Two events are taking place next month to launch a year of mission in 2014.

An all-night prayer event for 40,000 people and a reception hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the leaders of Britain's churches and ministries mark the start of HOPE 2014.

Christians are invited to the Excel Centre in London on Friday 18 October 2013 for the Festival of Life from 8pm hosted by the Redeemed Christian Church of God. This prayer gathering brings together 40,000 Christians every six months to pray for the UK and it is where HOPE will be launched.

A week later, the Archbishop of Canterbury is hosting a reception at Lambeth Palace for 100 key leaders on 24 October.

HOPE is a catalyst which aims to bring churches together to transform communities, with the vision of seeing 'the whole church, reaching the whole nation, for a whole year'. The mix of denominations, churches, ages and cultures, and the number of ministries involved, is 'unprecedented', according to HOPE organisers. The Revd Ian Bunce, the Baptist Union of Great Britain's networker for Mission and Media, is a member of the HOPE leadership team.

HOPE came from a vision and conversation between Roy Crowne, Mike Pilavachi and Andy Hawthorne and focused initially on equipping and encouraging churches to take part in a year of mission in 2008. 91.7 per cent of projects in HOPE 08 had Baptist involvement, according to research from Theos.

HOPE's prayer countdown to 2014 also starts on 18 October and runs through to 31 January 2014. A specially-written prayer calendar has been created, with contributions by a dozen HOPE partners. It is also available as a Word document to add to local prayer calendars and parish magazine prayer diaries.


Related: New HOPE Resources to Equip Churches in Mission