House of Prayer Edmonton (HoPE) began as a vision by Jim Hall, Lead Pastor at the Canopy Christian Community in Edmonton. Jim had been impacted tremendously by the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City and the teachings of Mike Bickle. After travelling to Kansas City to visit IHOP, God gave Jim a vision and a passion for 24 hour night and day prayer in Edmonton.
Jim pastored at Central Baptist Church in Edmonton for 6 years before leaving to plant a new church with Eric Brooks called The Canopy Christian Community (taken from Isaiah 4:5-6). It was in the early days of The Canopy that Jim “put a stake in the ground” and began to contend for 24 hour prayer in Edmonton. The Canopy began praying once a month for a 24 hour period, incorporating IHOP inspired intercessory worship with an “urban monestary” format of prayer.

After a few years of praying 24 hours once per month at the Canopy, Jim moved House of Prayer under a city-wide banner. As an executive member of the Edmonton Evangelical Ministerial Association (EEMA), Jim brought House of Prayer under EEMA’s spiritual covering. With a new name–House of Prayer Edmonton (HoPE)–Jim moved HoPE’s monthly prayer times to a new location at Vanguard College in Edmonton.

Vanguard College was becoming a hub of city-wide prayer with weekly Tuesday morning prayer meetings attended by pastors from across the city. Jim had become a regular attender of these meetings, hosted by Pastor Bob Gal. Bob had rented a portion of Vanguard College to establish The Meeting Place, a central location for prayer activities and prayer training. Jim’s relationship with Bob made Vanguard College a logical choice to host HoPE.

In January of 2008, Bob Gal became the new Director of the Marketplace Chapel in West Edmonton Mall. Bob invited HoPE to hold their prayer times in the chapel. The move to West Edmonton Mall was confirmed over and over again with much excitement. House of Prayer Edmonton began to take on new life with the move from the more private Vanguard College to the public arena of West Edmonton Mall.

In March of 2008, following a city-wide prayer event The Cry, God unexpectedly called us to begin praying weekly, In May 2008 we began our weekly prayer times from 7 – 9pm on Friday nights.

In October 2009, we expanded to open the prayer room every weekday from 9am – noon in addition to our weekly and monthly prayer times.

In February 2011, HoPE expanded once again to include Tuesday evening intercessory worship times featuring a teaching component.

Today, House of Prayer Edmonton includes prayer leaders and individuals from several different churches in Edmonton and area. HoPE prayer meetings are held regularly at the Marketplace Chapel in West Edmonton Mall.