Christian student ministries around campus are joining together in nonstop prayer for the next 38 days.
Students will be gathering in a white tent near the cactus garden on the UA Mall during the day and at the Little Chapel of All Nations – at the intersection of North Highland Avenue and East First Street – at night to bring unity to the Christian ministries on campus.
Prayer will continue until 10 p.m. on April 5, excluding March 15-23 for spring break.
“”Someone will be praying every hour for 24 hours a day,”” said Kaitlyn Meiss, a sophomore majoring in music education and saxophone performance participating in the event with The Navigators. “”We are really hoping to unify Christ over Arizona, specifically the campus and students. Really, it is a chance for everyone to get together and pray.””
The prayer officially started at 10 a.m. Saturday in front of the Administration building. Around 20 students gathered to worship, sing, read from the Bible and listen to Vic Black, the man nationally in charge of The Navigators organization.
Praying is not limited to students in ministries on campus.
“”The vision behind this is to create a space for the UA students to pray,”” said Anneliese Knox, a regional development senior and member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. “”One of the ideas behind it is to do it as a campus and not a particular group.””
Students of all faiths and backgrounds are encouraged and welcome to partake, participants said.
“”We have it in the location it’s at because we want it to be open and acceptable to anyone,”” Knox said. “”The vision behind this is to create a space for U of A students to pray. Anyone is welcome. We aren’t restricting it to just Christians. If you want to pray, stop by and pray.””
While the ultimate goal is to unify the groups and students of the ministries, negative feedback is anticipated, Meiss said.
“”No one wants to say, ‘Yeah, there will be negativity,’ but it is possible with so many different people here on campus,”” said Kristin Shermer, a sociology freshman and member of Damascus Road. “”Really, though, I hope people realize that tolerance and unity are major themes of this, and we aren’t here to make anyone feel alienated.””
Students who passed by the tent Saturday said they didn’t have an issue with its presence and purpose.
“”They should be able to pray if they want to, as long as they don’t want to preach to people,”” said Kevin Moore, an architecture freshman.
“”Hopefully, they won’t want me to go in there,”” said biology freshman Jay Cantor.
Even with the possibility of negativity, participants said they are still looking at the bigger picture.
“”The idea is to work together to make this happen,”” Knox said. “”It just shows that even if there are slightly different theologies, we can get together, plan this together and make it happen.””
– Tom Knauer contributed to this story
