What God did at Gather 25 is just the beginning

It’s not every day you can say that you attended a prayer gathering of 7 million people.

Gather 25 was the first time in history that so many churches worldwide came together via livestream to pray for 25 hours. It was beautiful and humbling, but more than just an experience; it was a call - from an impressive cohort of seasoned leaders - to the younger generation to step up and step out.

And I’m confident that what we experienced on Saturday is just a fraction of what is to come.

As part of the team at SAINT church in east London, which hosted the UK part of the prayer event, my job was to pray. So, for me, the day of Gather 25 began with my usual morning run, praying that God would give me eyes to see and ears to hear.

I was part of a team that had come from far and wide to pray, and our WhatsApp group chat was filled with prophetic words and scripture. Despite many of us not knowing each other, the Holy Spirit cultivated unity as we all sensed similar things: freedom, simplicity, and the call of Ephesians 5:13-14, that “everything exposed by the light becomes visible - and everything that is illuminated becomes a light…and Christ will shine on us.”

Praying for unity

It might sound obvious, with Gather 25 being all about the global Church praying together, but God was bringing unity to his Church locally, too. Watching younger generations cry out in floods of tears for the Church, leading and consecrating themselves, was so encouraging.

Psalm 24’s call to have “clean hands and a pure heart” had been circling my head all day, and was read to the volunteers by another pastor, leading them in consecration. Not deviating from what I was sensing, I read the same passage in the leaders’ prayer meeting, and then, as we began to worship together in London, Rev Al Gordon read it out for a third time to all those gathered in the church.

The call to consecration, repentance and reconciliation has become a part of our ecosystem at SAINT. It follows a significant culture shift birthed out of our church leaders encountering God in the most profound way following the outpouring at Asbury university in the US in 2023. Even still, in his kindness, God was about to teach all of us that encountering him will never stop transcending our understanding.

Worship needed no hype and ministry needed no prayer team – God was meeting with people, commissioning and restoring them personally - not just in London but globally. The stories shared from around the world testified that God is moving, but in a city often known for its loneliness, they also declared that we are not alone. God is moving in our lives because he is moving all around the world.

Called and commissioned

Statistics from a YouGov poll published in The Times showed that, for the first time in many years in London, more people believe in a God than don’t. And while that might not translate to self-professing Christians just yet, it does mean that there is an appetite to know who God is. Our call and commission is to respond with the name of Jesus.

That call was given every morsel of fuel that our leaders knew how to give it: Sadie Robertson Huff broke off the lie that we are too young; Christine Caine challenged us to see the darkness and shine light on it; Rev Stephen Foster reminded us that the best life we can lead is on the other side of being obedient to whatever God calls us to do; Al Gordon testified to God pursuing every single person; and Rev Nicky Gumbel and his wife Pippa commissioned us to go, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, to transform the nations in the name of Jesus.

God was meeting with people, commissioning and restoring them - not just in London but globally

It was the most eloquent battle cry I’ve ever heard, but as Stephen Foster said: “The potential is vast, but the pressure is off.” God is already doing it; we get the privilege and joy of joining with him.

This unity gifted by the Spirit extended beyond our prayer times. I’ve since watched young people crying out in prayer, long-time Christians experiencing his presence afresh and people who do not know Jesus walking through our doors searching for more.

The vision behind Gather25, was simple: if Jesus were to come back in our lifetime, how would we respond? Honestly, I have no idea, but after this weekend, I think we should all take that question far more seriously.