Down the Narrow Path

Tauranga House of Prayer/Te Whare Inoi

(click the links to learn about the different subjects)

• THOP Description & Values
• 3 Main Functions of THOP
• THOP Prayer Room Format
• David's Tabernacle
• "Harp & Bowl" Intercessory Worship
• The Spirit of the Tabernacle of David
• Why the House of Prayer?
• The Prophetic Context of a House of Prayer
• An Outline of Our Vision
• Progress Toward the Vision
• Relationships Concerning THOP
• Statement of Faith
• THOP Application Form - click here for a THOP Internship Application Form

The Tauranga House of Prayer is a worship, prayer, and missions movement based in Tauranga, New Zealand that is committed to:

-       Prayer: The Tauranga House of Prayer is a ministry that embraces prayer in all that it does. At the core of the ministry there is a prayer room that is developing into expressions of 24/7 corporate intercession and devotional prayer.

-          Worship: Continuously exalting the name of Jesus over New    Zealand 24/7

-       Fasting: In the spirit of Joel 2:12-13  

-       The Great Commission: Teaching and preaching Jesus to the nations of the South Pacific, Interceding for revival, combining mercy deeds with intercession

-       Forerunner Spirit: Preparing the Church with the knowledge of God and passion for Christ

-       Equipping People: with a basic overview of Eschatology

-       Reading the Word of God:

-          Outreach: Involved with local YWAM ministries ministering to the lost.

         The vision is to establish a place of uninterrupted night and day prayer in the city which exalts the name of Jesus (Luke 18:1-8), and out of that place of 24/7 worship and prayer minister to the Body of Christ and the wider community.

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1st Function -                      24/7 Intercession and Exaltation of Jesus

a.       The Prayer Room is a dedicated auditorium that hosts continual 24/7 corporate expressions of worship and prayer, exalting Jesus Christ and under girding the mission movement at all levels.

                                                               i.      The prayer room is the core foundation of our ministry. All of our teaching, preaching and training will derive from the place of worship, prayer and fasting. It is essential that if we are to teach people to live lives consecrated unto the Lord, that as leaders and staff we ourselves live these lives of devotion. All full time staff are required to spend a minimum of 50 hours a week in the prayer room. Part time staff has a requirement of 35.  

b.       24/7 intercession over any specific geographic area will alter the spiritual atmosphere in a significant way. We will contend night and day for Tauranga, New Zealand and other specific locations, for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in transformational power, until it comes.
  

                                                               i.      Joel 2:12-14 (Promise of the Spirit) "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” ¹³ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. ¹⁴ Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave   blessing behind Him--

                                                             ii.      Luke 18:7-8 (Justice Promised to Day & Night Prayer) ⁷ And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? ⁸ I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

                                                           iii.      A House of Prayer plays a vital role in the fulfillment of the Great Commission in that it is constantly interceding for the Holy Spirit to break to nations with apostolic messengers, Prophets, signs and wonders, and the power of God. Mercy deeds and intercession must work together hand in hand to see a generation changed.   

2nd Function -                    Training this Emerging Generation in the Knowledge of God

a.       The Tauranga House of Prayer will host the ‘Forerunner School of Ministry'. This is a Theological Training Institute that not only teaches young adults the Scriptures but also emphasizes the value of living before Christ in the place of prayer, fasting, and intimacy with God.

                                                               i.      We put our trust not in what the program will accomplish in the individual, but rather what Christ will do with their hearts and understanding when we place the students before Him in the place of prayer and intimacy for an extended period of time.

3rd Function -                     Missions Training

a.       THOP will also be working side by side with YWAM Discipleship Training Schools and Impact World Tour Campaigns. We will be training and send missionaries who focus on mercy deeds and the preaching of the Gospel into the nations and remaining unreached people groups of the earth.
 

                                                               i.      As the missionaries are in the field their will be a direct connection with the House of Prayer and intercession will be made for the specific locations the outreach teams and for the preaching of the Gospel.

