Hundreds of churches, ministries and individuals have committed to pray for 250 million students worldwide for the Collegiate Day of Prayer on Feb. 27.
The annual event, which takes place every last Thursday in February, is currently reporting that a little over 700 people and churches have volunteered to pray for more than 1,100 campuses.
CDP Executive Director Thai Lam told The Christian Post that while his organization launched their efforts in 2009, the day of prayer centered on colleges and universities traces its origins to a similar observance in the early 19th century.
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“By 1823, every major denomination and every college campus of that day had adopted the last Thursday of February as this national day of prayer for campuses,” Lam explained. “It went on from about 1815 to about World War I or so. At that point, it fell out of the church rhythm. The world was changing. War, Spanish flu, different things.”
“We just looked at each other and said, ‘hey, what hinders us from doing this again today?’ And so, we just registered a domain, mobilized our spheres and networks. Year one, we had 450 campuses adopted. Year two, 900.”
Lam, who held found the modern day of prayer observance, called it “the oldest day of prayer in American history” and reported that, since 2009, “every year, it kept on growing.”
In February 2023, shortly before that year’s Collegiate Day of Prayer occurred, a 16-day revival broke out during a campus chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, which garnered international attention.
Lam told CP that the Asbury revival was “really significant” for his group, saying that the CDP organizers “were blown away” by what was happening, calling it “what we’ve been praying for.”
CDP organizers worked with members of the Asbury campus community, opting to change their earlier plans for a campus event in order to incorporate what was transpiring among students.
One effect of the Asbury revival on the Collegiate Day of Prayer, according to Lam, was that his annual observance began focusing on college students internationally.
This was because, on the 2023 observance, Lam reported that of the approximately 5 million people who participated, about half of that number were located outside of the United States.
“We’ve been mostly focused on prayer for 20 million students on 4,200 college campuses [in the United States] and we had two-plus million engaged from the nations,” he noted.
“It’s been a point of prayer for us since Asbury. So, the big change this year is that we’re launching the Collegiate Day of Prayer global, where we’re shifting from just 20 million students in the U.S. to 250 million students in 195 countries.”
Ultimately, Lam explained, his “hope and ambition” for the event “is that every college campus” will have a congregation or small group that was focused on its spiritual wellbeing.
“What would it look like if every college campus had one, three, five churches, local congregations, that adopted that campus and were committed to praying for that campus?” he asked.
“What would it look like if forty-year-olds and sixty-year-olds really got heart for the college campus down the street from them? And the church of a hundred just commits to praying for that one campus that they drive by all the time. And who knows what the Lord might do?”
One of the ministries involved in the Collegiate Day of Prayer is Cru, a student group founded in 1951 as a result of a 24-hour prayer event at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dan Allan, executive director of Mission Expansion for Cru, said his organization was involved in the annual observance because “prayer has been at the heart of our mission since our founding.”
“Our deep commitment to interceding for students and faculty has naturally aligned with the vision of the Collegiate Day of Prayer,” Allan told CP. “We are honored to stand alongside believers from other ministries, uniting in prayer for this generation and trusting God to transform lives on campuses everywhere.”
For this year, according to Allan, Cru has invited supporters “to adopt three campuses in prayer—one close to their heart, one near their home, and one in another country.”
Allan also credited the 2023 Asbury revival with fostering a “renewed spiritual hunger” that “significantly increased awareness of the Collegiate Day of Prayer among believers.”
“The impact is evident in the ministry results displayed at the bottom of the CDOP website, where you can see a noticeable jump from 2022 to 2023 in the number of campus ministries, churches, and individuals committed to praying,” he said.
Regarding this year’s observance, Allan told CP that he hoped “participants will deeply connect with the Lord and experience a renewed burden for reaching today’s college students.”
“We are trusting God to stir hearts and raise up many who will take the next step in campus ministry—whether by supporting an existing ministry in their community or stepping out in faith to start something new,” he added.
“Ultimately, we pray this day ignites a lasting commitment to intercede for students and faculty, believing God for transformation on campuses across the nation and beyond.”
