About

Established October 15, 2001 by Jill and Kirk Weber, the Greater Ontario House of Prayer (GOHOP) was inspired by the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, MO, with the vision to establish day and night prayer and worship in Southern Ontario.  

After nearly a decade of prayer and worship modelled after IHOP, GOHOP began to rub shoulders with 24-7 Prayer, another international prayer movement based in the U.K. 24-7 Prayer exhibited a cultural ethos that helped GOHOP connect and relate to a greater breadth of churches, denominations and para-church organizations.  Now, over 16 years later, we are a mash-up of these two beautiful prayer streams.  

What We Do

Prayer is the center piece of what we do.  We have a prayer room in the basement of 541 Eatery and Exchange on Barton St. in Hamilton where staff and volunteers are scheduled to pray and host praying guests from the community.  Our prayer room is open and available for use 7am – 7pm, Monday to Friday; 7am – 4pm on Saturdays.

In conjunction with other organizations and ministries, GOHOP organizes and runs annual prayer events. Each February, we partner with TrueCity to create an interactive prayer room and facilitate two weeks of 24/7 prayer.  Each July we convert a rented Uhaul truck into an outdoor prayer room and park it beside The Living Rock, a ministry for at-risk youth. From the “Prayer Truck” we offer cold water and prayer to those walking the streets. 

With increasing frequency, GOHOP equips leaders and lay people at home and abroad in prayer and discipleship. Staff members are often asked to speak, preach, facilitate workshops or lead retreats for churches, small groups or even conferences. Some of our staff members travel internationally to teach, preach and mentor. 

Our 9-month internship course, Studies in New Monasticism, offers an in-depth learning cohort for anyone interested in developing prayer, mission and justice into their own life context. Soul Sisters gathers women leaders for monthly group spiritual direction.  Barnabas is a both a listening-prayer group and an equipping ministry that helps individuals and groups to hear and discern the voice of God.  Moving Mountains, which meets every Wednesday on Barton Street, is a prayer and discipleship group that has activated many young leaders in the 10 years it has been running.

As an "Urban Monastery"  we live out rhythms of life that have been embodied and taught within historic monastic communities.  We therefore practice rhythms of prayer, worship, study, silence and solitude, fasting, celebration, pilgrimage and receiving spiritual direction. 

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GOHOP is not a church but seeks to be a support, resource and catalyst for the Church.  Each of our staff attends a local church fellowship in Hamilton.  We wish to see every local church community thrive and we support the God-given grace that is present in every Christ-confessing community.