Prayer Walking with Randell Neudorf: Creative Ways 2025 Recast
What happens when prayer gets messy, playful, and deeply local? In our Creative Ways recast with Randell Neudorf, listeners are invited to imagine prayer that moves—through streets, stories, and surprising moments of neighbourhood grace. Randell shares how graffiti walls, prayer walks, and small creative experiments help people pay attention to God’s presence right where they live. It’s practical, hopeful, and wonderfully down-to-earth, offering ministry leaders a way to explore prayer that grows out of curiosity rather than pressure.
About Randell Neudorf
Randell Neudorf is an artist & storyteller from GOHOP (24-7 Prayer) and the creator of A Visual Guide to Prayer Walking. He will be sharing stories and drawings from his own prayer walking adventures to illustrate the idea that anything can spark a time of prayer.
The Greater Ontario House of Prayer (GOHOP) is a praying community, following the way of Jesus through shared spiritual rhythms. As part of a larger, global prayer expression within 24-7 Prayer, they exist to serve and equip the Church and to do their part to create, nurture and sustain a local, Hamilton expression of prayer.
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Transcript
[Intro]
John Borthwick
Welcome to the Ministry Forum Podcast coming to you from the Center for Lifelong Learning at Knox College, where we connect, encourage and resource ministry leaders all across Canada as they seek to thrive in their passion to share the gospel.
I am your host, the Reverend John Borthwick, Director of the Center and curator of all that is ministryforum.ca. I absolutely love that I get to do what I get to do, and most of all that, I get to share it all with all of you. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to give us a listen. Whether you're a seasoned ministry leader or just beginning your journey, this podcast is made with you in mind.
[Music]
This week on the ministry Forum Podcast, we are delighted to bring you another recast. This time we're sharing from our Creative Ways 2025 event that happened in June, in Hamilton, at Saint Cuthbert's. We're looking forward to 2026 and you'll hear more about that in the coming weeks ahead. We just wanted to share this episode that features Randell Neudorf.
Randall is someone who describes himself as an artist, a musician, and a punk monk. He hangs out with the Greater Ontario House of Prayer, which is based in Hamilton, and he is an amazing, dynamic leader in the area of prayer and worship and spiritual practice. We were so blessed to have him as a part of our conference. And what I love about what he does is he shares not only his knowledge and his wisdom in this area, especially related to prayer, but he also gives people the experience of praying in the way that he's inviting us to do so. So, you will get a taste of that experience that others had in that in person event at Creative Ways. I can't wait for you to have a chance to listen to Randell, so let me get out of the way as we begin our recast today.
[Music]
[Randell Neudorf]
So yes, I'm from GOHOP. You can see our space right there. We were doing a Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop as one of our prayer practices, and this is the building we have. We are actually in the lobby for our prayer room is in this old church building that was formerly a Lutheran church that's now owned by Indwell that's waiting for its plan to become affordable housing, and we operate a Drop-In Prayer Room there. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we are praying in this space from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. We've got a roster of people that are coming and going, and we are working to cultivate prayer in this space. We have prayer times that focus on the arts, where we try to bend traditional prayer practices into creativity, and then I have an arts background, so we'll take a drawing practice or something I might have learned in art school, and we'll bend that back towards prayer. And we have listening prayer circles. We've got prayer circles that are praying for Indwell buildings and homelessness and all sorts of things that are happening in this space.
We're also working to develop leaders. We have a prayer for pastors and leaders time that happens every week, and this is the longest running ministries of GOHOP. One of the very first things that was started way back in 2001 and so pastors and leaders contact me, and I connect them to the team, and they have a very unique and powerful time of being prayed for.
We have also a form and fire internship where we borrow from lots of the different streams of the church, very traditional, liturgical all the way to charismatic practices. We try to bring all the different pieces together so that people can try on these different practices, like a jacket, to see which things fit. Maybe from the tradition you were brought up in, there were some things from other traditions that fit you a little bit better, but you just never had a chance to experience them. We run these internships for people to explore the width of the church. Out of that, we often get volunteers that come alongside us and become companions. There are some of those core people that are helping, even though they're not on staff, they're coming alongside us and helping be in that prayer room for those hours, and help keeping the space open.
