The Prayer Hub project plans to build a unique portal website with the purpose of mobilising and enriching peoples prayer lives around the world. As well as providing information and features aimed at engaging and connecting people in prayer in practical ways, it will bring together all generations globally with a common heart for prayer using the power of the internet.

Our faith grows as we experience God's presence in difficult situations and see Him answering prayer.  Whether we are praying solo, as a couple, a triplet, or a group, we can be encouraged as we join forces with a worldwide army of fellow-believers.   

Through innovative use of the latest technologies, we plan to bring engaging information that people want right to their smartphones, tablets and computers, educating and encouraging them to pray with insight and passion.

The Prayer Hub vision is to be a virtual House of Prayer - to Inform, Encourage, Educate, Equip and Connect Christians globally.  The service will serve individuals, the Church, ministries, missions, organisations and prayer networks.

In particular, we aim to: Connect people in Prayer; Mobilise prayer for key ‘pillar’ issues, unreached people groups and the persecuted church; and be a virtual House of Prayer for all nations.

The Prayer Hub will be managed within each continent by trained teams, who will oversee the collation of their regional news & events listings, registrations, online moderating, research and networking.

As well as being a service to the free church, the Prayer Hub will have an 'ark of prayer' role to play in supporting the persecuted Church.

We are grateful to various individuals, trusts and organisations for their support to date for the Prayer Hub project which has enabled us to develop the project so far.

As well as the bedrock of prayer, the project depends on voluntary donations, subscriptions, legacies, and grants for its continued success.

If you are called to make a donation, please feel free to use the online service with debit/credit card or Paypal by clicking the link below.  For information about leaving a legacy to Prayer Network UK, please contact us. Cheques should be payable to 'Prayer Network UK' and sent to Prayer Network UK / Crosswinds, P.O. Box 1041, Nailsea, North Somerset, BS48 4SD, United Kingdom.

Thank you for your support.

Please see our donations page here.

The Prayer Hub will provide features that will be of use to organisations of all sizes and geographical spreads.

Our discussions with numerous Churches and ministries have identified 4 features that they would want:

1. The ability to share prayer needs, news, events and information with a broad base of identified potential pray-ers/supporters - locally, nationally and (later) internationally.
2. Fast and easy updating alongside any other social media channels.
3. A managed social media style Like page without the vulnerabilities of the mainstream providers.
4. Posts / articles can be shared across user type(s), geographical proximity and selected (default) countries.

There are 3 types of website user -

1. Public / Site visitor - a casual user who does not register.
2. Registered User - these are people who register and provide contact name, postcode (for geo-location purposes), optional mobile or landline phone number and email address.
3. Prayer Team members - people who additionally provide full home address and a church leader reference contact detail. Once cleared, they become 'Prayer Partner' members. 

Other features for organisations:

• A forum for publishing articles, information, events, and prayer related news.
• A banner advertising feature, shared with other subscribing organisations.
• A signup tool for obtaining email signups from visitors.
• Site usage and subscriber stats.
• Secure connections where appropriate.
• Site feed RSS syndication.

The vision is for this to be a service to the Christian community and every possible step will be taken to make the service accessible and affordable to everyone.

We have identified 4 key needs from praying people - They want...

1. CONTROL - over what info is sent to them, how it is delivered and how much is sent - many already get too much!
2. USER FRIENDLY - so they can easily find information relating to a specific subject, source or geographical area.
3. HIGH INTEGRITY - reliable, up to date and trustworthy information and pointers to guide their prayers.
4. CONNECTIONS - to find and be connected with like-minded people locally, nationally and internationally.

The prayer hub will provide individual personal users with:

• Prayer News with Prayer Pointers and links to more information from trusted sources
• Prayer Events Diary - local to national and international
• Database of Organisations - local to national and international.
• Links to the latest prayer resources
• Updates and notifications to smartphone / tablet, SMS, Email
• Integration of prayer reminders with Outlook / Google Calendar (via app)
• Search for information by subject or geographical area / proximity
• Connection to other people praying for the same needs
• Social bookmarking of public articles

Users will be able to access their accounts from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.  Mobile phone users will have basic access via text.

By all means, please do get in touch if you would like to get involved.

We would be pleased to hear from interested parties and anyone who shares our vision. Collaboration with technical teams, developers and prayer and media ministries will be of paramount importance to the success of this project.

Screened companies / individuals will in time be invited to work on the core api to develop add on applications and features. Don't let that scare you off!  We really do want to collaborate with this project.

