What We Do

GOHOP is not a church, it is an “Urban Monastery” (minus the robes & buildings) that seeks to support, resource and catalyze the Church. We live out rhythms of life that have been embodied and taught within monastic communities for centuries (prayer, worship, study, silence, solitude, fasting, celebration, and pilgrimage).  By practising these rhythms our staff team seek to live lives of prayer & discipleship that are contagious. We provide a number of other discipleship opportunities for church leaders and lay people at home & abroad through workshops, spiritual direction, mentoring, teaching engagements and of course…

…our prayer room!

Prayer is at the heart of what we do at GOHOP and our most visible ministry is The Prayer Room (with drop in hours on Mondays & Wednesdays). This room is filled with comfy seating, creative prayer stations, resources, and lots of art to help people dig into a time set aside for prayer.

Each staff member sets aside 4 hours a week to spend time in the prayer room. Sometimes we are hosting others but more often we are taking time to pray on our own. We are only able to teach and lead out of what we are practising ourselves. Out of this we then are able to host a number of weekly and monthly prayer times:

GOHOP hosts a number of annual events as well:

  • The TrueCity Prayer Room is two weeks of prayer that follows the Hamilton TrueCity Confernece is that happens during the TrueCity church conference. This interactive prayer room draws together hundreds of people from 30+ churches to pray together for the good of the city.
  • Summer Street Outreach happens every July. This has taken on different forms over time but has always had a focus on providing prayer support for people who are street involved. For many years we turned the back of a UHaul truck into an outdoor prayer room behind the Living Rock youth centre. Other years we have done street walks, handing out water and asking if we could pray for people. The last couple years we have set up prayer & worship times in parks, allowing us to connect with tent communities.

For many people, our weekly, monthly, and yearly prayer rhythms and events are their first introduction to GOHOP. For those who decide to dig deeper we have a number of spiritual formation opportunities:

  • Spiritual Direction is a ministry that assists individuals (or groups) to attend to the presence and activity of God in their life. GOHOP has 7 spiritual directors that meet monthly with people in person or online. As word of this ministry has spread, many of our directors meet with people from around the world.
  • Form & Fire Internship is a 3-month immersive prayer experience that exposes people to the deeper life rhythms practised at GOHOP. Interns of all ages explore spiritual disciplines (fasting, prayer, silence & solitude, etc.) and learn about the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit (listening prayer, healing, etc.).
  • GOHOP Companions are a group of volunteers who are committed to journeying along side GOHOP in an intentional rhythm of prayer, service and community learning.
  • The Prayer Course is an opportunity for churches and small groups to have GOHOP lead them through an 8 week prayer & learning experience based on the 24-7 Prayer Video Course by Pete Greig.

Digging Deeper into the GOHOP Story:

GOHOP was founded in 2001 by my friends Jill & Kirk Webber. For those of you who want to dig deeper into the history of GOHOP you should check out this resources from Jill:

  • Even The Sparrow: A Pilgrim’s Guide to Prayer, Trust and Following the Leader: A book by Jill Weber that is full of stories about GOHOP and each chapter ends with a spiritual practice that you can use in your own prayer life. Purchase online from GOHOP: gohop.ca/products/eventhesparrow

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