We regularly emphasize that what we are doing is admittedly developing.  We tell the worship teams not to be discouraged in these early days of building and training, knowing that what we are doing is “little, rough and ugly.”  However, God often chooses to birth His purposes in rough little Bethlehem stables.  But we know we must brace ourselves for the Bethlehem stable years that are a necessary part of God’s way. 

We are seeking to see singers, musicians and intercessors flow in what we call the “harp and bowl” model in this interactive relationship with one another.  For example, one intercessor prays for a few moments then one of the singers will paraphrase the same prayer in song for a few moments.  Then the intercessor continues to add to the prayer then pauses and allows the singers to echo the prayer back again. 

We do this with 5-7 singers and musicians on a worship team while using New Testament apostolic prayers, the hymns of Revelation and the Psalms as foundational in our model.  We do three different types of prayer meetings currently for 8 hours a day, six days a week. Our prayer meetings will increase until we have 84 prayer meetings a week, each one lasting two hours, giving us 24/7 corporate prayer meetings. Each one is lead by a worship team that works together with intercessors. Here are the three types of prayer meetings we run:

The first is intercessory worship in which we engage in spiritual warfare for revival for the cities of the earth (see Anna in the temple – Luke 2:37).  The second type consists of devotional prayer meetings that provide an anointed atmosphere to sit at the feet of Jesus (see Mary of Bethany Luke 10:38-42).  The third, Worship with the Word is singing in a corporate, antiphonal way the Psalms (see King David) and the Song of Solomon.  We seek to pray for revival in New Zealand, Israel, USA, and particularly in the city we live in; Tauranga.  We are in the early development of antiphonal choirs that responsively answer each as part of the worship model.  There were two types of antiphonal choirs each making a different impact in the Tabernacle of David, the small responsive choirs and the large thanksgiving choirs (Neh. 12:23, 24, 31, 38, 40; Ezra 3:11).  We are posting much of our present structure and principles on this website.

We started out at 4 hours a day and have been continuing at 8 hours a day now for 1 ½ years, since February 2^nd 2006. We have approximately 25 people who have raised their own financial support as “intercessory missionaries.”  They serve 50 hours a week.  Most of them are musicians and singers.  We need to raise several hundred thousand dollars a year for the annual budget.  Part of this could help some singers raise their support while also paying for the building, etc.  It is essential for a core of musicians and singers to do this full time and to receive financial support as commanded by God through King David.  With financial support we have an opportunity to go deep in God and learn to flow in the Spirit with team unity.  It takes time to do this and it takes money to give us the necessary time to be wholly devoted to this ministry as “intercessory missionaries.”  The benefits of this for the Church are dramatic.  It is well worth the financial price necessary to release them full time.  We have visitors from many different places across the world.  It is typical to have visitors from different cities each week.  They come in groups and usually stay a few days.  They come to see this in person.  Many leave inspired to go back home to establish a similar type ministry in their own city.  Currently we have one full-time training program for those who want to give themselves to this in an intensive way: The Revive Internship Program (a six-month program for young people).  Details are on the website.

We are both giving ourselves full-time to help lead this citywide prayer ministry. The Tauranga House of Prayer is not our local congregation, but it is under a network of churches in the area. THOP has felt strongly from the beginning that such a ministry must belong to the whole city.  We have about half a dozen congregations involved with us presently.  However, we have plans to involve many more.  May the Lord help all with a heart for the Great Harvest to participate in intercessory worship in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David.

