Do you have time to pray?
“No generation of students has united to take prayer back into every school in America, what would happen if they did?”
Never The Same is an organization made up of several different ministries. One of those ministries is called Claim Your Campus (CYC). The purpose of CYC is to see students actively praying for their schools. Our current goal is to see 1 million students united in prayer each week for their local school.
Last week, Claim Your Campus, was represented at a summit of national leaders who are focused on one mission: EVERY STUDENT, EVERY SCHOOL. Over the three days that we were there, leaders from organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Dare 2 Share, CRU, Everystudent.com, and several others shared the importance of this one goal as a collaborative mission. It was a time where we were able to unite with leaders from across the country and attentively pray for the students and schools in the United States.
Claim Your Campus doesn’t see the mission of reaching schools and students as something we can do alone. It is a task that will take multiple organizations, denominations, and a sold out generation of students. It is not our mission, it is a directive from God that we humbly accept and diligently undertake.
With all of that in mind, CYC has been presented to over 250,000 students across the US. There are currently more than 40,000 students representing over 3,000 schools praying for God to change their campus. As we travel and speak at camps, retreats, and youth groups, we take every opportunity to let students know how they can help change their school through prayer. Overall, Claim Your Campus has been eagerly accepted by students as something they want to do NOW! But what happens when students don’t feel the need or urgency to pray for their schools, teachers, and friends?
Over the summer, I was able to share CYC with students at NTS Camp during our daily “Chat Rooms,” – a classroom type learning experience. It was great! The session always ended with students getting into school groups on their own, figuring out who would pray for their school on what day. It’s not that I’m an awesome presenter; I think Claim Your Campus speaks for itself.
I’ve also had experiences where it just feels like I hit a giant roadblock. The entire presentation is like pulling teeth. The students will just stare at me like I’m speaking a different language. When I ask a question I’m met with silence. When I persist through the awkward silence for a student to step up, I am met by an equally persistent silence.
I don’t know why this happens. One time, I asked if the students could make time in their day to pray for their schools and I received an obstinate, “No.” When I presented statistics about the state of our schools (including gun violence, sexual activity, and disrespect), I got quiet laughter. This blew my mind!
How would you have handled this response from students?
I responded, whether right or wrong, with a soapbox speech. I got passionately in their faces about how the only way they would see radical change in their schools is through prayer. I tried to help them see that their schools are their greatest mission field. Trips to Africa or Haiti are great, but this is the one place they spend the most amount of time with people who don’t believe what they do. I attempted to convince them that the time was now and the onus was on them.
I wish I could say after that, they got really involved and began trying to figure out when they would meet to pray, but that didn’t happen.
Claim Your Campus is about students thinking outside of themselves, giving up their time, and going against the norm.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says,
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
It’s about calling on our God and interceding for our schools, which we believe is students’ greatest mission field. According to the Bible, if we do that, God will “heal our lands” and in this case we wholeheartedly believe God will heal our schools.
So my question is, How do we help students see that their school is their greatest mission field?
If you want to start a conversation or find out more about us, check out Claim Your Campus on Facebook and Twitter.
Kyle Wood
Director of Operations & Communications
Never The Same
© 2014, Never The Same