A group of Christians have been going the extra mile for God, running 120km across the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham as a ‘prayer-raiser’.

During the six day challenge, they've been stopping at four churches every day to pray with the community. They describe it as a 'prayer-raiser' rather than a ‘fundraiser’ as the aim is to encourage people to pray for their villages, towns and cities.

A curate at St Wilfrid’s Nottingham, Jacob Tyers, who’s now been dubbed the ‘running rev’ came up with the idea as an opportunity to pray across many different churches to raise the expectation of what prayer is and how it can transform lives.

Gary Pitt from St Wilfrid's who is part of the prayer-run, told Premier that by the end of the challenge, they will have visited and prayed with people at 24 churches:

“People have been invited to come and run sections of the route, join for prayer meetings, or pray from home as they follow along. We don't know anything like this that has ever been done before, but we’ve had such an incredible response to it, with some amazing stories along the way. We’ve had seven year olds and 73 year olds running with us, answers to prayer while en route, and some amazing times of prayer at churches big and small. We even had the local Bishop run and pray the first part of the route!

“And all through the run, we've been hearing answers to prayer and had amazing times of prayer with different communities. That is wonderful.”

The group of up to 12 runners has been completing a half marathon every day to complete the distance in six days. Gary Pitt says as they’ve journeyed from church to church they’ve heard stories of what God is doing and “we’ve been able to carry those stories with us, which has been a really special part of the journey.”