When Jesus had taken the scroll the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Rev. 5:8). The heavenly elders and the four living creatures came to Jesus with two things, a harp and a bowl.  The harp speaks of God’s music and worship songs; the bowl speaks of intercession.  In other words, the worship around the Throne incorporates God’s music, God’s songs and God’s prayers flowing together.  This is a key to the “enjoyable prayer” that Isaiah prophesied about.  When the Harp (worship music) comes together with the Bowl (intercession) then a spiritual dynamic occurs.  God ordained that the worship music around the Throne flow in an interactive relationship with intercession.  In the book of Revelation worship often flows with prayer in what is referred to as “intercessory worship.”  The spirit of worship gives wings to prayer.  We call this the “Harp and Bowl” model of intercessory worship.  We believe it is integral to the present worldwide prayer movement.  These intercessory prayer furnaces will burn 24 hours a day fueled by love songs to God.  As praise is joined with intercession that presents the needs of others before the Throne, great spiritual benefits are released on Earth.  Worship that has the element of intercession present in it is dynamic.  David was the first man to put together into one context the worship singers, musicians and intercessors.  Many of the intercessory psalms were written on site in David’s tabernacle. 

In principle, we are seeking to understand how worship music can flow together with intercession in an interactive relationship like it is in Heaven.  Intercessory prayer joined with anointed music unlocks a part of our heart and unifies the intercessors, aiding us in our desire to pray with one heart. 

In his tabernacle, King David valued the prophetic spirit (spirit of inspiration) resting on the singers and musicians (1 Chr. 25:1-3).  So also in our prayer meetings, it important to learn how the prophetic spirit can flow more freely on the musicians, singers and on the intercession in an interactive relationship.  David also emphasized responsive singers and the antiphonal choirs that sang and then answered one another (Ezra 3:11; Neh. 11:23-24).

               In light of the love God has towards us as His children, in light of the superficiality of modern Christianity, in light of the degenerating order of society, in light of the Biblically predicted first-time events (prophecies) that are currently appearing on the earth’s surface, and in light of the impending, ultimate judgment of the nations, that concludes with Christ literally splitting the sky and reigning on Earth, we pray. Prayer is a response to these issues that cannot be overlooked, except by intention.

Prayer is the place where we connect to the heart, emotions, and thoughts of God. The place of direct connection and relationship with the One Who directs our course. It is the place of obtaining wisdom and understanding. We do not “do” and promote the House of Prayer because it is an effective ministry, though it does produce powerful results in people’s lives. We enter this way of life (prayer), as a response to the goodness and severity of God. It is a response to the condition and direction that we on earth, as a race, are moving towards. We are in a very exceptional and unmatched time of history. Man’s rebellion and revolting against Christ is greater than ever, and the hatred we display towards Him is escalating by the day. The writers of the New and Old Testaments gave numerous “signs of the times” specifically for the generation that would be present for the return of Christ to Earth. This is so that we, as a generation and as individuals, would be without excuse when we stand before God on that glorious/terrifying last day.  Jesus calls for a heart and life response to this magnificent event by those who profess His name: watch and pray, be like men who wait for their master. We watch (disengage from the deceitful spirit of this age, anticipating the coming of the Messiah) and pray (renewing our minds with truth and sobriety) so that our hearts are not weighed down with the influence of the immoral conditions of the world. (Matt. 24:42-43, Mark 13:33-37, Rev. 16:15, 2 Tim. 4:5, Luke 12:39, 45-48)

There is so much accurate and unique information given about this generation (that we are alive in and are moving into), as to what will take place and how as people we are to respond, politically, economically, spiritually, militarily, nationally, socially, etc.. Why is there so much information given in Scripture about the last generation (40-80 years) of this age? So that we are without excuse as to how we lived our lives prior to the second coming and during the last days scenario. Jesus tells us unmistakably how leaders are to lead in the generation before the Lord returns, and how we are to respond to His return. How we are to respond to the Lord, how we are to respond to one-another, and how we are to respond to Israel. In order for us to live unaffected by all of this and continue on with “business as usual”, addressing these issues with neutrality, we would have to make the deliberate decision to ignore, overlook, and defy the Word of God. In choosing so we condemn ourselves. Jesus and the writers of the Bible give us explicit and blatant instructions as to how we are to posture our hearts and lives towards the issue of the returning of the Lord. We respond with a wholehearted pursuit of the knowledge of God, denying ourselves and taking up our cross, rooting ourselves in a life of prayer and fasting, and loving and longing for our God with the tenacity that would provoke Israel to jealousy for their King.

