Prayer Room
Whether you’re passionate about prayer or bored by it … whether you’re skeptical about prayer, or secretly curious … whether you’ve been praying for 50 years or 5 minutes … we believe the living God who loves you is inviting you into a conversation called prayer.
CURRENT SEASON:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are invited to step into the mystery of the fullness of God as Trinity:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is one God: three in one.
If that doesn’t make complete sense to you … you find yourself in good company. Throughout history, the most dedicated minds have struggled to grasp this concept that is clearly woven throughout the scriptures.
But as it’s been said, if God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to worship.
May you bring the fullness of who you are & where you’re at today into the mystery & the fullness of God as Father, Son, and Spirit.
The prayer room will close Apr 20-21 for refurbishment.
The Plan
Beginning at 7 AM, Sunday March 29 through 6:30 AM Easter Sunday, we’re linking arms as a church to spend the week in unbroken prayer.
And we do mean “the week” — all 7 days, all 168 hours!
And we do mean “we” — this is a family-sized vision.
The Why
This is a fancy way of saying relationship with God, simply for the sake of relationship. Think about it — in any significant human relationship that we want to grow, we go out of our way to spend set-apart time with that person. It creates space for depth, conversation, and connection. It brings us closer, grows trust, and strengthens love. One hour with God can go a long way!
This is a fancy word for partnership with God. Looking at scripture, we can’t unsee this reality: God wants to partner with ordinary human beings to bring about goodness, peace, and transformation. There is so much division, fear, hurt, bitterness, and chaos in our world. If there was ever a time for the Church to lift our eyes and raise our voices as one, it is now.
Growth happens when we push a little beyond what we’ve done before and what we think we can do. We want to grow in prayer … not just in theory, but in practice!
It’s one thing to commit to something on your own; it’s something entirely different to join a group of people who are all committed to the same thing. Though you may be praying alone (unless you invite someone to join you), you’re joining a community of over 100 other people doing the same at some other time this week.
It may not seem like it, but prayer is one of the most practical and powerful ways to love our friends, family, and community. The author Richard Foster said this: “When we want more for people than we’re able to give them, we’ll pray.”
The Word
Jesus often went out of His way to go to set apart places and pray (Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:18, Luke 9:28, Luke 11:1, Luke 22:39-41). Before He picked His twelve disciples, He spent the whole night in prayer.
In Exodus and Leviticus, the priests were to keep the lamps of the temple burning, and perpetual fire on the altar (Ex. 30:8, Lev. 6:12-13). The priests took their responsibilities so seriously that they would keep watch in the temple 24 hours a day, even sleeping on site to ensure this fire never went out.
All through the Psalms, David and other psalmists choose midnight and overnight hours to seek, remember and reflect on God in a unique way (Psalm 1:2, 16:7, 42:8, 63:6, 119:55, 119:148).
After Jesus ascended, the disciples, Jesus’ family, and the women who followed Him came together at a certain place and prayed together (Acts 1:14). It was during one of these prayer times that the early church community was born (Acts 2).
The Jewish people and early church both prayed all throughout the day, usually at fixed hours. It’s likely the Jews visited the temple to pray at 9 AM, 3 PM, and sunset (i.e. Acts 3:1). Sometimes, when needed, the early church prayed all night (see Acts 12:6-12).
Scripture says that right now Jesus, having ascended to the right hand of God, lives to intercede for us (Hebrews 7:25). This means whenever we pray, we’re just joining Jesus in what He’s already doing.
One of the images we get of eternity is that of unending worship (Revelation 7:15). That means 24/7 prayer is a mirror of heaven.
Getting to the Prayer Room
Location: 24/7 Prayer Room — located inside the building labeled “EPICenter” on the property of University Carillon Church* (1395 Campus View Court).
We believe it is no coincidence that the 24/7 Prayer Room is located within a building called “the EPICenter.” The epicenter of an earthquake is the point on Earth’s surface directly above the place where an earthquake originates underground. Our prayer is that this space would serve as an epicenter for however God wants to move, in our church and city.
*The EPICenter is the last building on property, past the basketball courts, right before the pond. The door to enter is outside, just past the EPICenter, on the side of the building; look for the clearly marked covered area. Please note: now that the Prayer Room is accessible 24/7, it is no longer accessible from the inside of the EPICenter. The only entrance is outside and is accessible only by code.
FAQs
Of course! Pray at home, in your car, on a plane, in the store… do all that. But we firmly believe, through Scripture and through experience, that there is something powerful about designating a space for prayer. Besides that, we know sometimes it’s hard to pray in our everyday spaces – distractions abound, or maybe you don’t know where to start. We’ve set up this space to minimize distractions, and guide you into God’s presence, even if you’re totally new to that kind of thing.
