Passionately Praying at Princeton

By Catherine Elvy

As part of an effort to engender sweeping spiritual transformation at Princeton University, leaders of Princeton Faith and Action launched weekday prayer sessions in 1915 Hall during the 2009-2019 academic year.

Princeton Faith and Action is part of Christian Union, a leadership development ministry based on Nassau Street, adjacent to the university. Students and staffers met at noon in 1915 Hall’s Gothic-style common room as they sought the Lord and encouraged others to know him. The prayer hour will resume in the fall semester.

“We are seeking to create an environment where God’s presence is welcome on our campus,” said Dan Knapke Jr., Christian Union’s director of undergraduate ministries at Princeton. “We’re committed to seeking him, praying to him, humbling ourselves before him, and welcoming him into our midst.”

Previous moves of God in the United States and abroad have been tied to intense intercession, says Christian Union Founder and President Matt Bennett, Cornell ’88, MBA, ’89.

“The Bible has a lot to say about the principles and activities that attract the presence of God, the things he is pleased with,” he said.

In 1810, Princeton’s president implemented a requirement that students memorize five chapters of the Bible per week, Bennett said. There is no doubt that this rigorous attention to Scripture helped Princeton play a role in the Second Great Awakening, which lasted from about 1790 to the 1840s.

“You can imagine what happens when people memorize five chapters of the Bible per week,” said Bennett, who founded Christian Union in 2002. The mission is to “develop Christian leaders to transform culture.”

Teaching students to pray is part of equipping them with the essential tools for divine victory. “We cannot think that we can seek God for one day and get results. We need to seek Him as a lifestyle,” Bennett said.

Like other Ivy League institutions, Princeton has a rich spiritual heritage. The Presbyterians who laid the roots for the original College of New Jersey chose as a motto “I restore life to the dead.” In 1896, the motto was changed to “Under God’s power, she flourishes.”

“We have an amazing legacy at Princeton,” Bennett said. “A lot of spiritual movement began here.”

Likewise, students at Princeton desire to develop their own modern legacy.

“I was seeking God daily with Princeton Faith and Action (PFA) because I wanted to see God move in power across this campus and awaken every student to the Gospel,” said recent graduate Mike Vincent. “We prayed for revival, and we also prayed that we would be stirred up as a body of believers.”

Edward Appeadu, also a recent graduate, echoed those comments. “Seeing our sudden common hunger to see Christ’s name exalted this year has encouraged me to commit to seeking God seriously with my brothers and sisters,” he said.

“As far as results go, we’ve started to see a foreshadow of what might be a spiritual awakening on campus,” said Appeadu, a philosophy major. Pockets of students are “now blatantly questioning the Gospel of Christ, and discussions are breaking out.”

Farrell Harding said the daily prayer meetings on campus have impacted her in a mighty way. She called them “ridiculously transformative.”

The senior was one of approximately 250 Princeton students who were members of PFA Bible Courses this past year.

“PFA has shown me the importance of fellowship and surrounding myself with believers, and to always make time for prayer,” she said.

A winter break PFA ski trip also bore witness to what concerted prayer can do. During evening devotion times, students passionately worshiped, confessed sins, and basked in the presence of the Lord for hours.

The foundation for the prayer initiative started in Spring 2009 when ministry fellows with Christian Union began gathering for two hours each day for prayer. The daily meetings of intercession and study were emblematic of Christian Union’s desire to facilitate a “seeking-God culture” among believers in the Ivy League and beyond.

“We began to see some real changes in our own lives,” Knapke said. “The students detected and noticed something different about us. Much of what we do in campus ministry is ‘caught’ as much as it is taught.”

“As the students saw the spiritual vitality and power in our lives, they began to invoke a desire to follow suit. Basically, they were starting to get a vision for the increased role of prayer and seeking God.”

In November, Christian Union’s ministry team moved one of its hours of prayer to campus. About thirty staffers and students involved with PFA gathered each weekday. Later in the spring, PFA leaders expanded the sessions to include leaders and students from other ministries as well as university faculty and staff.

Students expressed gratitude for the prayer initiative, terming the need for God’s presence on campus as “dire.”

“We’ve also seen a greater intensity in evangelistic efforts with other students, professors, and even our parents and family members back home,” said Vincent, a sociology major from California. “We’ve seen a number of students become Christians as a direct result of our prayers and efforts to witness.”

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the Ivy League Christian Observer, a publication of Christian Union. Used with permission. For more information, visit http://www.Christian-Union.org.