Escape and Pray concept: go to a European City for 48 hours, bless the City, the people, the students and the churches as much as possible. Pray for them, serve them, give away what you’ve got, encourage them, and show them they are part of a much bigger picture of what God’s doing in Europe and all around us. Brilliant, right?
But what if we could take this and do it right where we are?? What if you could Escape & Pray to your own City and on your own campus?
Well, you can.
We tried it in York. A normal Wednesday afternoon in freshers week a few of us from G2 York gathered on campus, armed with some adapted Escape & Pray challenge cards and a desire to see God move. We set off to pray for campus and felt there were people God was already in conversation with that he wanted to talk to that day. So we got ourselves a conversation starter: a bucket of sweets (smoothly ticking off ‘random act of kindness’ from our challenge cards in the process!). Some students grabbed lolly-pops and rushed to lectures in a slightly better mood, some stopped to meet some friendly faces, others were curious about why we were there or were intrigued by this ‘local church’ that would come meet them and give them sweets on campus! It seems many people have a journey they’ve been on, an experience to share, or a curiosity they’ve never had the chance to voice when it comes to church. Jesus was already in conversation with all of these people - we were simply joining in!
This is how we met Fion - a Christian post-grad student who had just moved from Hong Kong. She had been praying to find a church and some British friends over here, but didn’t know where to start looking! As we chatted to her and her friends over some refreshers & drumsticks, her eyes lit up to discover we were from a local church. She came along that Sunday, with some others we had met on campus and has been so encouraged to find a home and a family there. Fion has such a bubbly personality, she was surrounded by people when we met her and seems to be a natural evangelist and people-gatherer. The following Wednesday we had a GBBO-final party with her and some of her friends - all from different countries and different walks of faith. I am excited to see more of what God wants to do through Fion and amongst her friends. What a privilege to be able to join in that God-conversation - with nothing but a challenge card and a bucket of sweets!
This is just the beginning of one story from one Escape & Pray experiment. It’s amazing what a few challenges will do for our boldness. It’s amazing the miracles that happen when we take the time and join in with what God is doing, right where we are.
So, could you escape & pray to our own City?? Could you walk onto your campus with the challenge to bless people, serve them, give away what you’ve got, encourage them and show them they’re part of something much bigger that God is doing among us?
'For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.' [2 Tim 1]
