Prayer Gathering at NOVA Classical Academy

It was honestly a natural transition from a Bible-focused club to spending more time on prayer and then reading the Bible as well. I was not wedded to the structure I had made when I originally started the club, and I felt that we honestly had a need for prayer. It was so natural that I didn’t even need to think about it, the Holy Spirit just shifted us right away over to prayer this year. 

I think He helped show me that we needed more prayer when Alex Pretti and Renee Good were shot in Metro Surge and everyone was distraught. My friends live in neighborhoods where I.C.E. was active and everyone needed to share what was on their mind, so we did it in the form of prayer requests. It continues to be a need because school can be draining emotionally. 

I record the prayer requests on a Google Doc and post them on Google Classroom for people to pray over the following week if they feel led, but I also see stating our prayers as a prayer in itself. Then, if we have time, we read a little bit of the Bible and do the Lord’s Prayer at the end, along with any prayers urgent to that day. Next year, we will continue to start with prayer requests, listening to each other’s needs and supporting each other, and we will shift from John to the Psalms. John is so long that we have gotten through five chapters in two years, so we decided to move to a book with shorter chapters that also feels very pertinent. I am excited to see who the Holy Spirit leads to the club next year!

Annabelle is a high school student who started a Bible Club during her school's lunch break.