So is everyone called to enter the House of Prayer full time? Is that the only way to do it? Absolutely not. God calls people to minister in every arena of society; in the marketplace, in schools, on the mission field, etc. At the Tauranga House of Prayer we are hosting a structured atmosphere of corporate prayer and worship for all to use. Just as the House of Prayer functions for those who are in the ministry full time, it is for those who are unable to be in full time ministry. The vast majority of people are not and cannot be expected to give 10-12 hours a day to full time ministry. So we create a place where they can come and be blessed by being in the presence of the Lord whenever they like. They are able to engage with the Holy Spirit through our constant worship and intercession, as well receive prophetic words and prayer for physical healing at any time of day or night. We even have several people on our THOP leadership team that are full time doctors, lawyers, and marketplace businessmen.

Is everyone called to live a life of prayer and fasting to develop relationship with Christ? Without doubt. The Bible does not recognize religion outside of this. The “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5, 6 &7) are “Christianity 101,” the basics. My point is that a life of prayer (engaging with God regularly and forming a relationship with Christ) is required of everyone who wants to be with God, and available to anyone who wants to be with God, no matter where you are at and what you do. A relationship with God is essential and can be walked out anywhere and everywhere, period. It is, however, more encouraging to walk this out with a community of people who hold the same values and are moving in the same direction (House of Prayer).

Friend, I encourage you to ask the Lord what it is that He has in His heart for you & your family. 

By saying, “Yes” to Him means saying, “Yes” to living out a life of intimacy with God and experiencing the depths of love that can only be found in Him.  

So we feel an excitement and privilege to believe what we do and do what we believe. 

This generation is living in a most extraordinary era, and what a joy to partner with God in accomplishing His purposes for such a time as this. Friend, I encourage you to ask the Lord what it is that He has in His heart for you & your family.  By saying, “Yes” to Him means saying, “Yes” to living out a life of intimacy with God and experiencing the depths of love that can only be found in Him.   

To return to the Directory, click here.

The Raising Up of Prophets

1.   The House of Prayer is the context (environment and atmosphere) for messengers to prepare in cultivating an authentic message.
   
   
   1. Men and women who receive an authentic message from God must receive it, care for it, and nurture it in the place of prayer, fasting, and intimately seeking God with diligence.
      
      
   2. They will receive the Lord’s burdens in the place of intercession.
      
      

Leadership

2. They will cultivate a spirit of seeking God through fasting and prayer, which will result in powerful leadership for this emerging generation.
   
   
   1.  How do we want our children to be lead?

                                                               i.      The people will follow as the leaders lead, most recently.

2. The house of prayer will root this emerging generation’s leaders in the place of encounter with Christ. They will then be able to lead out of that place of revelation and humility.
   
   

Prayer is Essential to the Knowledge of God

3. When we study the Scriptures and Theology with a spirit of prayer we will acquire the correct knowledge of God. God is very concerned about our theology. A. W. Tozer said, “Our theology is the superstructure of our religious experience.”
   
   
   1.  We will sort out sound doctrine from false doctrine when we humble ourselves and pray. In the place of prayer we obtain the ability to discern what is of the Spirit and what is humanistic, through the knowing of Jesus Christ intimately.
      
      
   2. Knowing the heart of God and knowing the Scriptures will give us true discernment on our spirits concerning our theology.
      

