Rebecca Duffett spoke with James Aladiran

James Aladiran

With hugely popular youth prayer gatherings and movements in America like The Call and IHOP, at Cross Rhythms we were encouraged to hear about a brand new initiative in the UK called Prayer Storm. Based in Manchester and led by James Aladiran, it's a movement of radical worship and intercession, crying out to God for a great awakening in the UK. Rebecca Duffett caught up with James to find out more.

Rebecca: What does Prayer Storm involve?

James: Prayer Storm is a day of prayer. The vision is to summon the youth of the nation to a lifestyle of intercession. Over the last few years the Lord has really been stirring our hearts to pray. The more we gave ourselves to prayer, the more we realised that many young people don't seem to be catching the passion for prayer. A load of prayer meetings I went to were mainly your stereo typical prayer meetings; older ladies and very little men and virtually no young people. We started to see the need for our generation, the young people, to arise in intercession and prayer.

I went to America a few years ago for a youth gathering called The Ramp and the Lord massively impacted my life. My heart was stirred for prayer in a way it had never been before. What I realised, was because I was around people that carried a heart of prayer and intercession, I caught something that really stirred what was already inside me. When I got back, I thought, maybe people that are not praying or giving themselves to intercession are not doing it because they're not around people that are giving themselves to intercession and prayer, so they can actually catch the heart of prayer. Intercession and prayer is more caught than taught. It's a spirit, it comes upon you. It's not like someone tells you how to pray; it's not even about the words you speak; it's more about the heart.

We want to create this environment whereby young people can come in and catch that spirit of prayer; so that they go back to their churches and youth groups and start prayer meetings.

We all know as Christians that everything starts in prayer. The famous scripture 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, 'If my people will call on my name and will humble themselves and pray'; then it goes on to say that God promises to heal the land. We all start from the place of humbling ourselves and praying and seeking his face and turning from our wicked ways.

That's what we want to see God do in our generation. We want to catch that heart and we want to see a generation catch that heart, because we believe that's the starting point of an awakening. Young people catching a heart for prayer and not being forced to do it, but doing it out of a passion just because God captures them.

Rebecca: How is what you're doing helping young people to be as passionate as you are about this?

James: We have times of teaching, but we also have a lot of times of worship. You know the truth is sometimes you don't know you're asleep until you wake up. Many people are asleep, but until they begin to get around people that are burning for God and are carrying this passion, they don't know how much lukewarm-ness or complacency has got into them; so we try to create that environment where they can experience that life. We also talk and teach about these things, so we have a foundation in scripture that it is right to be radical for God; it's not ok to become complacent just going with the motions. As young people we need to allow a zeal for God to be something that we're not ashamed of and to allow it to be out there and just give God everything with our hearts and our soul, our might and our strength.

In that environment we see a lot of people come with addictions and distractions and the compromise is removed from their lives. There's just a new focus; they go back to their churches and get involved in prayer. They start prayer groups some of them. It's just amazing to see some of those things happen.

We pray for all these young people that actually come to the prayer gathering, to have these encounters with God. Because ultimately it's God that changes us you know. It takes God to love God.

Rebecca: How have the prayer gatherings gone so far, because I believe you've already done a few? Have they been growing?

James: Yeah they have been growing. The very first one we had was last year, so this is something that's new, that's just started. I got a few friends together; we felt we needed to mobilise prayer in the city, to get young people together and begin to do it. These were people that were part of different prayer groups. We just felt like it would be right to get together and gather all these prayer groups in the city.

When you start giving yourself to prayer and going to prayer meetings and seeking God, sometimes it's just two or three people in a prayer group and you meet on a weekly basis to pray. It can be discouraging as you don't know that there are many other people across the city or across the nation that are doing the same thing. It's encouraging when you gather together and pray.