Questions and Answers - The Canadian Prayer Shield

What is the Shield?
The Shield is a relational connecting point for leaders who coordinate the intercessory movement across Canada at city, regional and national levels. This shield is not a new organization, it is a simply a linking of those prayer ministries across Canada who have a heart to walk together.

One easy way to visualize it is to imagine the intercessory movement in Canada as being represented by three circles, one within the other. The first or largest circle is all the faithful intercessors who are crying out day and night throughout Canada for the Lord's purposes to be fulfilled. Within that group is a second, smaller circle. This circle, the Shield, is comprised of those intercessory leaders who mobilize and organize intercessors to pray. These people have church, city, regional, provincial or even national spheres of influence. And from within the second circle, is a third and smallest circle known as the core team. This has not yet been established but this will be a servant team of 12-15 leaders who will help to coordinate the communications among the Shield.

Where did the Shield start?
In August 2003, after the La Danse tour, God spoke very clearly to the Watchmen team that a prayer shield needed to be released across the nation. With this intent, a gathering was called in Montreal in December 2003. In this gathering, the fathers and mothers team prayed and discerned together and chose 11 prayer ministry and key intercessory leaders to be the inaugural members of the Prayer Shield. This team was commissioned and released by prayer and the laying on of hands. Since this time many more leaders have been added to the Shield and more will be added in the future as relationships continue to grow.

Who is a part of the Shield?
At this time, there are about 60 Prayer Shield members who are leaders of intercession from every province and territory of Canada and they represent thousands of intercessory watchmen on the walls of our country. The Shield members come from different ages, races, denominations and ministries and represent a beautiful mix of the body of Christ in Canada. We anticipate the Lord will add others as our relationships in the body grow.

How does the Shield function?
The Shield functions like a communications hub for intercessory strategies relating to national initiatives. Many ministries have strategic positions/assignment, areas of focus in prayer that the Lord has given them to steward. But when there are national initiatives, there must be a way to rally all these different ministries and networks to issue a clear trumpet call that the intercessory networks in the nation might push together as one man.

The Shield will collect discernment from intercessors throughout the nation and weigh and discern what the Lord is saying through the intercessors, corporately, in the nation. They will walk closely together with the national fathers and mothers team (the Cluster) to strategize the steps in which the Lord is leading the church of Canada to prepare the nation as a dwelling place for the Glory of the Lord. With this discernment and the covering of the fathers and mothers, the Shield issue clear trumpet calls to mobilize prayer networks from sea to sea to prepare the ground for national-level strategic steps for the church. They also rally intercessors to provide strategic protection, covering the leadership during events and providing a rearguard against backlashes from the enemy after a step is completed.

Can I ask the Shield to pray for me or for our ministry needs?
The Shield will not be focused on any one individual, ministry or movement. It is a rallying point for national initiatives that have been discerned by a corporate collective leadership in the nation.

How can I become a member of the Shield?
The Shield is not a formal organization and it is not an elite group or the only group in the Canadian intercessory prayer movement. In fact, it will connect with many other prayer networks throughout the nation. People are added to the Shield through relationship. They have a clearly defined call to the nation in intercession that is recognized and affirmed by their peers and by the leadership in their sphere of authority (city, regional, national).

How can I hear about what the Shield is discerning? The Shield communicates regularly with intercessors throughout the nation, sharing the insights God is giving them as well as those gathered from thousands of intercessors throughout the nation. If you would like to receive regular communications and intercessory updates from the shield, send an email to subscribe@theshield.ca with your name, city and province. This will allow us to target communications of regional interest to you.

I feel the Lord has spoken to me about something, how can I communicate to the shield? If you wish to submit a word, scripture, vision or dream that you feel relates to the purposes of God for the nation, you may email them to listen@theshield.ca.