Nehemiah set up the 12 gates of Jerusalem, he set a captain for each gate and each captain had gatekeepers to work alongside him. These gatekeepers kept watch on the gates, watching for what may be coming in and out of the city. Looking afar off to see who may be approaching the city. Providing protection for the city.

 

The vision for the gatekeeper prayer structure is a simple one: to see every area of the church life and its people and workers covered in prayer. Through prayer seeing people grow in their walk with God, to see the Vision of the church to fulfilment and to see many people come to know Christ. This is all part of the greater vision (see below) of the church, believing God to move in miraculous ways that can only come about through dedicated prayer.

WHO: The Prayer Minister appoints twelve Gatekeepers, one for each area of ministry in the church (this allows for growth in the church to, as the number of ministry areas in the church grow, so the number of gates are increased – twelve was used as a start, based on the number of gates in Jerusalms walls). Each gatekeeper in turn then finds 3-4 others to join with them in praying for the given area.

 

WHAT: A gatekeeper is resposible with his/her team to watch over whatever is coming or going through the gate. To look into the distance and keep an eye out for the things to come, to provide protection to the residence by watching over the gate.

 

WHY: By having a team of 4-5 people praying for each ministry area, there is a cover of prayer each and every day, at different times of the day for each of the prayer ministries and the people involved in those areas.

 

HOW: The gatekeepers will liase with the leaders of their specific ministry areas so that prayer needs can be met; these can then be fed back to the prayer team. In this way the prayers have a knowledge of what the Ministry area is up to and they become a wider part of that team.

 

WHEN: The gatekeepers and their teams commit to praying for 15 minutes a day for their given area. They will then also meet up once a month to pray together, for each other and for there ministry area.

 

THE GATES