Posted: 01/13/2016 at 2:45pm | IP Logged

Community Begins 40-Day Fast for Students on Sunday

By Bill Bray, Special to the ASSIST News Service

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (ANS, January 13, 2016) – Starting this Sunday (January 17, 2016), local prayer partners from the Operation Esther Circle are joining with university students in 40 days of fasting and prayer. The fast ends on February 25, the national Collegiate Day of Prayer. The prayer circle meets Thursdays, 5 PM at the Overseas Students Mission headquarters on Ivy Road, Charlottesville, and also at UVA and other campuses. For details contact Debra Yarde, 434-227-0811 or 305-9641.

Last year, in 2015, the same coalition of community and student prayer partners, staged a joint meeting hosted by the Student Prayer Collective at the University of Virginia. Prayer chains continued for 72 hours and involved 600 students in addition to representatives from local churches and campus ministries.

Nationally over 1,521 campuses were adopted for prayer in 2015. So far in 2016, 105 campuses have been adopted and 3,084 remain to be sponsored. The Collegiate Day of Prayer began 101 years ago during the Student Volunteer mission’s movement and quickly spread to all the Ivy League campuses including UVA.

Annual prayer reunions have been held ever since on many campuses. Student-led campus prayer movements were revived during the Jesus People revivals in the last century and are now led by a broad coalition of campus ministries including IVCF, the Luke 18 Project and groups like the International House of Prayer.

During the presidential election year and as a result of global terrorism, many are joining the student prayer movement. Fasting is increasingly important this year. Millions of additional Christians are expected to join in the national prayer movement as Lent begins on February 10, 2016. Christians in the larger community can sponsor campus prayer movements and adopt a campus at www.collegiatedayofprayer.org and jointhefast@collegiatejesusfast.com .

Source: Assist News Service