We're also empowering students. You might recognize this one picture here. I think I've been in this place before. We're empowering students. Just last year, we helped students from McMaster [University] and Mohawk [College] participate in 24 hours of prayer right in this room right here. We're always looking for ways to develop leaders and future leaders.
We're also growing relationships, and we're really trying to connect with other groups in our city. We've got a true city prayer room. In Hamilton, we're a very connected city, and I think it has something to do with - we heard about that dish with one spoon idea that ground sometimes soaks in some of the spiritual awareness from people that came and lived in places and acknowledged things before. I think that Hamilton has a lot to owe to that for the easiness of which people start to share things. There's this true city group, where it's churches across denominations working together in the city for the good of the city, and each year they have a conference, and GOHOP helps facilitate a prayer room that comes alongside that conference. Then there's two weeks of daily prayer with churches from across the city coming together in very creative prayer stations to engage. Often, people will say, I can't believe I signed up for two hours of prayer. What am I going to do? Then they leave and they're say, I only got through half the stations I had so many ways I could pray.
Another creative project we have is the prayer truck. Living Rock Ministries is working with the street population in Hamilton from a youth focus. Every year, we park a Uhaul truck in their back alley. They actually have to move the garbage bin out of the way to make room for us. We park right there and we turn the truck into a portable prayer space. People from the youth center, staff, youth volunteers, as well as people that are just really connected on the street walking by often, will stop by and either write a prayer up on the wall inside the truck, or ask some of our volunteers, Could you pray for me? We would just have these impromptu prayer times for a whole week of prayer alongside this youth center.
Those are just a couple of our partnerships. In my role at GOHOP, I do a lot of supporting pastors and leaders, as well as delving into creative ways of praying. I like to think of GOHOP as we're giving people permission to play with prayer. Instead of going into all the individual things that we're doing at GOHOP, I thought, let's delve deep into one thing where I want to give you permission to play with prayer. So, that's the premise I'm going to go with right now.
I had this opportunity to make a resource called a Visual Guide to Prayer Walking. It's a series of drawings and prayer prompts that are intended to spark people's imagination as they learn to prayer walk. The resource is available to you for free, so you can download it on your phone or print it out at home. I have a few printed copies here as well, but that QR code or that link at the bottom is going to take you to where all the resources are just waiting for you.
There's a number of reasons that people start prayer walking. There's a multitasking element. Some people are trying to incorporate exercise and prayer together. Or maybe it's practical. The air conditioning broke at your church and the prayer meeting needs to be moved outside, and we might as well walk around and catch a little of that breeze as well. We might want to prayer walk in a specific situation and something that's happening in our neighborhood, and we're wanting to pray into that actually out on the site or in the area.
People sometimes call this a Jericho walk. The term Jericho walk comes from that Old Testament story of the Israelites marching around those walls of Jericho, and the walls come tumbling down. We borrow that story to say that there's a way prayer walking can be a formula to get something done, and they use it as a way to try to convince God of something, to change something or get rid of something. I'm actually not a fan of that kind of language. I feel like it assumes that we're bringing God with us, instead of going out to meet God who is already active in the “every neighborhood,” I would say. That God is already active in every neighborhood. I don't think a Jericho walk is actually appropriate until you've already been walking and finding God in a place for a while. A respectful Jericho walk might not even be noticed by others. I think a Jesus-y Jericho walk comes out of an invitation from a person of peace that's already involved in that neighborhood.
I want to tell you a story of what I think is an ideal Jericho walk. My friend Doug - he was leaving his church on Ottawa Street in Hamilton, and he was walking down this street with lots of businesses, and there's a building that is mostly boarded up, and it has a for sale sign on it. He's walking by, and this building is always bugged him, but he remembered hearing that an Indwell Project was supposed to be happening on this site, but he noticed that it was still saying it was for sale. He said, I really thought something was supposed to happen with this. He called up a friend at Indwell, and they told him, Yeah, we still want to buy the building, but there has been some development that we've found out. There's some legal reasons why we might not be allowed to buy this building, and it actually looks like this project is not going to go through anymore. And we're really upset about that. We would love for you to pray.
