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bangor

listening to the heartbeat of heaven

Cadence House of Prayer, Bangor was established in February 2011, with a desire to see 24/7 worship and prayer rising to God. As teams grow in experience and size, we hope to increase the number of weekly and daily sessions, eventually leading to a 24/7 schedule. Cadence HOP does not seek to begin a new thing but rather to re-establish an ancient rhythm that once existed in Bangor.

In circa 443 AD St. Patrick and his companions came upon a valley on the shores of Belfast Lough, and there they had a vision of angels. According to Bernard of Clairvaux, “they beheld a valley flooded with heavenly light, and with a multitude of the host of heaven they heard, as it chanted forth from the voices of angels, the psalmody of the celestial choir.” The place became known as the valley of angels. Apparently, circa 457 AD St. Patrick prophesied that an abbey would be founded in this valley, and he prophesied the birth of it’s founder, Comgall.

St. Comgall was born in 517 in Antrim, and after starting working life as a soldier, took monastic vows. In circa 558 AD he founded the abbey in this valley of the angels - what is now part of the centre of Bangor. A rule was instituted of continual worship and prayer, and the abbey grew to thousands as many were attracted to it. Bangor became known as the light of the world. It was famous for its continual worship and prayer which it is believed carried on for between 150 and 300 years. Bangor became a seat of learning, and later a centre sending out missionaries all over Europe at a time when the light of Christianity was dim. The missionaries went especially to France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, where further centres and abbeys were established by St. Columbanus, St. Gall and others.

In the 800s Bangor Abbey declined due to repeated Viking raids on Ireland, although there was a resurgence in the 1100s by St. Malachy. The oldest structural part of the abbey remaining is part of a wall built during this time, known as Malachy’s wall, separate from, but close to the current abbey church.

We believe that the God-given purpose of Bangor remains: to be a place of 24/7 worship and prayer, and a missions-sending base. Even today, Bangor still retains a strong missions focus: This can be seen through the sending out of missionaries, the various mission agencies that are based here and perhaps, most noticeably, through the Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention - running unbroken since 1937.

We believe that those angels are still here in the valley, and that God wants to restore that place of 24/7 worship and prayer, just as He is raising up houses of prayer all over the earth. It probably won’t look like the early monastic communities but it will include dedicated musicians and singers, and pray-ers giving God the honour and the glory - for He is worthy.

Although we cannot know the day or the hour that Jesus will return, we see the House of Prayer movement as part of the broader end-times movement, preparing the church and the land for the second coming of Jesus.

(Sources: IHOP-KC, Kathie Walters)

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