Imagine ...
		Imagine a place in the middle of Austin where prayer never stops. Hour after hour, people come and go --    protestant catholic orthodox    black white hispanic asian indian    children youth middle age old    musicians engineers artists plumbers pastors    rich poor in between    just desperate to meet with their creator    just desperate to see this city transformed Hour after hour, ancient biblical prayers rise like incense    adoration "Worthy is the Lamb of God!"    listening "Only in God is my soul at rest"    longing "How long O God must I wait?"    grieving "For the children because they are no more"    requesting "Father please grant to Austin a spirit of wisdom and revelation"    enjoying "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns!"    acquiescing "Not my will but Yours be done"    thanking "You have turned my mourning into dancing!" The Austin House of Prayer is a small community committed to seeing this happen.

		About the Austin House of Prayer
		The Austin House of Prayer is "a community of Christians praying towards reconciliation." What does this mean? Let's take a closer look at each important word. ... a community The people who make up the Austin House of Prayer are connected in their vision, work, and practices. However, this doesn't mean that everyone who leads prayer or comes to the house of prayer has to take a life vow of poverty! Instead, we see community happening on three different levels: Daily -- there will be a small core community facilitating the prayer room, who spend time daily in prayer, hospitality, work, and other aspects of community life. Partners -- many people in the city will join in in a significant but not daily way ... taking prayer sessions, providing oversight and council, giving of their resources. Visitors -- those who visit, whether for a few minutes, or on a weekend retreat, or for an extended pilgrimage, are as much a part of the community during their visit as a person who is involved on a daily basis. While our first calling is to "love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength," our second is to "love our neighbor as ourself." Jesus' statement that "the second is like the first" is especially true in prayer, because the New Testament clearly teaches that our relationships to each other bear directly on the effectiveness of our prayers. ... of Christians ... We respect the right of everyone to have their own religious beliefs, but we are unapologetically followers of Jesus. We pray because we believe that God who created the universe has not only warmly invited us into His presence, but made a way through Jesus' death on the cross to do so without weakening His perfect justice. While anyone in the city who is an honest seeker of God is invited to come and be in the prayer room, we do not invite those who are not followers of Jesus to lead prayer sessions -- not to denigrate them, but simply because it isn't fair to us or them to ask them to pray to a different God than the one they believe in. ... praying ... Our primary goal is to facilitate a 24/7 prayer room in the city of Austin. There are Wal-marts open 24/7/365, fast food restaurants that will serve you burgers around the clock, and gas stations to fill up your tank in the middle of the night. Is it not right that there would be a place where God is worshipped 24/7? Is it not desirable that someone would be praying for our broken city during the vulnerable night hours, when so much harm is planned and done? We believe that 24/7 prayer is right and desirable, and join many other communities throughout history and around the world today that believe the same thing. ... towards reconciliation ... The special "charism", or gifting, of the house of prayer in Austin is to direct our prayers towards reconciliation. This does not mean that we don't pray explicitly for anything else! It simply means that the undercurrent of all of our prayers and activities is towards reconciliation, in these three areas: Men being reconciled to God -- Augustine wrote of God, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." Our experience is that this is not only true but possible, and so we pray towards the joyful reunion of every person in Austin with their heavenly Father, who is waiting and watching for the opportunity to run towards them and welcome them into His family with a big bear hug. Christians from different streams being reconciled to each other -- It has perhaps not been seen in the history of the church, that all of the followers of Jesus are united as Jesus (John 17) and Paul (Romans 15) prayed they would be. However, we believe that this doesn't invalidate Jesus' and Paul's prayers, but makes it all the more necessary to join with them in praying for the reconciliation of Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, and other streams of Christianity. Nations and cultures reconciling their differences -- Praying towards this is even wilder! But it is also destined to happen, as recorded when John got a glimpse into our future and saw every nation, language, tribe, and tongue standing before the throne of God at the end of time and saying with one loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" It is our joy to anticipate this moment every day in prayer, our hope undaunted by the daily news of strife and discord among the nations. While it should be self-evident from the ambitious nature of these three reconciliations that a small community in Austin cannot perform them, it is worth noting that we do not see ourselves as "doing reconciliation" for anyone else, other than ourselves -- that would be both proud and foolish! However, we can pray towards reconciliation for others, in all three areas, and in doing so we entrust the effort to a God who is "both strong and loving" (Psalm 62).