He got the invitation. He was already in the neighborhood. This organization was already in the neighborhood, and he decided to gather a few of his praying friends, and they decided to walk around this building while praying. It's a pretty big block before there's a gap in the buildings that are pushed together right next to each other. They had to walk around the back alley and over 10 or 12 buildings and come back around the street. It wasn't a little Jericho walk. It was a pretty long Jericho walk. But they did this. They prayed, and he phoned back, and the guy said, Well, actually, there's been a little bit of movement. It's still a long way off, but please keep praying. They did, and this back and forth kept happening. Eventually the building was sold, and it now is an Indwell building. It's finished. You can correct me, but I think it's for First Nations folks that live in that building. So you're seeing a lot of tying together in the story, from things you've been hearing.
The lawyer, when they were drawing up the papers, everyone would come together. They said, I don't know if you believe in prayer, but you should, because this is a building that should not have been able to be bought, and it has been. This lawyer was saying that this was a prayer thing. I would tend to agree.
The prayer walking that I want to talk about isn't actually the Jericho walk, because I think that's another type of walk. I think there is a more universal prayer walking that can happen. What I want to talk about today is about finding Jesus, rather than bringing Jesus into the neighborhood. If you want to give it a biblical name, you could think of it as the road to Emmaus prayer walk. That is from the story of those disciples walking and meeting someone who they think is a stranger, but after walking together all day, they're surprised to find out it was their friend Jesus all along. So, prayer walking is an opportunity to go out and meet our friend Jesus, who's already on the road ahead of us.
There's some lessons I want to draw out of this idea of prayer walking, and the first one is God is already in the neighborhood. God is there speaking to us all the time. I found if we get outside and start walking as we pray, we discover that, and we discover God in the places and streets around us. I really believe that God's speaking to us all the time. And you might be thinking, well, I don't hear all the time, and I think that's because we're a little bit like fish, and God's voice is a lot more like water. It's so present that we need to find ways to get quiet, to listen. God's voice is actually a little too familiar, in some ways. Prayer walking is a way to start paying attention.
The next lesson I want to hold in your mind is that we need to watch for God in unexpected gifts and surprises. There was a morning when my youngest, was younger than he is now, and we were getting ready for school, and this was not a good morning. We were butting heads all morning. I was getting ready for work, he was getting ready for school, and we were walking out the door together. I was angry. He was angry. My day was not setting out on a good foot, and neither was his. But we walked out that door and we walked down our street. We were walking where we do every single morning, and we get to the bush at the end of my block, all of a sudden, what I feel like was 100 birds flew out of the bush right in front of our faces. It is very surprising. I look down at my son, and he is surprised, but he is happy. He's got the big smile on his face.
I say to him, Have you ever seen that before? Because we walk by this bush every day.
He said, No, I've never seen that.
Me, neither.
I was pretty angry this morning, but I don't really feel angry anymore after seeing all those birds. What about you?
He says, No.
I feel like those birds were a really good gift.
He says, Yeah.
Then I asked him, Who do you think gave us that gift?
He thought for a minute, and he said, God, God gave us that gift?
I said, Yeah, that's what I think, too.
We kept walking, and it's a little bit happier.
Then I had the second God moment in that surprise. I realized that my family was going to get a dog. I know that's a big jump to go from birds in the bush to a dog at home, but my wife had been working on me to get a dog. She had found a dog, that was a rescue dog, that she thought was the perfect fit for our family. We have some unique dynamics in our family, that she thought that a dog might shave some of the rough edges off with some of those random surprises in the house that an animal could bring. We had already let in a cat, and I thought we had done enough. I wasn't wanting to bring home a dog as well. But in that moment, seeing how these birds that weren't going to be living in my home, hopefully, had done just an about face for the two of us, I realized that God wanted us to bring home this dog, and that my wife was right. We did bring home a dog. One month before lockdown, we got our COVID dog before we needed a COVID dog. Before we were locked in the same house together every day. That dog sat with us when we were on work meetings, and definitely sat with the kids through all their school that they probably attended. The dog attended more classes than any of the kids because they were there for everything. We had exactly what we needed, but we didn't know that that's what we needed. So, you got to watch for those unexpected gifts and surprises.
