Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
BASICS ABOUT THE WATCH
A. What is the Moravian Watch?
B. What is “contending prayer?”
C. Can small HOPs participate?
D. Who runs the Watch?
E. What are the goals of the Moravian Watch?
F. Are you formally associated with the Moravian Church of North America?
G. Are you endorsed by any other leaders?
Learning GoToMeeting
H. What does GoToMeeting have to do with this?
I. Is GoToMeeting officially involved in supporting you?
J. What do I have to do to be “GoToMeeting Ready?”
Joining, Training, Etiquette & Protocol
K. What are “Watch Values?”
L. How do I join the Watch?
M. What is “Watch Etiquette?”
N. What is “Watch Protocol?”
O. What’s the agenda for each hour of the Watch?
P. Other useful insights and resources to learn more
Future Plans & Contact Info
Q. What are your future plans?
R. How can I help spread the word?
S. How can I schedule one of your leaders to visit?
T. How can our HOP join the Moravian Watch?
BASICS ABOUT THE WATCH
A. What is the Moravian Watch? Our motto is our heart: Praying. Together. Joining Heaven and Earth, together. Even as we nurture friendship, our ultimate ambition is to multiply prayer. The 18th century Moravian community at Herrnhut, Germany are heroes of the prayer movement, so the best way we can honor and celebrate their legacy is to emulate them. Specifically, we want to establish a 24/7 model of “Contending Prayer” equal and complementary to the 24/7 model of “Harp & Bowl.” Watch this video to get a feel for what we’re doing in two short minutes.
MORAVIAN THEN | MORAVIAN NOW
“Whatever exists now has already been,
and whatever will be has already been;
for God will seek to do again what
has occurred in the past.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:15, NET)
B. What is Contending Prayer? The “Harp & Bowl” model wonderfully pioneered by The International House of Prayer in Kansas City has fueled a revolution in prayer across the earth, giving language and form that was sorely lacking. A primary driver in this process has been theological, and a primary component of that theology is called “The Bridal Paradigm.” This beautiful, lovesick adoration for Jesus fortifies our hearts by focusing on intimacy, adoration and the surrendered posture of the heart to God’s love. As such, it is also primarily a feminine mode of prayer. Other dimensions of prayer are also vital, including more masculine expressions that wield the authority of Christ for the sake of war against dark powers, bringing transformation to society by breaking through in heavenly dimensions. This unique privilege of believers is why Walter Wink once proclaimed, “History belongs to the intercessor!” Maturity in the global culture of prayer must involve fullness in both bridal love and authority as sons of God. In this aspect, physical gender is irrelevant. Men and women are equally called to grow in both arenas. Contending Prayer is focused and aggressive. It realizes there is a mission and mandate to prayer, conflict to overcome, battles to engage, and victory to secure. This is done in a spirit of humility (not elitism!) and submission (not fleshly domination!) to advance the Kingdom of God on earth. (See “#N: Watch Protocol” below)
C. So can small HOPs participate? What about my church intercession group? What about me? Absolutely! Yes to all. The Moravian Watch is nothing less than a new model of 24/7 prayer designed to strengthen every house, especially smaller HOPs, and also to connect those that have felt disconnected. We believe small is the new big. The Watch is a restoration of the prime mission and constitution of ekklesia (the 2 or 3 with revelation of Christ, giving keys to bind and loose—Mat. 16:15-19). Utilizing video conferencing technology Gotomeeting, we want to expand the prayer culture by coordinating friendship and face-to-face togetherness in prayer via videoconferencing that pools together the power of 2 or 3. The Holy Spirit is joyfully rebirthing new Moravian communities who labor together hour-by-hour across city, regional and state lines.
D. Who runs the Watch? Technically speaking, you do! But as a matter of organization and DNA, The MoravianWatch is a prayer ministry under the wider stewardship of darrian Summerville and dean briggs. We simply want to serve the wider prayer culture by bringing training, equipping and connection for the purpose of biblical, governmental intercession and legislative authority in prayer. However, if doors open to further friendship in a more official capacity, we welcome the possibility!
