Continuing my House of Prayer Spotlight series, this month I’m featuring my first international house of prayer – Sanctuary House of Prayer in Winnipeg, Canada!

Two of my IHOPU friends were part of Sanctuary before I met them in Kansas City! Stephanie, on the right in the foreground, was in my small group at IHOPU and now serves on staff with the YWAM base in Kansas City. Arielle, in the background, is back in Canada serving at Sanctuary and helping lead their Consecrate internship!

In hearing about Sanctuary’s heart and story, I was struck by the way they carry their mandate and the DNA of the prayer movement, even though they may be smaller than some of the other houses of prayer I know. Twelve faithful hours of live prayer and worship a week, with burning hearts of love for Jesus, crying out for revival, lifting the sweet fragrance of worship, positioning themselves as forerunners and friends of the bridegroom… that’s WAY more than many churches and ministries, and it’s a rare and beautiful thing to God!

I reached out to Sanctuary’s director, Brian Creary, and he was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions for us!

When and how did Sanctuary start?

This house really began as an idea on May 7th, 2002, when I visited IHOPKC for the first time. I was encountered by the Lord after seeing and experiencing what was happening in the prayer room that morning and felt the call to return to Canada to “build this” in my city of Winnipeg. I said yes but really didn’t understand what to do about any of it. Over the next four years, the Lord brought mentors to help me, a core group of young people that wanted to go for it, a free building to do it in and even some finances to help us along the way. We launched on May 7th, 2006, excited about the possibilities and a bit naive about the journey ahead. Since then, the Lord has been so faithful.

What does your weekly schedule look like now?

We have had many variations of our weekly schedule over the years, mostly because we don’t yet own our own place to meet. Currently, we have hours on Sunday afternoons and evenings, Monday evenings and Tuesday morning with the staff. We recently added an early morning intercession set focused on the marketplace needs. We do many other things in the community, as well. A team goes to the local hospital to pray the sick every Monday afternoon and is but one example of many extensions to the prayer room work.

Sanctuary runs twelve hours a week of live worship in the harp and bowl model! You can find their schedule online.

How many people do you have involved?

That number has also changed many times over the years. Since the first day I have always answered that question with “about 50 people” even though at times it was closer to 100 and at other times as low as 30. To be honest, I don’t really count that closely. So, to answer the question, I’d have to say it’s about 50 or so. 🙂

What do you believe is your unique mandate and vision as a HOP?

In the very early years of our development, I felt that we were to carry our city in prayer and ask for what was the prophetic destiny of His heart for us. Over time, He added clarity to this idea. At one very important moment, He spoke of a coming revival that would transform the city and surrounding region. There is much to say on that promise, for sure, but in short the coming move of God directly affected by the activity of our prayer room keeps us coming back.

In addition, the Lord has given us a clear and strong call to the priesthood as we see it biblically. We know that ministry to the Lord is central to everything we do and we function with that in mind in every set. In the early and very naive days we thought a 24/7 reality was just around the corner for us. Now, we don’t think so much about schedules and hours logged, but much more about being before him with integrity and really ministering to his heart.

What is something you love about the culture of your HOP?

We have grown to be people of faith! Our 13-year journey in worship and prayer has been filled with challenges and invitations to actually believe in what God had promised. Many times we were alerted that He was pressing us to have “extraordinary faith” and to trust in His nature, character and corresponding leadership when things went in unexpected ways. I can say now, looking back, that we gained far more by overcoming the adversity and pressing to know Him in all of it than we would have had we just had an easy ride with lots of people, money and public support. We have such a great community because they have made this journey about being as close to Jesus as possible, whether they understood or agreed with His leadership or not.

One of the fun things their community is doing right now is a great internship called Consecrate – they have a really fun promo video online!

What is something God has taught you in this journey of HOP ministry?

In the first couple of years, we had high expectations and lots of zeal to make it happen. But, growth was slow and we struggled more than we had anticipated. It wasn’t long before weariness produced grumbling and complaining. And worse still, once that began it was really contagious. One Sunday morning as I was preparing my message for later that day, I was suddenly interrupted by the clear strong voice of the Lord. He said to me, “When you complain like you are doing, you are saying to me that you disagree with My leadership and that you are unhappy with the way things have turned out. And when you complain like you are doing, you are saying that you do not trust Me to lead you forward and believe you could do a better job of it.”

I was stunned and felt the sting of a rebuke. I sat there, afraid to move or even think. I knew His accusation concerning us was entirely correct. Then, He said one more thing: “Your way forward and out of this is thankfulness.” I grabbed that part of the encounter, repented and immediately put it into practice, both personally and corporately, even having a “Thankfulness Day” now and then in our prayer room. It has changed everything about how we see our lives, the condition of this house and the possibilities that are ahead for us.

What do you believe God is doing in your midst right now?

We had a very difficult season recently that lasted for almost 2 1/2 years. People left us, the money dried up, the feeling in the prayer room was mostly discouragement and many secretly wanted to quit. When that season ended, I was grateful we were still standing and expected to get back to business as usual. Instead the Lord made it clear that this next season was going to be about developing friendship with Him, experiencing communion with His heart. And it’s been a great season! He has drawn near in many new and fresh ways. Jesus feels more real to most than ever before and there is life in the prayer room and a sense of wanting to go deeper. I have no doubt that there are busy and challenging days ahead. For now, we are being asked to go deep and root ourselves in relationship with Jesus more than ever before.

Check out Brian’s blog about this season of friendship with God.

Find Sanctuary House of Prayer on their website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!