Now the next story, and lesson, is about flipping the script. Flip the script is the next lesson. I'm walking down my street again, and I get past the birds in the bush. I'm heading down the next street. I'm about to cross Barton Street, a little busier street in our neighborhood. I don't own a car, so I do a lot of walking. When you do a lot of walking, you end up using a lot of crosswalks. I'm using the crosswalk. I push the button. I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do, and a car comes flying around the corner and almost hits me. I am angry. I am so angry. I am shaking my fist, not my finger. You can decide which is worse. I am mad. I get to the other side of the street, and I just felt some questions bubbling up that didn't feel like mine. They felt like God questions. I felt like God was asking me, Why do you think they're in such a hurry? Do you think maybe they got some bad news? Do you think maybe they're on their way to the emergency room? Or maybe they were just at a doctor's appointment and they're now leaving with some really heavy things? Or maybe they've been out of work for a really long time, and they're late for that one job interview that's going to change everything?
No, they should not have been going so fast, and yes, they should have seen you, but can you imagine one of those things? Could you pray for that person?
That's what I did.
God, please keep that person safe. Please keep everyone around them safe. Help them to get where they need to go. Please meet them in whatever situation they're in and God, please bless that person.
God flipped the script for me. I started looking for other places where the script could be flipped. There's a lot of graffiti in my neighborhood. I live in a very urban place in Hamilton, and there are legal graffiti walls which have beautiful graffiti pieces on it, but there's a lot of other places. Every alley and mailbox has somebody's name on it. I used to run a coffee shop where we would get tagged on the back, and legally, we had to paint over it, or we would get a fine. You get so angry when these things would show up. But there's a hand attached to those marks. There's a guy named Juice. I don't think that's what his mom called him, but he signs his name everywhere on the bus shelters and stuff. Juice is asking to be seen. Juice is a creative person made in the image of a creative God, and it's almost like Juice is asking me to pray for them. I can thank God for Juice. Help them to know that they're made in the image of the Creator. Help them to express themselves in ways that are just best for them. Maybe it's a color that pops out and it's not anything to do with the word, and it just gives you an idea. You can follow that, or maybe that the graffiti is something negative, maybe it's gang related. There's a crown involved in it, but you could flip that.
God, this person seems to be involved in things where they're grasping at power in ways that are really harmful, but I know you hold all the power. Can you help them find ways of being empowered that don't cause harm?
I started asking myself, How far down this rabbit hole could I go with the flipping the script? By this time, I'm starting to draw these drawings and try to create a prayer resource for prayer walking. So now I'm being very intentional, and I kept having an image of a poop emoji in my brain. I know you didn't think you were going to see this this morning, or this afternoon, but here it is, because this was what was going through my head. And I asked myself, could even this be an invitation to pray?
So, walking through the park near my house, I have a dog. We pick up after a dog when my dog leaves presents, but sometimes other people do not pick up after their dogs, and you step in it, or almost step in it. It makes all these stories. I get angry in my stories too much for my prayer walking stories, but it makes me angry if that happens, and instead of being angry, could that be an invitation to pray, Why would that person do that? Well, maybe they look around and think, you know what? Nobody else cares about this park, neighborhood or street. So why should I? Well, that's an invitation to pray. God, please let this person meet someone that cares for them. That there would be something that they would see that changes their mind. That there are people that care.
Could that be an invitation for prayer?
Other times, sadly, you step in something, or nearly step in something, and it's grosser than dog poop - it’s people poop. Even that could be an invitation to prayer, because that could be evidence of some of the other things we've been talking about this morning, about homelessness and encampments, about addictions and about mental health. And yes, we should definitely be praying into those things. Yes, this could be an invitation to prayer.