• What does MW believe?
• What makes us unique?
• How can I contact someone for more info?
E. What are the goals of the Moravian Watch? In plain terms, we want 1) to connect people 2) pray as friends for transformation in our nation. If that’s too plain spoken, we want to leverage technology for the purpose of interconnecting local prayer groups and regional prayer networks to further facilitate 24/7 cooperative prayer in the spirit of the early Moravians. More specific goals include:
1. NightWatch: From a scheduling standpoint, our top priority is to cover the historic “Achilles Heel” of prayer: the NightWatch (Midnight to 6 am).
2. Intercessory Sub-Specialties: Over time, as the model populates and expands, we also want to specialize and cross-pollinate demographics along topical concentrations (i.e. Justice, Revival, Nations, Languages, etc)
3. Shared Resources: As awareness spreads, our hope is that HOPs will see this as a means of “Give a little, gain a lot.” In other words, by creating a common, virtual staff larger than any individual HOP can achieve, the entire national prayer community can spread the burden of sustained, focused, contending prayer across a much greater resource base. All HOPs can participate, but none are single-handedly responsible for the full 24/7. If we share the load, less becomes more! We believe this sort of humble interdependence honors the Lord. As we break the bread of prayer together, Christ multiplies the “net” effect.
4. Connection: As you can probably tell, our conviction is that relationship is equal to prayer in the Lord’s heart. By facilitating face-to-face friendships in the context of intercession, we want to move prayer leaders out of their historic isolation and loneliness to create engagement and a more hopeful expectation for the future.
5. Play Offense, Not Defense: Ultimately, the Watch is meant to become a deployment mechanism for urgent prophetic assignments to be harnessed to an hour-by-hour battering ram of contending prayer until resistance is broken and victory is secured in the Spirit.
F. Are you affiliated with the Moravian Church of North America (MCNA)? Not at all. We honor the legacy and continued presence of the Moravians through their denominational structure, but we are not in any way connected to them as a matter of organization, mission or creed. Our name reflects our desire to carry the spirit of unity, brotherhood and prayer that was so vital to the original Moravian community.
G. Are you endorsed by any other leaders? Yes! We have enthusiastic support from key national leaders such as Lou Engle, Patricia King, Wes and Stacy Campbell and others. See our Resource Page.
LEARNING GotoMeeting
H. What does gotomeeting have to do with this? We use technology services like gotomeeting to achieve our prayer strategy. It’s that simple.
I. Is GOTOMEETING officially involved in supporting you? No, GOTOMEETING is simply a vendor. We are utilizing their service per their own terms of use.
J. What do I have to do to be “GOTOMEETING?” Easy, just follow three simple steps:
1. USE THIS HOW-TO GUIDE OR WATCH THE VIDEO ON OUR TRAINING PAGE.
2. Download the FREE plugin to your computer ( Mac | PC )
3. Watch “How To Join A moravian night watch session” on our Training page.
JOINING, TRAINING, ETIQUETTE & PROTOCOL
K. What are “Watch Values?” We want to cultivate and protect four internal priorities:
1. Contending Spirit: Most of our intercessors are part of a house of prayer, including prayer sets with times of adoration before the Lord that nourish them personally. The Moravian Watch exists for a different strategy of prayer. We want to shift invisible realms with the authority of Christ. We want to contend. As leaders and participants, the team should gently encourage one another to avoid a casual, lazy, sleepy approach. You have one hour. Go for it.
2. Friendship: We really prize the idea of friends in prayer, not just hours of prayer. Stated more boldly as one of our core values, we maintain that the constitution of our communities is more important than the fervency of our prayers. Love must be fundamental to our contending.
3. Prophetic Spirit. We highly value the unique dimensions which only the Spirit can provide, including dreams, words of wisdom and knowledge, and also discernment.
