By Marney Blom
Christians in Toronto believe that God is up to something in their city.
When the news broke that Tibetan Buddhism spiritual leader the Dalai Lama planned to visit Toronto, MissionGTA kicked into gear.
This network of Christian pastors and leaders, which represents a variety of denominations and cultures, saw the event as serious cause for concern.
Together Ministries’ Richard Long said the prime mission of the Dalai Lama’s visit was an 11-day Tibetan Buddhist initiation ritual. “This is something many Christians feared would have a negative impact on the spiritual climate of Toronto as well as the rest of Canada.”
What emerged was an unprecedented 12-day, 24-hour round-the-clock cross-denominational prayer and worship initiative called The House of the King. Alone, or in groups, Christians prayed as they walked the streets, rode the public transit and visited some of Toronto’s historic landmarks.
As the prayer initiative gathered momentum, national as well as international prayer groups came on board. With the help of modern technology, literally tens of thousands of Christians around the world rallied together to pray for Toronto.
The Church of the Living God pastor and spokesperson for The House of the King Hany Boghossian was encouraged by the extent of the prayer support. “Women Aglow, with 1.3 million, have been mobilized to pray for Toronto at this time. We’ve had intercessors in Africa that number to the tune of about 30,000.”
Never in the history of Toronto had there been so much prayer for the city. Nor had there ever been the opportunity to welcome the presence of God through 12 days of 24-hour worship.
First Nations, Chinese, Korean, and African-Canadian were some of the many people groups that responded.
Pastor Bill Dyck and his congregation, the Toronto Alliance Church, saw the visit of the Dalai Lama and his Buddhist followers as a unique opportunity to extend Christian love and good will.
“If there are Buddhist spiritual seekers who come to this city wanting to engage spiritually with people we want to be there.”
The Toronto alliance Church transformed its storefront church location into a hospitality centre. Asian as well as Western Buddhist pedestrians were welcomed to a Tibetan tea room and art gallery.
And if that wasn’t enough to keep the city hopping, Todd Bentley’s radical Fresh Fire Ministry showed up with more than 300 Canadian and foreign participants eager to reach the city with practical demonstrations of God’s love. Remarkably, Fresh Fire ministry coordinators had unknowingly scheduled their campaign to coincide with the exact dates of The House of the King prayer thrust.
On the fourth day of the event, Toronto Ablaze campaign coordinator Peter Byers said: “Not only have people been accepting Jesus as their saviour, but a lot of people have been getting healed. Backs, necks, hearing…a blind eye was opened today.”
The campaign reported extraordinary results. About 600 people made first time decisions to follow Christ. At least 40 miraculous healings were reported to have taken place right on the streets of Toronto.
Colin Mills, a resident of the city, eagerly testified about what God had done. “Todd Bentley…called out someone who had a kidney condition, a failing kidney. The fire of the Holy Spirit went through the right side of my body. This morning when I woke up…I have not physically felt like this before…I mean like totally healthy.”
Clearly, as Christians came together to pray, worship and work together with a common focus, the church in Toronto entered a new level of empowerment.
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