I don't like to talk about prayer without some time to practice prayer. I feel like it's a lost opportunity otherwise. I also know that John wants to talk after me, so I can't send you out prayer walking. I'm not I'm not going to send them away. It's okay. What I'd like us to do is take some time to have a virtual prayer walk in our imaginations. God created our imaginations. It's a real place, so God can really meet us in our imaginations. It's not a fake place, it's a real place. It's a spiritual place.
I'm going to invite you to take a posture that helps you feel present. For some of us that might be closing your eyes, for others that feels weird in a group situation, so please leave your eyes open. You could use the images on the screen as sort of a focus point. We are in a very beautiful space. You could look out the windows, at the art in this room. There's all sorts of things you could use to focus your attention instead of closing your eyes, so whatever works for you. Then I'm going to lead you through some very simple prayer prompts and things that I'm going to ask you to imagine. You're just going to go wherever it takes you. There's going to be some very short invitations of prayer. Just a line or a word, whatever comes to mind in these invitations. It's not going to be super long. There's not going to be anywhere where I'm going to leave you hanging. So just take a posture that feels present to you.
God. Thank you for this collection of people. Thank you that you can meet us in our imaginations, or you can meet us out on the street as we're walking.
I want you to imagine yourself at home. Whatever home looks like for you. Now I want you to imagine yourself walking out the front door. Say a little prayer for the neighbors closest to where you live. It's just something simple. God bless my neighbors. You can just say that in your head right now.
Now start to walk around the block. What do you see? What jumps out at you? Is something good in the neighborhood. Something that makes you smile. Maybe it's a tree, a garden, a person, an animal, a mural. Whatever comes to mind, just thank God for that thing. That good thing.
If you think in your neighborhood, or slightly wider, wherever you have to go, is there a building or a property for sale? Or is there a new family or business that's recently moved in to your neighborhood? I want you to use those “For Sale” and “Sold” signs as an opportunity to pray. You might want to ask God, what is your vision for this property? Try praying for the new people. God bless the people moving into the neighborhood. Help me to welcome them.
Now, imagine the neighborhood around your church, where you gather, since this is imaginary work, or, sorry, an imaginary walk, you are fit enough to walk to your church no matter where you live, in relation to your church’s building or gathering location. What things can you see in the neighborhood around that church that God has made? Maybe it's a tree, a plant, birds, pets. What about the people? What people do you see? God's made them as well. Thank God for the people and things that live and grow in the church's neighborhood. You can just say Thank you. That's a prayer. Where are people gathering in the church's neighborhood? It could be a school, a store, a library, community center. Thank God for the places that bring people together. You could pray for a spirit of peace in these places of gathering. God bless them.
Pray to be shown a person of peace. Every neighborhood has one. They often have a natural gift of hospitality. They seem to know everyone, and are a real connector of people. A person of peace doesn't have to be a Jesus follower, but they are open to honest and safe conversations about God. Pray to be shown a person of peace. Just hold on to whoever came to mind and maybe tuck that away for later. If no one came to mind, maybe keep praying this and see if someone shows up later.
Now I want you to think of the church building or whatever gathering location your church has. Imagine standing right in front of where your church gathers each week. Thank God for planting your church in this specific place and time. Again, just a thank you as a prayer.
Now I want you to think of the place we're in right now, at Saint Cuthbert’s and the wider group of people that are gathering around online, that right now we're forming a community. Think of all the people, communities, neighborhoods and journeys represented in this building right now and online. There's a lot. God, thank You for this unique collection of people and all the neighborhoods and places that we journey through each week, month and year. God, thank You that You go before us wherever we travel. Help us to notice You along the way. Amen.
[John Borthwick]
Thanks for joining us today on the Ministry Forum Podcast. We hope today's episode resonated with you and sparked your curiosity. Remember, you're not alone in your ministry journey. We're at the other end of some form of technology, and our team is committed to working hard to support your ministry every step of the way. If you enjoyed today's episode, tell your friends, your family, your colleagues, tell someone. Please don't keep us a secret, and of course, please subscribe, rate and leave a review in the places you listen to podcasts, Your feedback helps us reach more ministry leaders just like you. And honestly, it reminds us that we're not alone either.
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