4. Agreement. Bring conviction, but also humility. The Watch is not a time to be combative or argumentative, nor is it honoring to the Holy Spirit to turn prayer into an excuse to preach at people and grind your particular theological axe. Find the place of agreement, trust the leader, and unite.
L. How do I join the Watch? First, we’re so glad and thankful for your interest! The process varies slightly depending on whether you want to eventually lead a group or simply join a group. Both avenues are described below:
1. LEAD: If you want to lead a Watch in the future, Sign up and complete the simple process outlined on our Leadership Development page.
2. JOIN & PRAY: If you want to join and pray, but not lead, limited “participation only” slots are available. We are currently focused on recruiting future leaders (“leaders in training”) for all of 2015 because we want as broad of a base as possible to maximize prayer saturation in 2016 and beyond. Follow the instructions on our Intercessor Training page.
M. What is “Watch Etiquette?” We all have our own “style” in prayer. However, your style may not be mine, and vice-versa. As we seek to be bold in prayer, we also want to promote a culture of honor where we “esteem others above ourselves” (Phil. 2:3). Many interpersonal aggravations can be eliminated if we all follow these two simple guidelines:
1. Be fervent, not weird. While we encourage a prophetic spirit in prayer, because of our high value for friendship and agreement, we ask you to voluntarily temper the full expression of that mode for the sake of unity and harmony with other intercessors. Be respectful. Be open to the Holy Spirit, but govern your own.
2. Don’t hog the prayer time. We have an hour together, which adds up to about 35-40 minutes of prayer (see ‘O’ below). Pray in 30-45 second increments or 2-3 minute bursts with energy and focus, then release the flow of prayer to another intercessor on your Watch Team.
N. What is “Watch Protocol?” Our format is quite simple, but focused. This focus is vital. As explained above, we are not duplicating a Harp and Bowl model, but rather, complementing that model with 24/7, hour-by-hour contending prayer. We want to be lean and efficient to make the most of each hour, with a simple, replicable structure. You can help by generously cooperating with both the letter and spirit of these guidelines. As leaders, we trust you to embrace the spirit of the effort so that you can be sure to pass on the values to those you will train in the future. This unity is critical to the overall effectiveness of the wall of intercession we are raising.
THE WATCH (shown as minutes on the hour)
0-10 MIN. = PERSONAL CONNECTION, AGREE ON AGENDA, PROPHETIC INPUT
10-15 MIN. = PRAYING TOGETHER IN THE SPIRIT
15-45 MIN. = CONTENDING TOGETHER IN PRAYER FOR THE AGREED AGENDA
45-55 MIN. = DEBRIEFING, WRAPUP, PERSONAL PRAYER NEEDS
55-0 MIN. = INITIATE ALL CONNECTIONS FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE HOUR
PROTOCOL
Protocol 1: Our desired group size is four. If at least three cannot join together, two will not be permitted even if they are of the same gender. This is to preserve integrity by avoiding situations that could lead to privately developed temptations (both heterosexual and same-sex). There are no exceptions to this.
Protocol 2: You must be in an area with sufficient bandwidth and low noise/traffic. Please do not try to make this work in McDonalds or Starbucks or in your noisy living room. Set apart space (literally, make it holy). Also, depending on your location, it may be necessary to inconvenience yourself to make certain you have sufficient bandwidth. Your sacrifice will be a gift to the entire group, as it will assure smooth and reliable interaction for everyone during prayer.
O. What’s the agenda for each hour of the Watch? See above
P. Other Resources to Learn More (optional)
1. Our Prophetic Bulova Storyline (cLICK HERE) by Darrian Summerville, Dir. of the moravian watch
2. Read Ekklesia Rising (CLICK HERE) by Dean Briggs, Director of EPC
“WILL FUEL A FLAME OF INTERCESSORY DOMINION IN YOUR SOUL!” — LOU ENGLE