At a bare minimum, a House of Prayer needs a prayer room. Ideally, the prayer room would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This would depend partly on the size of the team that God gives us, but the space itself needs to be one that lends itself to 24/7 accessibility. It should also be a space that is accessible to Vanier’s neediest residents. This probably means a space on or near Montreal Road.
The Village, a four year old Mennonite church located in Vanier, is exploring the possibility of buying a currently-vacant building on Montreal Road, and its pastor Stefan Cherry has expressed an interest in sharing space with an eventual Vanier House of Prayer. This is a possibility that will be explored further as our team develops.
Eventually, as God opens doors, I envision that the House of Prayer could occupy an entire house, which would provide space for a prayer room as well as the development of other dimensions of the HoP vision, such as community, hospitality and refuge.
Although a suitable physical prayer space is important, the most important single ingredient in a House of Prayer is a team of praying people who love Jesus and are looking for the coming of His righteous rule on the earth. Jill Weber, director of Greater Ontario House of Prayer in Hamilton, says that their House of Prayer has met in a wide variety of rented and borrowed spaces in its ten year history. Although a suitable space is important, God has met this need for GOHOP in a variety of ways.
During the years that the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness after their escape from Egypt, the Bible describes them as meeting with God in a Tent of Meeting – a mobile structure (Exodus 33:7-11). Our God is not limited to a single place or time. Jesus said that He would be with His people wherever two or three of them were gathered together (Matthew 18:20). If the Lord wants us to establish a House of Prayer in Vanier, He will provide everything we need, including a meeting space, and whenever we gather to seek Him, He promises that His tangible, manifest presence will be in the midst of us.