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         I. A.    Tauranga - "City of Refuge" (Joel 2:12-32)

1. A city set apart by the Lord in the last days for His strategic purposes in advancing His    Kingdom

2. A city where day and night worship and prayer is continuous until the return of Christ, and where the presence and power of God is manifested in an extraordinary way

3. A city hosting apostolic and prophetic gifts and movements, where leaders of ministries/movements of the earth can gather in humility and in unity before the Lord, for refreshment, empowering, and receiving revelation of plans for the earth

B.    Vision

1. Development of a Strategic Global Missions Training Center, located alongside & in association with the Bethlehem Campus.

II.   A.    Three Key Components

1. International House of Prayer for all nations

2. Mission Training Center

3. Training Center Accommodation

B.    International House of Prayer

1. A dedicated auditorium (with adjoining rooms for specific focus) hosting continual 24/7 corporate expressions of worship and prayer, exalting Jesus Christ and under girding the mission movement at all levels.

C.    Mission Training Center

1. Training & equipping of the emerging generation to know God and make Him known amongst the nations

2. ‘Forerunner School of Ministry' (associated with House of Prayer) - courses and internships

3. Mission Training - YWAM training (associated with University of the Nations)

4. Leadership training and equipping gatherings - For the advancement of the Kingdom of God

* One large room (500) & smaller training rooms, an administration center to serve and be hospitable to guest rooms

D.    Training Center Accommodation

1. Accommodation facilities to house 500 students

2. Associated community facilities for students (dining, library, cafe, etc)

III.  A.    Inter-related Ministries in Near Proximity
 

1. Whole Man Center - Medical, Dental, Counseling, etc

2. Media and Communications Center -Web, TV, etc

3. National Conference Center (5000 capacity)

4. Community Transformation Center -serving marketplace initiatives

5. Resource Bookstore/Business Service Center

6. Residential Accommodation – Apartments for staff, etc.

7. Bethlehem Mission Trust – See below

B.    Bethlehem Mission Trust Purposes

1. To develop an apostolic mission community in Tauranga that would host strategic initiatives, in order to help proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ boldly to those who have never heard amongst the nations

2. To catalyze and host a major ministry for corporate prayer and worship by the local and New Zealand Christian community, that is focused on exalting Jesus Christ day and night

C.    Structure of Bethlehem Mission Trust

1. Leadership team

2. Management Team

D.    Formation of Bethlehem Mission Trust

1. Bethlehem Mission Trust will be formed to develop and maintain facilities and services on the land.

2. Bethlehem Mission Trust would have a 'strategic alliance' with CET/Christian education at an 'apostolic' level for the wider ministries

IV.   A.    Steps of Action

1. BMT established to pioneer this vision

2. Leadership and Management teams formed

3. Identification and acquisition of land

4. Master plan drawn up and agreed upon

5. Communication of vision/raise funds            

6. Access roads to facility, services put in to site (Electricity, Water, Etc.)

7. Building commended – HOP, Mission Training Center, Student Accommodation

8. National conference center built

9. Acquire any other adjacent property for expansion

We have made significant progress since we started pioneering the THOP on February 2^nd 2006. The following is an outline of how the structure of the Tauranga House of Prayer is progressing as of May 2007:

I.          THOP is being comprised into 3 major arms of ministry:

A.      Prayer Room

B.       Training Department

C.       Media/Communications

II.        Prayer Room

A.       Four 2 hour Prayer Meetings per day/ six days per week

B.        Worship Teams

C.        Prayer Leaders

D.       Set Leaders

            -     Prayer Room Leadership:

-          Senior Directors

-          Directors

-          Set Leaders

-          Prayer/Worship Leaders

-          Staff

III.      Training Department

A.      Internship Course

B.       Seminars

C.       Evening Community Meetings

            -    Training Department Leadership:

-          Senior Director

-          Director

-          Assistant Director

-          Teachers

-          Staff

IV.               Media and Communications

A.       Website

B.        Newsletter

-    Media/Communications Leadership:

-          Senior Directors

-          Media/Communications Directors

-          Administration

-          Staff