There’s also a communal element to this! In spending an hour in the Prayer Room, you’re coming alongside others in our community who will be too. We are collectively building an altar of prayer in this season for God to come and make His home.
A prayer room can look like a lot of different things, but this one is more than a room with a place to sit & bow your head. There are two rooms that have been designed in different ways. In the first room, you’ll find multiple areas around the room that have been set up, guiding you into creative ways to engage with God through a variety of topics. The second room is a simple space with minimal distractions for you to just be with God. You can use all of this or none of it; whatever helps you meet with God.
24/7 means you can book an hour anytime of day or night! The room now has a separate entrance, a locked door only accessible by code, and video surveillance.
Yes, you do need to book a slot for when you’re planning to come. We hope this cultivates a space where you, and anyone else who comes, is able to be with God in an undistracted, unhurried, and unbothered way for the entire time.
Unfortunately, the 24/7 Prayer Room’s entrance is located on the outside of the building, which does not have access to restrooms.
After booking your hour, you will receive two emails: one immediately following the booking for confirmation, and another 10 minutes before your slot. Look in the second email for an access code for the door. The door is inaccessible to anyone without the code. The code changes periodically.
No. (Though we encourage you to try an hour alone with God at some point, especially if you’ve never done it before!) The rooms are not very large, but families / married couples / friends / mentors/mentees are welcome to come together. Around 3 people is our team’s suggested max at a time, keeping in mind the small space and setup of prayer stations. However, you’re more than welcome to bring more than that if you’d like. We’ve heard some neat stories of people who have come together!
If your ministry or group is interested in reserving the room for a portion of time outside of the hours available – email prayerroom@universitycarillon.net.
Absolutely – we encourage families coming together! That said, please know the room has not been set up for kids and may have some less kid-friendly materials around the room (i.e. Sharpies, thumbtacks that have fallen on the ground, etc). But yes, kids are more than welcome, as long as they have adult supervision.
You’re welcome to bring your Bible, journal, headphones, or anything else you may find helpful. You can also bring nothing besides yourself and just show up. The room will have plenty of resources for you to use.
Nope! You don’t even have to consider yourself a Christian. We want this to be a space where it’s possible for anyone in our community – whether you’re from another church or no church at all – to dedicate an hour to being with God.
An hour may seem long, but you’ll be surprised how time flies! We consistently hear people say that they expected to be bored but after about 45 minutes, wished they had booked the room for two hours. If you need to leave early, you’re more than welcome to do so.
Yes; however, whenever possible, we discourage last-minute cancellations to allow others the opportunity to book.
You don’t need to notify anybody. Just know that you will still need to leave after your scheduled hour.
Yes, you can! There’s an option to donate online here. Thank you for giving toward the prayer room. Your generosity is helping create a place of prayer, presence, and transformation.
“What word would you use to describe your time in the Prayer Room?”
UNHURRIED. REAL. GROUNDING. PERSONAL. UNIQUE. SURPRISING. STABILIZING. POWERFUL. FOCUSED. TANGIBLE. INTIMATE. PEACEFUL. HOLY. SAFE. SET APART.
— PREVIOUS PRAYER ROOM PARTICIPANTS
“We learn to pray by praying.”
—RICHARD FOSTER (author)
Prayer Room Stories
“Yes. How fast an hour passes.”
“Yes! It is a private space where you can respond as you need, with no pressure from anyone.”
“Yes. What better place to bring doubts or questions or confusion before God and not worry about what others think?”
“This space is good for the creative, the skeptic, the curious, and everywhere in between.”
“Yes – it’s a great tool to potentially experience a connection to God for the first time … It also provides some creative avenues for prayer that some may find more appealing than what is traditionally seen as methods of prayer.”
“The Prayer Room is so special because it’s such a sacred space. Even time felt so different, like there was no time going by.”
“There’s something about setting apart a time and place in your schedule that keeps you intentional and cultivates intimacy.”
“When I first heard about this opportunity to spend an hour alone in the Prayer Room, I was hesitant. I am a very busy mother of six children and I do not have quiet time or an hour to be still. I was concerned that I could not handle the silence or feel God’s presence. I was pleasantly surprised that there were hands on experiences that made me peaceful, ponder, and pursue God.”
“I think I have a fairly good prayer life but my time in the Prayer Room helped me focus on what God wanted me to focus on.”
“My first time in the Prayer Room was a reconnecting time with God. I brought my guitar with me to sing to God like I did as a new believer … no pressure to perform, just sing to my Dad.”
“Non-threatening. No preaching. Just be there. Then leave. See what happens.”