Manchester House of Prayer

Vision and Values

Establishing night and day prayer in the city of Manchester in the spirit of the tabernacle of David

MHOP.org.uk

MHOP Vision and Values

Manchester House of Prayer MHOP.org.uk

MHOP Vision and Values

Table of Contents

Introduction

3 Foundational Prophetic words and pictures for MHOP 4 MHOP Mandates

MANCHESTER RESTORATION OF SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE AND OF FAMILY AND REFORMATION OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY ISRAEL

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5 5 5

MHOP Key Values

VALUE #1 - ENJOYING INTIMACY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL GOD VALUE #2 - THE NECESSITY OF COMBINING WORSHIP AND INTERCESSION VALUE #3 - PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT AND SPONTANEOUS SINGING VALUE #4 - CULTIVATING A PROPHETIC SPIRIT ON THE MUSICIANS VALUE #5 - ANTIPHONAL SINGING AND TEAM MINISTRY IN PRAYER

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VALUE #6 - PRAYER WITH AUTHORITY AND THE JOY OF ANSWERED PRAYER 9 VALUE #7 - THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WHOLE CHURCH AND SERVING IN A LOCAL CHURCH 10 VALUE #8 - GOD-CENTRED SPIRITUAL WARFARE VALUE #9 - BIBLICAL PRAYERS USING GODS LANGUAGE VALUE #10 - A PLATFORM MINISTRY STYLE THAT EXALTS JESUS VALUE #11 - PERSEVERANCE: STAYING ENGAGED IN PRAYER VALUE #12 - MILITANT BOLDNESS AGAINST THE WORKS OF DARKNESS 11 11 12 12 13

VALUE #13 - CONVICTION OF COMING REVIVAL, THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH AND THE RETURN OF JESUS 13 VALUE #14 - STRUCTURE AND LEADERSHIP IN PRAYER 14

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MHOP Vision and Values

INTRODUCTION
Across the world the Lord is stirring up His people in the arena of night and day prayer. Manchester House of Prayer (MHOP) is born out of that stirring. The Lord has called us to raise up a people who will respond to the call to live radical lives of fasting and prayer, who are willing to lay down the pleasures of this world to minister to the Lord at His alter night and day. This booklet outlines the vision for MHOP and the values which ungird everything that we do and gives an overview of the prayer mandates the Lord has given us. Gods heart and desire is that His people would be fascinated with Him and that we would cry out to Him to release His Spirit upon the earth.

3 FOUNDATIONAL PROPHETIC WORDS AND PICTURES FOR MHOP

Before the foundations of Manchester House of Prayer were laid, the Lord gave 3 key prophetic pictures which serve to under-hinge all that we seek to achieve at MHOP.

Prophetic Word #1
The !rst picture was a permanent place for 24/7 prayer and worship in our city. But it was a facility to house more than just 24 hour prayer and worship but a facility that can train and equip people to be prophetic worshippers, musicians and messengers.

Prophetic Word #2
The second picture was of a movement supported by the local churches and sustained through faithful and committed volunteers, people who catch the vision of the importance of prayer, who are willing to sacri!ce of themselves for what God is going to do and is doing in our city.

Prophetic Work #3
The third word came from Luke 18:1-8 And he told them a parable to the e!ect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he "nd faith on earth?"

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MHOP MANDATES
The Lord has given us speci!c prayer mandates which will serve as the focus of our intercession. MHOPs main focus is on praying for revival in Manchester, for the strengthening of the churches and for the hearts of men and women in the city. Other key mandates for prayer are restoration of sanctity of marriage and of family, reformation of government and society and for Israel and its role in the kingdom of God in this hour.

MANCHESTER
Manchester is MHOPs primary prayer focus. We believe the Lord has called us to pray for revival in Manchester and His strategy for that comes through His primary vehicle on earth, the church. Jesus desires that His bride would be united and that with one mind and one mouth would glorify God in the city.

