P&W (Prayer & Worship) is a not-for-profit organisation, inviting people into the simplicity of worshipping Jesus for no other reason than He is worthy, & we enjoy Him.
For the last ten years we’ve been running a fortnightly prayer and worship meeting on Monday nights, on the Northside of Brisbane, Australia.
P&W started when a group of friends from North Brisbane decided to gather regularly to pray to and worship God, back in 2014. A common vision grew to just stay in this place of worshipping and enjoying Him as an end in itself, simply because He is worthy. This desire has struck a chord with many over the years, and a common passion for Jesus has fuelled persistent, unified intercession for the things on His heart for our region, nation and globe.
Each year we have hosted extended times of prayer, worship and fellowship outside of our regular gatherings, including Easter and New Years Eve events, community feasts, festivals and burns. During these events, prayer is intermingled with free-flowing musical worship, and space is given for the body of Christ to fellowship and connect. Alongside believers across our region, we seek to align with whatever it is that the Spirit is doing.
In 2020, we were given an assignment from God to host weekday prayer and worship sets in addition to our regular Monday night gathering. COVID-19 hit shortly after which brought increased difficulty and we reached a point of wanting to give up. However, God was firm in His instruction that we were to carry out the assignment for the rest of the year. A year later, things kept growing increasingly difficult and the group coordinating P&W discerned to do a twenty-one day fast to enquire of the Lord on whether or not P&W gatherings were to continue. Throughout this fast, God started speaking to us through Psalm 73.
In this Psalm, the Psalmist is quarrelling with God about those who are not obedient to God’s will and are receiving blessings that the Psalmist is not. By the end of the Psalm he is awoken in God’s sanctuary to the revelation that God is his portion, prize, daily bread, the very thing that will sustain Him. In other words, he commits to seek God’s face before seeking His hand; seeking God for Him and not just for what He can do. We experienced a similar personal renewal and remembered the sweetness of being awoken to the beauty of God afresh. Suddenly, like the psalmist in Psalm 73, even though our circumstances were still difficult, we no longer felt discouraged about gathering. All we needed to know is that Jesus was blessed. We were awoken to His beauty afresh each time we entered the sanctuary and remembered what we did at first.
The early days were not about ministry being satisfying, but simply about gathering together to enjoy being with Him. It was enough to pray to and worship God and be together as one, as an expression of His worth, not for any other reason. He so graciously brought us back to that reality, gave us language for it, and invited us to focus on remaining in that place over the long term. We want to invite more people into this freedom and see what happens. The byproduct we are observing is an increasing amount of personal salvations, unity, intercession and heart for missions.
We have released a song called Daily Bread which tells the story of the above revelation. Since then we have begun to produce music as love songs spring up for Him, from the seed bed of this worshipping community. Isaiah heard songs arising in the furthest parts of the earth from Jerusalem; songs that give glory to the Righteous One before His return. (Isaiah 24:16) We want to play our small part in helping creatives burn for Him, and fill the earth with these songs.
The absence of community gatherings due to COVID-19 restrictions also brought about a deep need and hunger for fellowship. We were reminded as a community that in the same way we are called to seek God’s face before we seek His hand, we are to do the same for each other; to seek each other’s faces before we seek each other’s hand. We are called to love our brothers and sisters from all streams of the body for who they are and not just what they can offer us.
P&W consists of committed Christian leaders who come from a broad range of local churches and denominations within the greater Brisbane region, coordinated by the leadership of Kate Gurren and Steven Packer. We hold to the authority of Scripture, adhere to the Apostles Creed, and believe that spiritual gifts are vital for today.
What’s Ahead?
Over the last decade, God has spoken several significant regional words about a coming renewal, whose main thrust will be free worship. He has been highlighting to leaders within our community and more broadly across our region, that there is a great convergence coming between worship and evangelism in this next generation - that a great ‘worship-fueled’ harvest of souls awaits us here at the ends of the earth.
Prayer movements historically birth missions movements. Maintaining a strong focus on prayer and worship is a key to navigating the unique dynamics that the local church is experiencing at the moment.
Musical worship is a tool to help disciples wholeheartedly elevate Jesus above everything else. It assists in offering ourselves as living sacrifices to Him and seeking first His Kingdom. We believe musical worship is also an effective tool in revealing God to unbelievers and preparing their hearts to receive the gospel. We are seeing this more and more.
We believe God is bringing the church of our region together to worship and intercede (we are just one of many examples). This will play a role in releasing an unusual flood of effective evangelism in the local church and thousands of souls won and discipled throughout the region as the Church elevates and celebrates Him and He draws people to Himself.