Prayer Rooms have been part of the Christian movement for centuries. The Eastern and Western monastic movements ‘prayer rooms’ were simply part of the furniture (as it were) as well as Castles, Estates and Royal Palaces.
Reformation thinking removed the theological necessity of ‘prayer rooms’ - as one might dare to pray anywhere and at any time. Too true.
Today, is recognised that was an extreme reaction to having a separate place for prayer without in any way diminishing the ability for Christians to pray ‘anywhere’.
Jump forward
In the past 150 years prayer rooms have been established in
Airports
Railway Stations
Department Stores
5 star Hotels
Institutes
Universities
Cruise Ships
The Olympics
Commonwealth Games
Go anywhere, to any major centre, and somewhere there will more than likely be a prayer room.
Household Prayer Rooms
Over the past 25 years there has been a different ground swell in Prayer Rooms – that of private residences - these include multi-million mansions, large rural country houses, high rise complexes and the humble home.
It has come to my attention of quite a number of home owners have converted an empty room (teenager moved out or left for university and such other) and set aside that space for prayer time.
A few years ago at Timeout in Tweed the lower level lounge was designated as a specific prayer room. It wasn’t long before the interruptions of an open space became apparent.
A clean out
After 15 years in Tweed Heads (NSW north coast) it was decided to do a clean out of downstairs which included my double garage office. Every household at some time has a clean out (what one person’s junk is another person’s treasure). Our ‘stuff’ filled a large ute.
It was like an early morning face wash … quite wonderful - to get rid of it.
That decision gave rise to a redesign of the double garage and putting in a partial wall dividing off a small section. The entrance was open.
The idea came to replant the beautiful crimson heavy curtain Delma my wife had sewn 14 years ago to section off the art studio - so we replanted it - so it now fell across the entrance of the Prayer Room.
Since posting our prayer room on Facebook - numerous others have noted they too have done something similar. One of the ‘coordinators’ in our young writer ministry team, text me, this was the second Prayer Room in two weeks, and perhaps it is time to consider it.
Dr Mark Tronson - a 4 min video
Chairman – Well-Being Australia
Baptist Minister 45 years
- 1984 - Australian cricket team chaplain 17 years (Ret)
- 2001 - Life After Cricket (18 years Ret)
- 2009 - Olympic Ministry Medal – presented by Carl Lewis
- 2019 - The Gutenberg - (ARPA Christian Media premier award)
Gutenberg video - 2min 14sec
Married to Delma for 45 years with 4 children and 6 grand children
