MADISON, WI (ANS) -- InterVarsity
students at Central College in Pella, Iowa,
started praying at the
beginning of the spring semester and haven’t stopped. More than 2,400
consecutive hours have been logged by shifts of students in a prayer
room set up in the student union.
InterVarsity students at
Central College in Pella, Iowa, started praying at the beginning of the
spring semester and haven’t stopped. More than 2,400 consecutive hours
have been logged by shifts of students in a prayer room set up in the
student union.
“It demands sacrifice and perseverance, both of
which can all too often be lacking in students,” said campus staff
member Jon Hietbrink. But not only have the 75 students involved
deepened their devotional lives, they have also drawn closer together
through the experience. And it’s influenced those around them. “We
coordinated our 24-7 prayer movement with a major outreach event on
campus,” he said. “We saw several dozen significant decisions from
folks from outside our community.”
Last fall, InterVarsity
students in Tampa, Florida, manned
a 24-7 prayer room in a local church
for 40 days, despite the threat of hurricanes sweeping across the
state. At the same time, students in various other chapters around the
Southeast Region took turns keeping a separate 24-7 campaign going. “It
is clear that a work was begun in us that is meant to ignite those
around us, not only calling each other to a deeper place of intimacy
with God, but of obedience to the gospel and the lost who need it,”
wrote Florida division director Brian Sanders on the prayer campaign’s
website.
The InterVarsity chapter at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison initiated a 24-7 prayer campaign for Lent
in a campus
area church, and representatives from more than 30 local churches and
ministries participated. “Twenty four-seven brings unity to the body,
purification of the body, and a new heart for outreach,” said area
director Peter Horton.
For 21 days in Lent, students at the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City
also did a 24-7 prayer campaign.
Campus staff member Seth Neal said that the chapter believed they
weren’t praying enough and chose something more ambitious than just a
daily prayer meeting. He said the 24-7 campaign was a great thing for a
new chapter to experience together and students were sad to see the
three weeks come to an end.
The Intervarsity Graduate Christian
Fellowship at Stanford organized a
weeklong 24-7 campaign from April
9-16 that was written up in the Stanford Daily. This was the second
year in a row for 24-7 prayer at Stanford. The newspaper reported that
a room in the basement of the Old Union was converted to a prayer room
for the event.
The impetus for these 24-7 prayer campaigns is
partially from a popular book entitled Red Moon Rising,
by Peter Greig.
Peter was a guest at InterVarsity’s Staff Conference 05 where he
discussed this 24-7 movement, the beginning of which he traced to a
small prayer room in Chichester, England, in September of 1999.
Peter
believes the popularity of the movement, now in 56 countries,
illustrates that intimacy and involvement are the two legs of the
Gospel. “If all of our activity and strategy is divorced from intimacy,
we’re going to have problems” he said. “Combine them in what we’re
building on campus and in our life, and we have the Body of Christ,
infectious and engaged.”
Expect to see more InterVarsity
chapters involved in 24-7 prayer events. “I think the 24-7 model has
really been a helpful one for our college students,” said Campus staff
member Jon Hietbrink. “When they signed up for their first one hour
slot students repeatedly said they didn’t know how they would fill it,”
added Seth Neal. “But soon they felt they needed more than the one hour
and would sign up for two hours!”
Gordon Govier is a veteran
journalist currently working as a web editor for InterVarsity Christian
Fellowship, at www.intervarsity.org.
You can contact him at
ggovier@intervarsity.org.
