If you’re a campus minister, or a church seeking to influence students on campus, you know it’s imperative to pray for that campus and the students who study there. But, where do you start? How do you know specifically what to pray for?
Some of the best prayers we can pray in any occasion are found in (or based on) Scripture. Here are 9 prayers directly from the Bible I’m praying for my campus and students this summer…
- Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (John 6:44). Father, draw students to yourself and cross our paths with those students whom you are drawing.
- Romans 10:17 says, …faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. Father, may we be faithful in sharing and teaching your Word to students. As we share and as we teach, produce faith in the hearts of students.
- Paul said this about the Thessalonian response to his preaching, when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers (1 Thessalonians 2:13). So, Father, I’m asking that students would welcome hard truths from your word and that you would guard them from rejecting your truth. May your Word perform its work in believing students.
- Colossians 3:23 says, Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men. Father, I pray that believing students would learn, study, work, practice, and play as unto you first—and because of that, they would also honor man.
- In Philippians 1:6, Paul confidently stated that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Father, thank you for the gospel-work you began in students last school year. I ask that you continue that work this summer, through the fall and beyond.
- Father, as Paul commands in Philippians 1:27, I pray that believing students on campus would live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
- As students live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, I also pray that the Lord’s message [would ring] out from them, not only on campus, but in every place that their faith in God goes out, so we don’t need to say anything (1 Thessalonians 1:8). Father, make students multipliers of your gospel.
- Jesus told us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest (Luke 10:2b). So, Father, raise up students this year to serve on short-term and long-term mission trips for the sake of the gospel among the nations.
- In Acts 2:47, the early Church was praising God and [had] favor with all the people. Father, give our campus ministry favor on campus. Help us serve and operate in a way that produces a good reputation.
Of course, these aren’t the only scriptures we can pray over our campuses. Hundreds more exist. But, these are a good start. Imagine what God might do on our campuses this year if hundreds of gospel-workers and student leaders began praying things like this over campuses across the country!
Now, go change the world for the sake of Jesus!
Chris James serves as Boston Collegiate Coordinator for the Baptist Convention of New England where he serves as Pastor of Mill City Church & Christian Student Fellowship, a multi-site ministry reaching students at UMASS Lowell. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi (BA) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv).