RESTORATION OF SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE AND OF FAMILY AND REFORMATION OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
God not only values marriage and family but He created it as a key part of human social living. In our country and particularly our city homosexuality, adultery, fornication and immorality are prevalent and we believe that God is asking us to stand up against the ways of the world, declare Gods truth and cry out for justice. We believe that God is wanting to bring about radical reforms to government which will bring our society into line with Gods truth and bring and replace our humanistic and idolatrous laws with His just laws, bringing an ending to abortion and the practice of homosexuality and promoting marriage and the value of the family. We will stand in prayer and declare the promise of God that He will complete the work He has started.

ISRAEL
Jesus Himself prophesied that He would raise up a last-day prayer movement that would cry out for the Jewish people (Isa. 56:67, 62:67). We take this mandate seriously. We believe the Lord is asking us along with many other prayer ministries across the world to pray for the nation of Israel to receive Jesus, their Jewish Messiah. Jesus promised the nation of Israel an unusual visitation of His presence at the end of the age, when the Jewish leaders will recognize Him as their true Messiah and deliverer (Mt. 23:39). MHOP is committed to seeing the nation of Israel walking in their full destiny at the end of the age. We believe that praying for Messianic Jews living in Israel and praying for Gods purposes in the nation of Israel then God will play a vital part in release the great end-time harvest among the nations (Ezek. 36:2336). However, this full release of the Spirit will only come as a result of a body of believers who are committed to a life of night-and-day prayer and fasting.

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MHOP KEY VALUES

There are a few key values behind MHOP but the main aim is to creates an atmosphere of enjoyable prayer. 5 Even to them I will give in My house And within My walls a place and a name Better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them[a] an everlasting name That shall not be cut o!. 6 Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants Everyone who keeps from de"ling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant 7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt o!erings and their sacri"ces Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. - Isaiah 56:5-7 The Lord will release joyful or enjoyable prayer in His church. The only type of prayer that will continue night and day is enjoyable prayer. Anointed enjoyable prayer is for everyone. Probably the most signi!cant passage relating to enjoyable prayer is Rev 4-5 which outlines the beauty of God in context to the heavenly worship around the Throne. The beauty of God fascinates the heart and makes prayer enjoyable.

VALUE #1 - ENJOYING INTIMACY WITH THE BEAUTIFUL GOD

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: 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 inquire in His temple. - Psalm 27:4 David was consumed with gazing on the beauty of God. Gods beauty was central to the prayer ministry that King David led. In eternity, the subject of Gods beauty will be our eternal preoccupation with God Himself. The revelation of Gods emotions and a"ections, His burning desires was also part of Davids focus. The combination of focusing on Gods beauty and His emotions is an essential ingredient of enjoyable prayer. The thing that will sustain us as we develop the MHOP schedule is the reality of encountering God as we understand His beauty and a"ections. So even as we discuss the model of prayer that we are using at MHOP the power to engage with night and day prayer is only found in a heart that soars in God.
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Also, our primary focus in prayer must be God rather than repenting of sin or binding the devil. You simply cannot do that 24 hours a day for years and years! Yes, we engage with these spiritual realities, but they are not the main focus of our prayer times. It is really important that we understand, as David did, Gods pleasure, delight and a"ection for His people...us! Psalm 149 is a great example ######### 2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; #########Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise His name with the dance; #########Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; #########He will beautify the humble with salvation. We should rejoice or enjoy God because He enjoys us! And the beauty He possesses He will impart to His people through redemption.

VALUE #2 - THE NECESSITY OF COMBINING WORSHIP AND INTERCESSION

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. - Revelation 5:8 The harp speaks of music and songs of worship to God. The bowl speaks of prayers to God. Around the throne of God worship and intercession $ow together. What we do at MHOP is to agree with Gods heart. Worship is agreement with who God is and Intercession is agreement with what God promises to do. When we declare the truth of who God is (worship) our faith expands to agree with what He promised to do (intercession). When we are preoccupied with who He is, our faith is sustained to intercede for the revival He has promised to release.

