At 17 years old, Nicole and Vaish came together to plan a prayer event for their school and believed in faith that God would bring the numbers. This was a daunting task for two teen girls who didn’t think they could make much of a difference! As I sat down with both girls, their enthusiasm could not help but rub off on me, and I was quickly drawn into their story of how God used their friendship to birth something very special in their school.
Hi girls! Tell me about the prayer event that you organised in your school.
N: Our school (Anglo-Chinese Junior College) is a Christian school, so there is a weekly prayer meeting that is run by the Christian Fellowship. It was usually the same 10 people who turned up each week and half of them were actually from the Christian Fellowship itself!
V: I feel like there’s actually quite a number of Christians in our school but a lot of them don’t really live like it. What Nicole and I desired was actually for Christians in school to know the importance of prayer and to come together to pray!
N: Yes! Also, I was hoping that over time, more people would live out their lives as Christians in school too! So this was how the whole prayer event came to fruition. When I came to ACJC, God placed upon my heart to be like Esther in the Bible — to reclaim ACJC for Him once again.
One day, I received a message from someone whom I hadn’t spoken to in years who asked if I had heard of this movement called “See You At The Pole”. I searched it up and realised that once a year, students in schools worldwide would gather at the school’s flagpole and pray. And so, I decided, “I will do this! But how?” Fortunately, Vaish was in the same class as me and one thing led to another…
V: I actually had two dreams for our school! The first was about the need for Christians to do so much more to benefit the people around them. The second dream was about prayer. I felt like it was something that was neglected. I told Nicole about it and after she shared with me what she was planning to do, we knew we needed to do something!
ALL GOD DID WAS PLACE A BURDEN IN MY HEART AND ENTRUSTED ME WITH THE TASK OF PLANNING IT
Wow! It really started out so organically! And both of you were only 17 then when you decided to do this?
V: Yes! I knew the people in the Christian Fellowship exco and I decided to tell them about the “See you at the Pole” movement. The whole event was put together by five of the Christian Fellowship exco members, Nicole, and I.
I see. So what happened on the day of the event?
N: It was somewhat like a mini chapel session and a one-off prayer event. We started off with worship and then presented different prayer pointers and people just broke up into different groups to pray.
V: We actually structured the prayer points from a micro to macro scale, moving from the school, to Singapore, to the world. Time passed so quickly; we were all late for morning assembly that day!
That is so amazing. Did the both of you feel apprehensive regarding this whole event?
N: Yes. At the beginning, I felt really alone. But when Vaish shared her dreams for the school with me, I realised I wasn’t alone now! The scary thing was that there wasn’t anything concrete for me to follow. But all God did was place the burden in my heart and entrusted me with the task of planning it. I was afraid about whether I was doing things the wrong way or whether anyone would even come! I was also scared that my CCA friends would think that I was too Christian-y!
What were some challenges and highlights you faced?
V: When I led the segment to pray for our school, I was so heartened at how willing everyone was to share and pray with people they didn’t know before! It was touching to see everyone as one big family in Christ instead of individual Christians that go about their individual lives. The planning process was challenging because we had a very short timeline. I think we only managed to have two meetings! But God really paved the way for us and we were surprised at how many people attended the prayer meeting.
SEEING HOW GOD MADE IT HAPPEN WAS SO HEARTENING. I DIDN'T REALLY EXPECT MUCH!
N: Looking back now, I am really very amazed. I knew I had to do something in ACJC, but seeing how God really made it happen was so heartening. I didn’t really expect much because we only started publicising the event a couple of days before it happened. In the end, we even had a couple of non-Christians we came to join us!
What encouragement do you have for girls who might be considering holding a prayer event or meeting in their schools?
N: To pray unceasingly. One thing I did a lot was to pray — even before this whole thing happened! I usually go to school early every day to do my quiet time and ask God what He wants me to do in school for Him.
V: To not be afraid. Just grab someone to do it with you! It makes things easier and less scary. For me, whenever God tells me to do something, I tell him, “Wait”. This is actually the first time I took immediate action for a burden He placed on my heart!
How have things changed since the prayer event?
N: While more people attended the weekly prayer meeting at first, it died down after that. However, I think our desire for people to catch the heartbeat of prayer and to see the importance of prayer was achieved! I think it also showed the Christian community in our school that there are many of us here to support each other in our faith journeys. It was just very heartening, and personally, it’s caused me to be more unashamed of the gospel!
Inspired by Nicole and Vaish?
Starting a prayer meeting can be scary, especially if you are not in a mission school.
Here are some things you can do instead:
– Start making a list of things that God has placed on your heart to pray for your school.
– Grab a friend who can be your prayer buddy. Set up a weekly/monthly time to meet and pray for your school or your class during recess or a break time.
– Gather a larger group of Christian friends who are willing to pray for the school. If your school does not permit religious meetings on campus, meet in someone’s home!