Prayer Network UK is a registered charity based in North Somerset, UK and was founded by John Simons in 1994 to mobilise inter-denominational Christian Prayer across the UK. It is also known as the Crosswinds Prayer Trust.  

Their motivation was 2 Chronicles Chapter 7 Verse 14. Their unique website concept was based on the mapping of the 124 postcode areas, which presented an ideal non-denomination platform.  Many thousands of people took part in their 'Crosswinds Week of Prayer' initiatives across the UK which finished in 2005.

Andy Page joined the team in 2004 to further a number of internet based initiatives in the UK and internationally.
Prayer Network UK are working with a number of partner organisations in the UK along with a Singaporean foundation on a solution that can be beta tested in the UK and another lesser developed nation initially, with a view to it being rolled in phases across other nations / continents.

Whilst technology will allow automation of many tasks, and some challenges such as rogue users can also be managed by website user 'people power', there is a need for substantial time input by trained staff and moderators.  Whether or not the people are paid, this need increases the costs and income generation challenges of the project.  

Organisations would be asked to pay a subscription to use the service with a number of additional paid-for options including banner advertising.  

Personal users would be asked to make a suggested donation on sign up and on anniversaries.

There are three fundamental challenges that need to be addressed -

1. assuring the accuracy and integrity of any News related information.
2. the need for secure and controlled access to some types of information.
3. assurance that the service cannot be taken down maliciously or because it does not comply with a host's 'terms of use' policy.

There have been many differing interpretations about what a prayer hub actually is and does. Looking at it in its broadest terms, yes, THE INTERNET already is a prayer hub, in that it allows rapid communication globally between praying people.
Information is passed on faster now than ever before - but it's not co-ordinated / managed, there is loads of duplication and it can be difficult knowing what information or people to trust.

So this Prayer Hub will be managed and secure.

We will certainly have a continuing presence on Facebook and our users will be able to interact with their own facebook accounts. However, there are a number of operating issues with running a service such as ours.  

In short, we could not guarantee that:

1. Our data is safe.
2. We won't be taken down maliciously.
3. The Facebook team would not dis-approve of the site and switch it off.

The Prayer Hub will...

• connect people publicly or privately who have a common interest.  
• send texts, notifications or emails when there is information or messages that subscribers want to receive.  
• allow people and organisations to put out prayer requests or info to chosen audiences.
• enable fast sharing of urgent news and information.
• link people up in their neighbourhoods.
• allow churches, ministries, organisations to promote their work and vision to a targeted audience.
• be accessed on phones / smartphones as well as tablets, laptops and computers.
• allow sharing of (where un-restricted) content across users social media channels

It will additionally provide these features, which are not available on the social media networks... sorry some of these are a bit techy!

• a robust but user friendly registration and approval process.
• secure channels where appropriate.
• control over the management of the core data and users.
• custom add-on apps for the Church community.
• a regional editor / moderator system (by state, county or postcode area).
• bomb-proof system cannot be taken down by malicious users or dis-approving administrators.

It will contain prayer news, prayer pointers, prayer requests (and answers) event information, a listing of local to national (and international) organisations and ministries, teaching articles on prayer plus issues affecting the nations and resources for mobilising prayer.  Information would be searchable using category filters and keyword search.  Graphical maps will display certain information categories and prayer requests by location.  An online UCB Radio and TV player will enable users to listen or watch the programmes as part of their quiet times.. and a Bible Reader in association with Bible Gateway will facilitate Bible reading.

Thats an interesting questions! - We've said to a number of people that a Prayer Hub is a Social Media Platform for Prayer... So there you have it.

A number of features are planned especially for Christians living in more challenging situations... for 'such a time as this.'  These will be part of the second development phase.

The Prayer Hub will include an online UCB Radio and TV player, to enable users to listen to the programmes as part of their quiet times.. and a Bible Verse look up in association with Bible Gateway.  There will also be a channel of inspirational videos.

Whether we live in a well-connected city or a rural developing country village, the Prayer Hub aims to be accessible to anyone who has a phone, smartphone, internet enabled tablet or computer.  

Our second phase rollout will include features that will allow people to connect who only use a non-smartphone, using SMS messaging.  This will be of benefit to many people in the UK and a significant proportion in lesser developed nations.

There are lots of ways that the Church, Christian ministries and missions can benefit from a Prayer Hub.  It will help them to broaden their support while giving them control as to how their information is disbursed.