VALUE #3 - PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT AND SPONTANEOUS SINGING

One of the best ways to develop a heart that $ows in worship and intercession is by praying in the spirit and singing spontaneously. There are two ways to sing spontaneously, singing with our spirit and with our understanding. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding. - 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 Singing with our spirit in tongues For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edi"cation and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edi"es himself, but he who prophesies edi"es the church. - 1 Corinthians 14:2-4

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Singing with our understanding from the scriptures speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. - Ephesians 5:19 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. - Colossians 3:16

VALUE #4 - CULTIVATING A PROPHETIC SPIRIT ON THE MUSICIANS

Learning to $ow in prophetic music and song is essential to establishing a corporate model of enjoyable prayer. Why music? Why the harp? Why is operating in anointed music important? The mystery of music is in the being of God. God is a musician. The Holy Spirit is a musical spirit. Music is the greatest form of entertainment in every culture. Why? Because the human spirit is musical. Around the throne of God, the saints and the angels experience the anointing of the Spirit in music and singing as they worship. The combination of anointed prayer and music brings new dimensions. For example the whole room can feel the same thing together in a deep way. King David invested great amounts of resources, both time and money, into cultivating anointed music and singers. Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals. And the number of the skilled men performing their service was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the LORD. - 1 Chronicles 25:1-3 David invested so much in this because he knew its value and he knew it takes intentional training and impartation. Elisha the prophet asked for a musician to release the anointing of the Spirit. But now bring me a musician. Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. - 2 Kings 3:15

VALUE #5 - ANTIPHONAL SINGING AND TEAM MINISTRY IN PRAYER

Antiphonal singing means responsive singing. The MHOP is built around antiphonal singing and praying. It allows us to operate in team ministry in the Holy Spirit and helps create a sustainable environment with greater intensity. In team ministry in prayer, we experience more of the $ow of the spirit. This is another important principle for a corporate model of enjoyable prayer.

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Antiphonal singing and praying is the model of Gods choice around the throne. Revelation 5:8 onwards gives us a great view of antiphonal singing in Gods throne room 1.) the four living creatures and 24 elders sing Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: ###### You are worthy to take the scroll, ######And to open its seals; ######For You were slain, ######And have redeemed us to God by Your blood ######Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, ###### 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; ######And we shall reign on the earth. 2.) The myriads of angels join them 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice: ###### Worthy is the Lamb who was slain ######To receive power and riches and wisdom, ######And strength and honor and glory and blessing! 3.) Every creature joins the !rst two 13 And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ###### Blessing and honor and glory and power ######Be to Him who sits on the throne, ######And to the Lamb, forever and ever! 4.) The four living creatures cry out in chorus Amen Then the four living creatures said, Amen! 5.) The 24 elders break out into worship 14And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

VALUE #6 - PRAYER WITH AUTHORITY AND THE JOY OF ANSWERED PRAYER

Prayer that comes from Gods heart is the kind of prayer that releases divine authority. When we prayer we need to pray from a heart that is connected to God, inspired by His promises and emotions that believes that He will do what He says He will do. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. - John 15:7 Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. - John 16:23-24
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VALUE #7 - THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WHOLE CHURCH AND SERVING IN A LOCAL CHURCH
One of our highest values in serving the church in Manchester. MHOP is not the e"ort of one local church but rather it belongs to the whole church in Manchester. We acknowledge the biblical need for the whole church from all denominations and desire to love on them and reveal more of Gods a"ection for them. ..may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height... - Ephesians 3:18 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity!...for there the Lord commanded the blessing... - Psalm 133:1-3 ful"ll my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind - Philippians 2:2 We emphasise our need of the Church. Paul had a revelation of his need for others knowing that there was a ceiling in the spirit in his personal prayer life until others in the Church helped him in prayer. Paul pleads for help in prayer from others weaker in faith, so that he may overcome the counter attack of the enemy and have more e"ective ministry to the Church. Now I beg you, brethren...through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea...and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, - Romans 15:30-31 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons...for the gift granted to us... - 2 Corinthians 1:11 Paul also knew that his deliverance from persecution and his anointing for boldness was released in part from the prayers of the saints. For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ... - Philippians 1:19 As we engage our hearts in enjoyable prayer we acknowledge the biblical mandates of evangelism, world missions and serving the poor. Our outworking of these is through our local churches. All who serve in the house of prayer are also required to serve in a local church. Intercession !res us evangelism and evangelism !res us intercession, each one contributes to the other. The success of evangelism brings such joy to prayer and the lack of success in evangelism brings added urgency and burden to our prayer as well. We must be active in evangelism, healing the sick and feeding the poor while we pray night and day expecting revival to break out. We are empowered as we pray and go. We cannot a"ord to neglect either the praying or the going, they operate together. For us at MHOP we pray in the prayer room and we go with our local churches.

