Prayer Summit 2007

Blake Davidson

The Greater Hamilton Christian Leaders Network (GHCLN) gathers monthly for fellowship and prayer and has now held two Prayer Summits. Blake Davidson leads the team that facilitates this network. He is the pastor of Christian Life Assembly in Dundas. The article that follows was originally sent out as a report to the network sharing what happened at the 2nd annual Prayer Summit held early last month at Creiff Hills

Twenty-four of us from the Greater Hamilton area met from Monday, April 30th to Wednesday, May 2nd for our second annual Prayer Summit. Our time together was marked by many things: meals, sharing our stories, praying, laughing, deepening relationships, listening to God and worshiping—and there were great times of corporate worship. Some of us stayed up too late, keeping others out of bed and tired, but over all we were considerate of each other’s unique place in the Hamilton mosaic of Christian churches and leaders.

We were challenged, on many fronts by our moderator, Tom White from Portland, Oregon. With a strategic focus, Tom capably led us through personal issues of pain and hurt, to a time when we graciously ministered to each other’s family needs and finally, to a place where we sought God for his direction in the city of Hamilton. He described for us the symptoms present in a stronghold city—a city where the enemy has historically had his way: every one in the room saw and heard ‘Hamilton’ as Tom spoke. One of the biggest things he landed on, was confusion in communication and a seeming incapability for the body of Christ to resolve disputes and remain united for any meaningful length of time, enough time for example, to truly impact the whole city for Christ and to impress the lost people of the city. We were all convicted of the need to press on with plans for deeper unity, (not uniformity), and work toward doing corporate things together out of deep relationship, so that the people of Hamilton can know there is one God, and one Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We also learned that leaders in a stronghold city are under specific attack on a family level. At one point there was prayer for the children and grandchildren of the leaders present, who were far from God. To represent these hurt and struggling family members, the leaders were asked to sit in the center of our semi-circle, and the rest would pray for them. There were only six people left in the outer circle; it seemed as though every leader present had his/her family members under attack. Story after story emerged of wayward kids and that room filled with compassionate weeping and care for one another. I was wrecked and could barely get the words out, trying to pray for people as the burden for their children or grandchildren, young adults or fully grown, gripped me as though they were my own flesh and blood. The intensity of this kind of communion and depth in relationship cannot be adequately described, but certainly changed everyone in that room.

On the last afternoon, after having several opportunities to be in silent solitude, Tom pushed us (gently), toward overcoming our history, to foster a united city leadership which represents the whole body of Christ, (or as many as would want to participate), so that we might have more of a united front against the strongholds our adversary has been able to successfully construct over these many years. The infrastructure of how this should come to be is yet to become as clear as the desire in God’s heart that we do it; so, please pray for our servant team and the leadership of other groups such as TrueCity as we all endeavor to be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We would rather be accused of being slow and cautious in this area than fast and reckless, because we value the friendships we now have cross-denominationally more than anything.

It became clear that there remains significant ground to cover in understanding how we all think in our different traditions and perspectives; we don’t yet know how ‘doing things together’ should look. We were encouraged by Tom to continue the process and increase times of prayer together, apart from our busy ministry lives. He assured us, and the Holy Spirit with him, that if we are committed to being together and to loving each other, all of our questions and insecurities will fall into the proper places, and as we prefer one another above ourselves. God will make a way; we learned an open heaven can truly come to Hamilton, over a city-church that is healthy and living in biblical community. All of our spirits groaned within us for that day. We believe we are in the throes of its formation and we are somehow connected to ensuring its reality. We came out of Wednesday’s afternoon prayer and discussion, determined to fight for our friendships and biblical community, and to keep pushing the envelope on loving acceptance, where our brothers and sisters in Christ are concerned.

There were also great times of corporate listening and then sharing those things that God impressed upon our hearts and minds. A theme of water and waterways kept coming up in discussions that described how God sees the city-church’s influence increasing in Hamilton. Not so much derived from plans and programs, as much as a from a force of Christ-followers taking on the properties of floodwaters streaming into every little nook and cranny of our city, affecting everything from politics to education, and the reclamation and redemption of real estate and urban blight. These words and impressions created great excitement in each of us.

Once again, I was astounded at how easy it was to pray together for two days. Coming home, we were tired physically but invigorated in spirit and encouraged that we are on the right path—one that honours God and brings hope and blessing to our city. To all of you who set aside the time for us to be together, thank you. You contributed to making this year’s Prayer Summit a meaningful and city-life-changing experience.

If you were unable to be with us for this year’s summit, please make plans to do so for next year. The tentative dates are April 21-23, 2008.