The free, flexible style of prayer in a 24-7 room means it is accessible to anyone and everyone. For an army which often organises its activities according to age-group, prayer rooms have been a place to cross long-established boundaries. Time and time again, we have received moving accounts of children praying for older people, of grandparents coming to a better understanding of their grandchildren by reading the prayers they have written on the graffiti wall, and of generational barriers coming down as never before.

24-7 has also proved a catalyst for greater church unity. All Christians, regardless of denomination or churchmanship, believe that prayer is important, and the stylistic variety of a 24-7 prayer room means it welcomes all kinds of prayer, from the silent and meditative to the noisy and exuberant. So, in many communities, the Salvation Army prayer room became a meeting place for Christians who had previously struggled to find anything they could comfortably do together. In several places, Salvationists are now being asked to co-ordinate the inter-church prayer-life of their community, and are finding that the Army's respected, trusted position means they can bring people together.

Time spent with Jesus will eventually leave us more Jesus-shaped. Even an hour in a prayer room tends to leave its mark, and that mark will usually include a more urgent passion to see people's lives changed by the good news of Jesus. Many Salvation Army prayer rooms have themselves been ‘spiritual labour wards’: places where new lives of faith have begun. They have also been places where new sparks of mission have been ignited, and many of our successful local mission initiatives had their births in 24-7 prayer rooms.

In September 1999 God challenged the young people of the Revelation Fellowship in Chichester, England, to commit to a month of continual prayer. Soon a month had becomethree months and people from throughout the Church were still lining up to fill the slots on the sign up sheet, many experienced personal renewal and others found faith for the first time. In a bid to share the possibilities of such 24-7 prayer, Revelation Fellowship started to share it amongst other friends, organisations and events, and before they knew it 24-7 had become an international network of perpetual prayer. In the first month over one million people from around the world visited the 24-7 web site and Revelation are now pioneering partnerships with other organisations who are prepared to pray at such lengths.