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VALUE #8 - GOD-CENTRED SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Worship and intercession are spiritual warfare. God-centred intercessory worship is one of Gods strategies for the church to resist and dislodge demonic spiritual forces. The general rule is that we focus our proclamations directly at God. The new testament distinguishes between two categories of demonic spirits, those that dwell inside people and those that live in heavenly places. For we do not wrestle against $esh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 6:12. There are two di"erent strategies for dealing with them. As a rule we directly rebuke spirits that dwell inside humans. However to dismantle principalities in the heavens we directly address God. Obviously there are exceptions, but on the whole this is how we will engage in spiritual warfare. The essence of spiritual warfare is agreeing with God and disagreeing with the enemy. Worship is agreeing with who God is and its expressed by declaring the truth of God Intercession is agreement with what He promises to do and is expressed by declaring what He will do. Repentance is coming into agreement with Gods heart for us, holiness, and breaking agreement with darkness. Healing prayer is coming into agreement with Gods heart for healing and breaking agreement with sickness Serving is coming into agreement with the servant heart of Jesus and breaking our agreement with sel!sh pride We also pray using God-ward prayers. There are approximately 25-30 New Testament apostolic intercessory prayers and all of them are directed to God instead of sin or the devil, Therefore, our primary focus is god-centred prayers instead of demon-centred or sin-focused prayers.

VALUE #9 - BIBLICAL PRAYERS USING GODS LANGUAGE

We value using biblical prayers in our meetings. Biblical prayers are the actual prayer and worship texts from the scriptures rather than just praying bible verses. Biblical prayers are the language of Gods heart and are such a valuable gift to the church because they originate from Gods burning heart for His people. We want to avoid preaching prayers. These are prayers aimed at exhorting men not God. We also want to use positive prayers. The New Testament prayers ask God to release good qualities rather than asking Him to remove negative ones. The reason we do this is for our bene!t. Positive prayer helps us connect with God easier and helps our spirits to soar in the intercession.

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And it helps us be united in prayer. God still answers many negative prayers and can even sort through the confusion of preaching prayers to !nd the cry of that persons heart.

VALUE #10 - A PLATFORM MINISTRY STYLE THAT EXALTS JESUS

This is a core value for MHOP, that as we use the scripture and as we learn to $ow in the Holy Spirit we do so to draw attention to Jesus and not the people on the platform. The Holy Spirits zeal is to exhibit Jesus and not the servants of Jesus He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. - John 16:14 The Apostle Pauls zeal was to exhibit Jesus and not himself For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, - 2 Corinthians 4:5 John the Baptist, when he calls himself the friend of the bridegroom, declared He must increase, but I must decrease - John 3:30 We are seeking a ministry style that is genuine, that doesnt exaggerate the Holys Spirits activity and wont produce or manipulate a human response that is not genuinely from the heart. There are many other ministries and styles of ministry around that use hype, or conference personalities and other such soulish exhibitionism that draw attention to people. Our zeal is to magnify Jesus and as we pursue excellence, humility and a spirit of hiddenness, even though in front of people, and that is what we want from the platform of MHOP. This may well involve being more restrained than some are used to. Our goal is that our teams would be subtle and inconspicuous when ministering from the platform. This is not to say our teams should be unemotional or disconnected but if our passion and zeal is towards God then that will draw people to Jesus and not to ourselves.

