Prayer for the Nations

Prayer for the Nations

Freshman Sylvia Fruit takes her turn in the prayer tent.

By Melissa McCutchan

CIU Student Writer

Columbia International University’s Student Mission Connection (SMC) hosted a week of prayer for the nations, April 15-19. 

SMC erected a makeshift prayer tent outside of the G. Allen Fleece Library. Students signed up for a 15-minute time slot inside the tent, and prayed for a specific country based on prayer requests found in Jason Mandryk’s “Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation.”

“We want the students of CIU to be more in prayer for the world, to be more aware of what’s happening around the world,” SMC member and freshman Hannah Lingenhoel said. “We saw this as a good way to start people seeing that need for prayer.”

In addition to increasing students’ prayer for the nations, SMC' s other goal was to raise awareness about the needs of other nations.

It’s always good to have my perspective widened, that God doesn’t just operate here, but that He operates in other nations, too,” participant and junior Lauren Forester said. “Even though (beforehand) I didn’t know anything about the country I prayed for, I could still pray for them.”

SMC hopes the weeklong emphasis motivated students to pray regularly for the nations.

“We might not be able to go, we might not be able to afford to send others, but we can always pray,” Lingenhoel said.