2026 has definitely arrived with a bang and it is busy! All around there is such a sense of expectation in the nations and many friends and pastors are reporting a surge in interest in their prayer meetings and gathering spaces. People are hungry for Jesus. We completed 2025 in Scotland, meeting with Scottish leaders and pressing into a place of prayer to see God touch this nation again. The Hebrides were islands of revival and glory in the last wave and there are small groups of Jesus loving people who are calling on God to touch their nation once again. I was deeply moved by the sincerity and sacrificial commitment of these prayer groups for Scotland. Gordon and I are delighted that we will be able to gather with many churches and leaders later this year for the summer REFUEL’26 conference in the Scottish Highlands as many Scots take time to worship, pray and respond to God.
As a Heartcry team, we started 2026 in Ealing at a New Year’s Eve prayer meeting. The worship and prayer were powerful but the hungry hearts of the hundreds of people in this packed venue just blessed me even more. I really feel we are ready for God to come and visit us – there is such a cry for Him to come near. It even feels as though creation is echoing this groaning. Already this year, again and again, the skies have been full of unusual but glorious signs. It started with the Wolf Moon – huge and shining in the sky. It was so bright that I got out of bed and went to check we had not left all our downstairs lights on by mistake. Also our English skies have been full of the Northern Lights. Often Scotland will see them but this time even Devon and Cornwall in the far south of England and then also in Bath, Somerset, the skies have been fluorescing with colours and beauty. It is as though the heavens are exclaiming with glory! The Psalms speak about the heavens shouting with us and this is exactly what it feels like. Psalm 19:1-4: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
As I said in the introduction to this letter, this year has started busy! During the first days of 2026 I spent time preparing for ministry but also talking on numerous zoom calls to people all around the world. After one particularly busy day I reflected that I had spoken to Lebanon, Scotland, Australia, USA, 2 cities in the UK and finally finished in the evening talking with Egypt and Germany! The ability to connect by zoom is a wonderful tool but sometimes it can feel as though I have actually flown to all those places too!
Helen started the year with a visit to the South West Youth Ministries for their annual training on the person, fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Once again the young trainees were eager to learn and Helen was thrilled to see many of them receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
It was also wonderful to have Helen’s book Hungry for More: Discovering the Holy Spirit in our hands at the beginning of this year. It is published and people are loving it! You can purchase a copy on Amazon or, if you would like to bulk order copies for your church or small group, then please email us at office@heartcry.co.uk and we would be delighted to give a bulk order discount on 10 copies or more. As we shared in December, Gordon’s book Surprised by God at Cambridge is also available through Amazon and proving an inspiration to many.
Unfortunately this year has also started with Gordon having an awful cough which I then inherited too. We were due to go to Jesusfellesskapet Church, Bergen, Norway on the second weekend of January and I honestly thought Gordon would not be able to make it. But, as we prayed with friends, we found ourselves reflecting about the stance of faith. We talked about how we need to have a new understanding of walking out our healing by faith. So we prayed and asked God to give us a word that we could hold onto by faith. Instantly I thought of Luke 17:14 where Jesus healed the ten lepers and it says that “as they went on their way they were healed”. It was this verse that challenged us to go to Bergen, believing that Gordon would be healed “on the way”. So we went to Bergen together and God really blessed us. On the Friday night we had a FIRE night when we prayed for fresh encounters with the Holy Spirit. When we turned up at the building there was no power, the electricity was off, so the room was filled with candles and it looked like a ring of fire. As we prayed God met with us. It was a special time as we pressed into God for more. Gordon was healed on the way: his fever broke and he was able to minister all weekend. Such a blessing. God was kind to us.
Then the next weekend we had the Heartcry Legacy prayer & worship day. The room was crammed full of expectant people. Helen led the day and it was powerful. We were awakened, aligned and challenged to advance into the next seasons of life. All around the world nations are still experiencing shaking and turbulence but in the midst of chaos there is the constant exhortation of God for us to choose Him and His Kingdom. Our Legacy Day gave us an opportunity to consecrate 2026 to Jesus and make some powerful decrees and declarations to express the intention of our hearts to remain aligned to heaven and rightly connected on earth as well as sensitive and responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As we took time to pray and worship, we also felt an anointing to break strongholds connected with health and financial challenges. We asked for the Lord’s strength to refresh people who had become weary. As a takeaway from the day, we gave everyone a triple AAA battery as a reminder of the power source of life that we each carry when we choose to ALIGN-AWAKEN-ADVANCE with Holy Spirit-led momentum. If you would like a copy of the prophetic decrees that we used, please go to the Heartcry website https://heartcryforchange.com/personal-prophetic-declarations-for-2026/ .
As we consider the vast opportunities ahead, there is often this sense of responsibility as a leader. We can feel the weight of anticipation and the inadequacy to fulfil it. So as a Heartcry team we took some days to pray, consider and ask God for strategy for the future. We sought him for the nations we should visit, the people we should connect with and the messages we should carry. It was good to talk and pray together but so often these times just open the hunger for more time to plan and we realised that there are still so many questions that remain unanswered. So we continue to walk forward cautiously, ready to adjust and change, as we ask Jesus to direct us every step of the way.
Gordon and I are travelling together so much more these days. We have just had the joy of visiting the Isle of Wight, hosted by True Vine Church, for a prophetic conference and leaders meetings. As we gathered we had such a sense of the presence of Jesus and renewed hope and confidence was released in the church. God spoke to us and have us this word for the Isle of Wight: I.O.W. IGNITE the fires, OVERCOME the fears, release WAVES of kindness and mercy.
This final weekend of January has been a busy time in the Watford area, first speaking at a ladies event for Wellspring Church with Helen and then a Leaders’ Encounter evening with Gordon. On Sunday Helen preached at the Wellspring Sunday services while I had the joy of speaking at 3 services at Soul Survivor, Watford. I spoke from Joshua 5 and 6 and our need for fresh encounters with God to receive our new authority and mandate for the next season.
February is also a busy month with some international travel: Gordon and I will be in Italy for a gathering of key national intercessors, while Helen spends a week teaching in Norway. Here is what the ministry schedule looks like:
Ministry Dates February 2026
1 Feb Wellspring Church morning services, Watford, UK (Helen)
1 Feb Soul Survivor Church, Watford, UK (Rachel)
1 Feb Fresh Bread message, Heartcry Social Platforms (Rachel)
2 Feb The ROAR prophetic evening, Truth Vine Church, Wembley, UK (Rachel)
3-4 Feb Attending Prophetic Training at Kingdom Advance Network (Rachel & Gordon)
5-8 Feb “The Edge” Intercessors Retreat, Peschiera del Garda, Italy (Rachel & Gordon)
7 Feb Mary’s Community Breakfast meeting, Chawn Hill Church Centre, Stourbridge, UK (Helen)
8-13 Feb YWAM Kristiansand teaching week, Norway (Helen)
11 Feb YWAM Base Open Meeting, Flekkerøy, Norway (Helen)
12 Feb One Church Gloucester online training evening, UK (Rachel)
12 Feb Kvinner I Nettverk evening meeting, Kristiansand, Norway (Helen)
12 Feb Holy Trinity Brompton men’s group, London, UK (Gordon)
15 Feb Cholsey & Milford Parish Church healing service, UK (Helen)
17-18 Feb YWAM Madagascar prophetic training online (Rachel)
22 Feb Kingdom Advance Network, Burton on Trent, UK (Rachel, Gordon, Helen)
So thank you for all your love and support and for praying for us. We are so blessed by your generosity and encouragement.
With our love and His blessings,
Rachel, Gordon Helen and team.