In the heart of the Kreuzberg neighborhood in Berlin, Germany is a room designated as a ‘furnace’ – a warm source of light that transforms the grittiness of the surrounding city scene.
This room, with walls dressed in hand-painted canvas and pillows strewn about the floor, is a space that serves as a main location for BURN Berlin meetings.
“When Burn 24-7 was started in Berlin, I experienced God so powerfully,” says Deborah Charis Wright, European director for Burn 24-7, “parts of my heart that weren’t fully aligned with God’s will were re-calibrated.”
As one of the many ‘furnaces’ around the world that make up the Burn 24-7 movement, the room in Kreuzberg shines alongside other locations in 150 countries. Each ‘furnace’ hosts nonstop prayer and worship called ‘BURN’ gatherings that occur on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis. The mission of these ‘BURN’ events and the mission of BURN 24-7 is to “contend for revival in the church and the nations” by creating a space for the “passionate pursuit of the presence of God.”
And it all started in a dorm room.
In 2006, a series of dorm-room worship gatherings on the campus of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma sparked a worship movement as students turned down sleep to sing night-long songs of revival. As more and more students joined in the sound, the Burn 24-7 model quickly took form and spread from the dorm room to a coffee house across the street. From there, it jumped to local churches, and, in a year’s time, to communities around the world.
Now a thriving international Christian network, Burn 24-7 continues to take root in new communities. As the network spreads, the family-oriented ‘furnaces’ grow in a model developed by the organization’s leaders that aims for “authentic relationship rather than a hierarchical leadership structure.”
For the past four years, Deborah Wright has been on a quest to build these communities ever since she felt that God was calling her to “support the BURN Berlin leadership in any way possible.” Wright works to unify worshipers in her region by organizing BURNs that are often twelve hours in length but can sometimes run for up to one hundred hours of uninterrupted prayer and worship. To accomplish this sizable feat, she contacts local churches and teams who agree to lead in two-hour shifts.
“When I organize a BURN, the initial contact is with a potential location to get them on board to host a BURN,” says Wright in describing the process behind producing an assembly. “We try to be consistent with our monthly BURNS, but God also gives us impressions about specific timings and locations.”
While Wright focuses on consistency in cultivating a BURN community, she also sees the potential impact that an expansion in Berlin would have on the city. “In Berlin, I’m looking forward to the BURN expanding and multiplying over the city – particularly into areas like the Red-Light District,” she expresses.
It is especially in the grim areas of a city and among the needy where BURN locations are ignited to create a space for love to transform lives.
“At a recent BURN, someone entered the room who had been struggling with suicidal thoughts. He received prayer and powerfully experienced the love of Jesus,” explains Wright. “He had brought a rucksack full of alcohol in case he didn’t get through the night, but he no longer needed it and didn’t have any withdrawal symptoms the next day.”
In Kreuzberg and in hundreds of cities around the world, the light that shines from the Burn 24-7 ‘furnaces’ is transforming lives and shifting neighborhoods. As the flame continues to glow brightly in these areas, many shadowy places in cities are becoming patches of dry ground, prime real estate for the kindling of a new fire. As evidenced in the expansion of Burn 24-7, a new fire can catch in a ‘furnace’ anywhere, even in a dorm room.
To start a ‘furnace’ or to learn more about Burn 24-7, visit www.burn24-7.com.
Featured Image by Maarten Van Den Heuvel
In-Text Image by Marek Szturc
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