Displaying items by tag: Students

A surprising surge of faith continues to spread among America's young people. It led to what some are calling the largest campus outreach event ever when 60,000+ students filled the University of Oklahoma's football stadium for worship and evangelism. The ‘Fill the Stadium’ event began when a graduating senior prayed a simple prayer: ‘God, what's next?’ The event sold out within days of its announcement. CBN News travelled to Oklahoma City to hear the sound of spiritual awakening rising in ‘The Cinderella City’. Students rallied for a time of worship with Kari Jobe and Chandler Moore, coupled with a concert from hip hop star Chance the Rapper. It won’t end here; this is the beginning. Many people are turning to Jesus and getting connected into small groups, campus ministries and churches. They will become disciples who multiply.

‘The choir sang the final chorus, then something happened that defies description. Students didn’t leave, they continued worshipping. I teach theology across the street. When I heard about this I went to the chapel to see for myself. I found hundreds of students singing quietly, praising and praying earnestly for themselves, their neighbours and our world; repenting for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice. Some were reading and reciting Scripture. Others were standing with arms raised, or clustered in small groups praying. Some were kneeling at the altar rail. Some were lying prostrate, others were talking together, their faces bright with joy. When I returned in the evening they were still worshipping. By Thursday midmorning hundreds were filling the chapel again. Then students began arriving from other universities. Asbury Chapel continues in waves of prayer, worship, and gut-wrenching public confession. It was a significant and spontaneous move of the Spirit. What a phenomena to witness. Come, Holy Spirit.’

Hundreds of thousands of students received their A Level results on 18 August. This was the first time students had actually sat their exams since 2019: during the coronavirus outbreak, they were assessed by teachers. Getting the grades needed for university or college can be really tough, and for some it impacts their mental health. Amid rising levels of anxiety in the run up to results day, Childline said it had seen large numbers of students receiving counselling for concerns about their grades. Pray that those teenagers who may not have achieved the results they wanted will be able to talk to a teacher or an adult they trust to discuss how they are feeling. Remember those who are now desperately hoping to find a university place, somewhere, through the clearing system.

Afghan students offered scholarships by the UK government to study here from September will not be able to take up their places this year as the British embassy could not finish paperwork in time. One student said, ‘When we really need it, you are taking it away. I don't believe it will be deferred for a year. If you cannot make it this year, how can you make it next year?’. See Archbishop Justin Welby said, ‘The tragic failures we are witnessing in Afghanistan and their devastating impact on men, women and children demand prayer and urgent humanitarian action’. Kitty Chevallier, a British charity worker, said she felt immensely lucky to have escaped on an evacuation flight but it is tragic that some of her Afghan friends are still stuck in the country’. Pray for Afghans whose chances of leaving are small and who have so much more to lose.

Revd Naomi Nixon, CEO of the Student Christian Movement, has criticised the Government's plans to get English university students home before Christmas. This was in reaction to a travel window, between 3 and 9 December, for students to go home in evacuation-styled staggered time slots. In-person teaching is also due to end. She said the procedure is brutal and confusing; treating students differently from everyone else in society. What if students have exams after the cut-off date, or live off-campus? Are students living in regular housing and streets to be treated differently from other people living in that street travelling at Christmas? Will students who have expensive train or plane tickets falling outside the travel window be refunded? There will be students isolating after a positive test, and students who have left foster care and are now 18 with nowhere to go.

As September approaches, students will begin an academic year like no other as the coronavirus pandemic impacts universities. But God is still moving and working, students are searching for hope and purpose, and we can meet this moment in prayer walking. A core part of being a child of God is to nourish the place we have been given so it is fruitful and God is glorified. The places we inhabit are characterised by the community, culture, opportunities and experiences they enable. As we pray for our universities, we can grow in our personal devotion and intimacy. By prayer walking we can also grow in community and accountability as we pursue a common purpose together. Pray for churches to mobilise in order to reach students, inviting them to try church and offering pastoral care. Pray for students’ hearts to soften and accept Jesus.

Chow, a university student, fell from the third floor of a car park while fleeing tear gas and suffered a significant brain injury as a result. A third-year journalism student, surnamed Tang, was arrested on 2 November when covering protests in Taikoo Shing. His university’s student union said that when he was arrested, he was wearing his press card and journalists’ association membership card, and had not taken part in any of the frontline protest activities. Pray for police to respect the rights of student reporters and ensure their safety when they are performing their duties. Also, the university has asked the police commissioner for full details about a qualified St John Ambulance first aider student who suffered serious burn injuries after being hit by a tear-gas canister while performing his duties. Students and alumni are demanding that the universities condemn police violence as they handle anti-government protests.

Attacks by disaffected teenagers at schools and colleges have hit the headlines recently in Russia. In January, a student in Siberia attacked a teacher and fellow-students with an axe and set fire to the school. In April, in the Urals, another student stabbed a teacher and a student and set fire to a classroom. But this week’s tragedy of 18 school children killed and 53 injured has led to three days of mourning from 18 October. Speaking to journalists and parents of missing students in the city of Kerch, where the shooting took place, Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said the death toll stood at eighteen 14- to 16-year-olds, plus the killer Vladislav Roslyakov. Witnesses said they heard shots and ran into the corridor, where they were randomly targeted with a machine gun. Victims were taken away in buses and minibuses: ‘Children and staff, without legs, without arms’.

September means a new school term. Please remember the thousands of five-year-olds going to primary school for the first time, particularly the fearful, or those panicking as they face an unfamiliar environment. Pray for their parents watching them go (and letting them go). There will also be 11-year-olds anticipating entering secondary education; pray for their peace of mind in the first few weeks of changes and more serious studies. Pray for God to watch over the 16- to 18-year-olds as they study for A Levels. Also remember those entering university and striking out on their own for the first time, experiencing new places, new activities and new people. Pray for effective Christian witness during ‘freshers weeks’. Ask God to inspire Christian youths and young adults in their choices of friendships and activities. Please pray for young people starting voluntary gap placements, particularly those serving in mission agencies at home and abroad. (Linda Digby – Prayer Alert Team)

It has been alleged that Israeli authorities collaborated with student campaigners in an attempt to topple the president of the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS), Malia Bouattia. Al Jazeera reports that the Israeli embassy in Britain and the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have sponsored attempts to influence student politics, manipulate NUS elections, and even bring down the current president. NUS vice-president Richard Brooks is seen in undercover filming footage telling a reporter posing as a student that he is the one helping to organise Bouattia’s opponents; however, he has since denied that he has had any contact with the Israeli government. Bouattia, who represents more than four million students, ran on an openly pro-Palestinian platform, and has been criticised in the British media for calling herself anti-Zionist.