VALUE #11 - PERSEVERANCE: STAYING ENGAGED IN PRAYER

And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us... - Isaiah 64:7 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints - Ephesians 6:18 We need to recognise our need to develop perseverance in prayer in order to remain attentive to and remain in the $ow of the spirit during a prayer meeting. The place of perseverance in prayer for others, is to labour in love for their breakthrough. Such wrestling in prayer is a dynamic expression of love.

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We are not content to live without the fulness of what God has and we need to be a group who are willing to corporately press in to the Spirit with spiritual alertness and perseverance for extended periods of time. It is that aggressive boldness in prayer that will see the breakthrough and release of Gods fullness as we cooperate with Gods grace. It is natural to passively disengage while others are praying. However we need to rise up and be aggressive not passive and lethargic at MHOP and stir ourselves up to overcome a wandering mind, tired body and distracted heart. We want to be people who stir ourselves up to take hold of God, as Isaiah put it.

VALUE #12 - MILITANT BOLDNESS AGAINST THE WORKS OF DARKNESS

The harp and bowl model which we use at MHOP is one of the few prayer models that combines a spirit of devotion in intimacy with God and a militant spirit, but that combination is vital. Having a militant spirit with bold faith will result in greater blessing being released. A militant spirit enables us to rise up against and to aggressively withstand and then quench the attacks of the devil. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. - 1 John 3:8 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. - Ephesians 6:11 from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven su!ers violence, and the violent take it by force. - Matthew 11:12

VALUE #13 - CONVICTION OF COMING REVIVAL, THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH AND THE RETURN OF JESUS
When the conviction of revival runs high, faith for night and day prayer runs high. Believing God for the big things He has promised is essential fuel for night and day prayer ministries. God has promised great things for His church. Therefore, we will not draw back with religious timidity and false humility, which are unbelief. Bold agreement with God is essential for the breakthrough of revival. The zealous pursuit of a historic breakthrough of the Spirit is something we highly value at MHOP. We believe that God will pour out His Spirit without measure upon Manchester, that we will see this city changed and turn to Him and that what the Lord does in Manchester will serve as a catalyst to a move of God around the globe. So when we meet, we meet with boldness in our hearts that He will do what He has promised. At MHOP our conviction of coming revival is undergirded by our understanding and expectation of the return of Jesus. We believe that Jesus is coming again to reign on the earth as King and judge and that His word promises a great revival before we see the return of Jesus. It was the End-Time judgement of God (Luke 17:22-37) that Jesus used as the context to which He called His people to night and day prayer for the release of speedy justice on the earth (Luke 18:1-8)

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VALUE #14 - STRUCTURE AND LEADERSHIP IN PRAYER

Having a structure will enable to us to $ow is the highest amount of spontaneity possible as we seek to increase our schedule to eventual night and day prayer meetings. We seek to combine both structure and spontaneity that re$ects the worship around the Throne in the heavenly symphony in Revelation we touched on earlier. The structure acts as a permission giving mechanism. It helps us as a group of people cooperate better with the $ow of the Holy Spirit as it aids us be bold and uni!ed. God in His wisdom uses the principle of combining structure with spontaneity in many aspects of His creation, take the solar system of even the human body. For example, the precise scienti!c order this is predictable exists in our solar system alongside spontaneous air currents that are unpredictable. And human life itself $ows in context to our human skeletal structure supporting the spontaneous functions of air and blood $ow etc. In other words, in Gods creative order, spontaneity is enhanced and bene!ted by correct structure. We are seeking to create a simple structure that facilitates diversity and spontaneity as we $ow in team ministry on the platform enabling the whole congregation (platform team and the people in the room) fully participate with engaged hearts in worship and prayer.

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