
The International House of Prayer (IHOP) couples prayer with action. The prayer room lays the foundation for vibrant ministry, as people seek the heart of Jesus around the clock. Whether ministering to the homeless, the fatherless, former gang members, or victims of sex trafficking, the International House of Prayer brings hope as people fall in love with Jesus’ heart.
Even the disciples connected Jesus’ public ministry with his personal prayer life. Just as Jesus taught his disciples to pray, so the International House of Prayer University (IHOPU) makes prayer the foundation for preaching and serving.
“In Psalm 2:8, the Father tells the son, ‘Ask of me, and I’ll give you the nations,’” Allen Hood, President of IHOPU, said. “The second person of the trinity has to pray to the Father to receive the nations. If Jesus has to pray to the father to receive the nations, we do, too.”
As President of IHOPU, Allen makes prayer part of the curriculum. Each week, the students spend 15-20 hours in corporate prayer and worship in the 24/7 prayer room. The students, about 40 percent of whom are international students, master theological truths through the spiritual discipline of prayer and meditation on the Word.
Students study theology in the classroom and then pray and meditate upon those scriptural truths in the prayer room, taking content that stretched their minds and embedding it deep in their hearts. Doing this in a thriving mission’s context helps insure that theological reflection is wed to heartfelt devotion and sacrificial mission.
“You can only teach so much on prayer,” he said. “You have to grow in it and watch how the spirit over time transforms you.”
He encourages the faculty to model these principles as well.