Part of our work at Fusion is to call the church to be wide awake to the opportunity the student mission field presents and catalyse confidence within the church for student evangelism. One of the ways this is outworked is through encouraging church leaders, student workers and students to prayer walk their campuses. The following is a good news story of a prayer walk that took place last week.
Inspired by God’s promise to Joshua, prayer walking is the act of faith and of defiant hope. It is the belief that as the soles of our feet hit the ground, we are appropriating the victorious work of Jesus over the principalities and powers that influence the atmosphere on campuses and shape the narrative of student culture (Romans 16:20). As we position ourselves amongst the smells, sounds and sights we’re contending for, the Lord also provides much needed insight to fuel our prayers and release strategy for Spirit led action.
Last Tuesday, myself in partnership with Sam (Student Worker) and Millie (3rd year student) organised a prayer walk on Solent University Campus in preparation for the new academic year. This was Sam and Millie’s first time prayer walking this specific area so we decided to do a thorough sweep of the campus buildings - praying on every floor, lecture room and sports hall. We particularly interceded for the wellbeing of students and for a partnership of trust to form between Solent and neighbouring churches.
On Wednesday afternoon, our friend Tristan messaged us. Tristan is the Founder of Bridge the Gap, a charity run through churches that create football communities where 18-30s can talk about their mental health and addictions. In his text he noted the prayer walk that took place the previous day and explained Solent University had contacted him to ask whether they could send any students who are referred to their mental health service to Bridge the Gap Football in Southampton. Part of the thinking behind this was to incorporate Bridge the Gap into Solent’s steps to wellbeing plan, and even better, the university would be willing to pay for any student who expressed an interest in attending.
This was a huge answer to prayer. Essentially, Solent is looking to use ministry outreach as part of their steps towards a wellbeing plan for unchurched students. They are also willing to pay for unchurched students to connect into Christian community and hear the good news of Jesus through one of the Alpha courses being run by the local church this year. The potential long-lasting fruit could be astonishing!
Have you ever considered prayer walking your campus? What is happening in the lives of students that you can put your feet to prayer? Our nation is on a spiritual knife-edge. Now more than ever we need to be positioning ourselves in places of contention that will shift the landscape, inspire vision for student mission and propel us into Kingdom led action.
