By Paul Van Der Werf
Historical Note: It was on a hot summer day in August 1806 that five young students dedicated their lives to the spread of the gospel around the world as they prayed in the shelter of a great Haystack. This came to be known as the Haystack Prayer Meeting and is recognized by mission historians as the catalyst that propelled North America into global cross cultural ministry. Within five years of this prayer meeting, these men birthed the first missions' society in the U.S., helped start the first missions' sending structure and the first cross-cultural message bearers were sent overseas from the United States.
On August 15, 2006, thirty-three leaders and students from various campus fellowships, organizations and campuses in North America circled around the Haystack Prayer Meeting monument on the Williams College campus in Williamstown, MA for a three hour on-site prayer meeting. Linking arms to symbolize solidarity of purpose and unity of spirit, these leaders and students took a few moments to look one another in the eye and soak in the moment. They then prayed together, closing the prayer at the monument by once more asking God to use this generation for His glory and the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime.
Celebrating the Past
The morning prayer time at the monument was a central part of the three-day Haystack Prayer Summit (sponsored by SVM2) that was convened on August 14-16 to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of the foreign mission movement in North America. The leaders and students that participated in the Haystack Prayer Summit and linked arms around the monument represented over 20 different organizations, campus fellowships and denominations. Each gathered to remember and celebrate the past, fellowship with like-minded laborers and plan and pray for God to move in our generation that the world might see the gospel proclaimed in word in deed to all peoples.
While the purpose of the gathering was centered around celebrating the two hundredth year anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, the focus of the prayer times and discussions was in its relevance to today and to how today’s generation will respond to God’s global purpose. The Haystack Prayer Summit started by giving the participants the chance to meet and learn about one another. Next, there was a history lesson related to the significance of the Haystack Prayer Meeting and a session on the inter-relatedness of prayer, revivals and cross-cultural mission. Each of these sections was concluded with corporate and small group prayer on the relevant topic.
Praying It Forward
One of the most significant times of the summit was the Tuesday morning prayer time at the Haystack monument. God’s presence and grace were tangible as a united voice of prayer was raised echoing the 1878 prayer of the Student Volunteer Movement leader Luther Wishard, “Where water once flowed may it flow again.” (click here for a first hand account of this time)
The discussions and planning that the leaders engaged in were all in the context of the belief that God desires to fulfill the great commission in this generation. The various topics addressed included: ‘How Should Success in Mobilization Be Measured,’ ‘What is God’s Part vs. What is Our Part’ and ‘The Need for Longer Term Workers.’
Those attending the HPS left describing the time as ‘blessed,’ ‘refreshing,’ ‘stimulating’ and ‘a faith-building time of remembering, celebration, prayer and discussion.’ As action steps, several of those in attendance have decided to commit to pray and fast one day a week this year for our generation to fulfill their role in world evangelization and asking God to fulfill the great commission through today’s generation. One further action item will take place at the Urbana conference in December 2006. In order to build on the prayer, relationships and discussions of the Haystack Prayer Summit, the conveners will be facilitating further discussion on moving forward in the further development of a student mission movement in our generation toward the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime (email paul@svm2.net if you would like more info about this meeting).
In summary, God uses stories of the obedience and the character of people who have followed him without reservation to influence and inspire the new and emerging generation. A thread can be traced through students and young adults that have engaged in God’s global dream throughout the ages. With this understanding, may the prayers offered at the Haystack Prayer Summit and the prayers of this generation bear fruit in seeing today’s students take the baton of past generations, and thereby see the thread of history weaved powerfully into their lives, resulting in an outpouring of global prayer, whole-hearted obedience and the sending forth of multitudes of workers for His harvest today. May His will be done and may His global purpose be accomplished in and through our generation!
