing. We’ve planted, and it’s exciting! Things come that you never expected, and it’s about accepting that and trusting God.’