A cherished spiritual tradition is making its return to Millikin’s campus next week in a way that has never happened before.
Millikin’s faith-based communities are coming together as one to host “Week of Praise and Prayer,” formerly known as Week of Worship. From Tuesday, January 21 through Friday, January 24, testimonies, praise, and fellowship will be taking place in Pilling Chapel starting at 8:00 p.m. each night.
This is not a religious event, but an opportunity to come together as a student body to praise and worship Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the man who died and rose from the dead to set the entire world free from sin.
Sophomore Breana Smith, President of Delight Ministries, realizes how important it is that Millikin’s faith groups get the opportunity to worship together as a corporate body, especially considering she sings as a part of the worship. Millikin’s Delight branch began last fall as the only women’s ministry on campus, and it has already introduced Jesus to so many women on campus.
“We launched in the fall, and we did our kickoff event,” Smith said. “We were pleasantly surprised. We had about 30 girls attend, so we really got to see the need for our ministry on campus. We gave our all to Delight and prayed that it would help girls find Jesus and grow their relationship with Him, which I would say we definitely accomplished.”
Smith hopes that the Week of Praise and Prayer will be an opportunity for women to come forward and have their voices heard by bringing testimonies, leading prayer, or simply declaring their love for Jesus.
“I hope that girls feel empowered to get up and share their stories,” she said. “Something a lot of girls struggle with is feeling afraid to share their voices, especially in a room that might be male dominated. So, I hope that’s empowering. I hope we hear from many different people. I hope the Lord moves and that many are saved.”
Another faith group represented at the Week of Praise and Prayer is FCA, or Fellowship of Christian Athletes, with junior Hope Self as its president. Self is a secondary math education major and is also a member of the volleyball team, and she has enjoyed her time working with FCA.
“It’s super fun to work on logistical things and to be behind the scenes, especially with planning things like week of worship,” Self said. “It’s super fun, getting to be a part of an organization with such a big leadership group, because we’ve grown so close from the beginning of last year, when I first became a leader, to now. It’s really cool to see how God has worked through all of our friendships.”
Week of Praise and Prayer is meant to be an extremely welcoming event, and that is exactly what every single group wants it to be.
“I’m just excited to see how God shows up, and I just pray that all the people that are supposed to be there are there, and that we can just connect with God in a different way and have our campus connect with God in a different way as well,” Self said. “I know that it can be very scary to come, especially for people who don’t know what to expect. But just as encouragement, there are a lot of people who are going to welcome you. It’s a very welcoming environment.”
One of the most memorable parts of Weeks of Praise and Prayer is the worship that takes place, led by Avodah, a worship group from Decatur that operates on spontaneous song and praise.
Grace Brixa, junior President of InterVarsity, another faith group on campus, is heavily involved in the singing portion of worship, as is Smith.
“I’m really excited that this week doesn’t have to look a certain way,” Brixa said. “We can just show up and be reminded of why we trust in a God that is so good and really just soak that in. To be able to have that time carved out and to show up and be in community with all of my friends and others I don’t know very well is really cool.”
Brixa understands that the first week of classes can be very stressful with time management, but this opportunity to come together is too incredible to pass up.
“I think people start to get stressed about not being able to get those attendance hours in and I would encourage them to remember that that’s not what it’s about,” Brixa said. “If they can come for 10 minutes, I think once people get into the room, they remember that.”
Because the event is student-led, many of the responsibilities for what the week looks like falls upon the shoulders of the leaders of the different faith groups. However, Brixa is confident that the leaders will continue to trust God and follow His plan for the week and grow from the opportunity to put on an event such as this.
“I’m excited to see how our leaders can continue to not only lead well, but also lead by example well all over campus,” she said. “I think that even though this week is highlighted, it is like a leadership week for us.”
Creating an atmosphere to welcome the presence of God is the biggest goal of the entire week. Pilling Chapel is going to be a God-filled week, but the praise that will be shared will spread much farther than just the four walls of the building. God is coming to Millikin’s campus, a campus that needs Him more than ever.
“You don’t have to be a part of these groups to come. You don’t have to be Christian to come. You don’t have to be baptized to come. You don’t have to own a Bible to come. I don’t want any boundaries to keep you from coming. There’s no requirements,” Brixa said.
