This last month started with the celebration of Jesus and the cry “He is risen”, the joys of Easter time and holidays. All across the various churches in many nations we heard testimonies of the hunger of people, churches full with visitors, and many opportunities to share Jesus.  There is something happening – an awakening to the possibility of more in our everyday lives. People are searching for answers and ready to consider a God solution. I feel excited. But in the midst of these opportunities are the challenges to be in the right place, doing the right things to help people connect with Jesus. Many of us feel stretched in our strategic planning as we try to find the right strategies and resources to help in this season. What a time for collaboration and connection. Time for clusters of gifting and graces to partner together to help in this new day. So Helen, Gordon and I have been busy in the nations this last month helping, stirring, supporting and teaching wherever we can. There is an awakening in the land but also a heightened sense of the need to work together amongst the leaders. What busy and fulfilling days.

As Romans chapter 13 challenges us, we need to be focused and ready in these days. Let’s read this passage in the Message translation – But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. Be awake. Get ready. Romans 13:11

I was listening to a worship song the other day and it had this line, “all of a sudden you come!” This is one of the complexities of a life with Jesus: He delays in coming and He is suddenly there and you never know when! We need to prepare for these “suddenly” days. I was preparing a message for a conference a few days ago and I found myself writing this prayer for awakening. I want to share it with you. I believe that as we pray this prayer over our lives and speak it out over our communities God will hear our cry:

OUR AWAKENING PRAYER: We ask you, Holy Spirit, to breathe on us with your wind and awaken our spirits and lives to glorify you. We declare this to be a year of amazing fruitfulness and bountiful supply, with an increase of God’s presence and a new level of passion for God, for church, and for people. Awaken me, Lord. Make me thirsty for You and my soul will follow hard after you. I consecrate my life afresh – use me for everything you purposed and designed me to do! Awaken every area of my life – body, mind, spirit, being…let me be awake to your purposes in these days.  Come, God, awaken our eyes with fresh vision, our hearts with new compassion and our hands with miracles. It is time to advance with the promises given to us by God. 

I just want to thank you for the incredible support and prayer messages many of you have sent by email, WhatsApp  etc. You are so kind. Looking back at the schedule it has been crazy busy but wonderfully fulfilling too. We have been in the nations, a different one each weekend – Croatia, Slovenia, Ireland, Germany and of course in the UK. Helen, Gordon and I have often been in different places, doing various things serving all kinds of situations. Helen and I taught at a prophetic school in Slovenia, Gordon mentored a small group of leaders for 5 days in Zagreb, we ministered at a women’s network in Camberley, have sat, prayed and shared with leaders from Burton, Liverpool, Cambridge, Highworth, been on zoom calls with leaders in Canada and the USA and attended several board meetings for organisations plus having our own Heartcry Trustees meeting.  So very varied but satisfying. These days we find that we are sitting sharing lives with people as much as we are standing on platforms teaching. This has been a definite shift since the COVID days.

(Photo of us with Steve and Barbara Telzerow in Slovenia)

Gordon and I have just been in the West Coast of Ireland these last few days. I met a beautiful girl who is now getting married in July. Last year her father came to me in tears as his daughter suffered from a syndrome called POTS that affected her heart, ability to function and severely impacted her life. We prayed for healing and needed a creative miracle as this disease is incurable. This year she is vibrant, healed and ready to be married. God has done that miracle. It was such a confirmation as I spoke about Presence, Passion and Power that Sunday a year ago and God came and answered this daddy’s cry. He is so good! I really do believe we are moving into a time of miracles.

Helen writes: With that expectation growing for miracles, signs and wonders, many churches have  identified a need to go “back to bootcamp” and refresh skills in prayer ministry, using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, practise listening to the voice of God and grow in confidence that we carry power to see people set free. This has kept us (me especially!) very busy with small group and prayer team training as well as helping to develop prophetic teams in Europe.  It was a particular joy for Rachel and I to be in Slovenia for the graduation of the first cohort who had completed a year of prophetic training. We had had the privilege of teaching some of their sessions last year and I had joined them for their first national prophetic conference in December last year. As we met this time, we began to strategise about developing a regional Balkans-wide collaboration of 5 fold ministry teams to train and equip the church. There was such a sense of this region being like a tinderbox that was ready to ignite Kingdom fires and see these nations transformed by the power of God. We sense that Europe is ripe for harvest and we are excited to be able to partner there in this season.

Between us, Rachel, Gordon and I will be in Germany, France, Norway and Italy in the next two months.  Please do pray for these times so that we can be strategic in our connections and collaborations and clear about the next steps.  We are also continuing to support the incredible work in Moldova as well as serving churches and networks across the UK.  We have limited dates left for 2024, especially for weekends, so if you would like us to include your church in our autumn scheduling, please do get in touch soon. Here is what the schedule for May looks like:

Ministry Dates May 2024

3-6 May International House of Apostolic Reformation, Iserlohn, Germany (Rachel & Helen)
5 May Fresh Bread message, Heartcry online platforms (Helen)
9-11 May Rise Up Now conference, Paris, France (Gordon)
15 May Roundhouse leaders’ gathering, Oxford, UK (Rachel, Gordon, Helen)
16 May Elim Leaders’ Summit, Harrogate, UK (Rachel & Helen)
17 May Christian Business Leaders’ Breakfast, Witney, UK (Rachel)
19 May Betel, Birmingham, UK (Rachel preaching)
24-26 May Jesusfellesskapet, Bergen, Norway (Rachel & Gordon)
26 May Fleet Baptist Church, Fleet, UK (Helen)
31 May-2June Portadown Elim Church weekend, Portadown, Northern Ireland (Rachel & Helen)

So thank you for praying. Thank you for standing and believing.  Thank you for giving. We are so grateful for every partnership. 

Every blessing and hugs,
Rachel & Gordon with Helen and the team.