While TWU students were striving to finish the school year well last month, a group of student leaders released a volume of original, communal-focused prayers to uplift and guide the campus community in devotion, reflection, praise and dependence on God.
Jointly produced by a group of over 20 students, staff and supporters, the Book of Prayer is a two-year project in the making. The project is graciously funded by TWU’s Student Association and beautifully printed and published by local company, Vine & Branches.
'A seed for new growth in the lives of all students'
“This prayer book for students is a seed for new growth in the lives of all students,” said Robbie Down, a third-year Music major and one of the book’s writers. “Although we are students attending a healthy Christian university, we need practical tools and basic starting points to ground our prayer life just as much.”
“In a season of such drastic intellectual growth and character development, it is critical for students to have consistent and sound prayers to engrain as rhythms,” he said.
“This prayer book for students is a seed for new growth in the lives of all students...In a season of such drastic intellectual growth and character development, it is critical for students to have consistent and sound prayers to engrain as rhythms.”
— Robbie Down, Music major
Creating prayer liturgies for the TWU community
Back in 2020, Robbie and other students began the work of creating prayer liturgies for the TWU community. Within the context of university life, the writers sought to encourage selflessness and humility. As Robbie notes, “In an environment that can focus on intellectual pride and self-image, we encourage a refocusing on Christ.”
Janaya Hall, who graduated this spring with a Humanities major plus concentrations in English and Biblical Studies, said that she enjoyed applying her interests in creative writing and biblical study through contributing to the Book of Prayer. “The process was very cathartic, as it gave me a chance to address common student experiences such as sickness or the end of a break, and find ways to acknowledge God in them, rather than seeing them merely as phases or circumstances to get through,” she said.
“It was also a privilege to be able to use something that would normally be a personal, private practice to minister to the student body,” she added. “I hope that the Book of Prayer can be a comfort for many students in the future who need the reminder that they aren't alone in their struggles; many of us have gone before them and God has walked hand-in-hand with us all.”
‘A concrete expression of students’ desire to pray’
Jennifer Graves, Associate Chaplain of Discipleship & Group Ministry, highlights how this student-motivated project is a concrete expression of students’ desire to pray. In describing the motivation behind the project, she said, “The hope of the book's creators is that the TWU student community would pray these prayers together, and that the prayers would hold the community within a shared liturgy.”
Jennifer oversees a team of discipleship leaders, and every year, leaders are tasked with listening to students’ needs on campus and coming up with ideas to help the community grow in spiritual formation. As the leaders went about listening to others on campus, they discovered that students were eager to have a resource for prayer liturgy that provides examples and models to follow.
Among the pioneers of the book project was John Mark Kramm II, Biblical Studies graduate. He along with Jennifer planned and facilitated a workshop for students on writing liturgies. Jennifer's friends Emily and Thomas Dickau, who are both experienced in writing liturgy, spoke at the workshop and showed students how to write liturgy and prayer for corporate use. This training workshop received a good turnout, and soon afterwards, the students began writing.
After the prayers were gathered, the volume was distributed to 60 students to review and pray through the collection as part of a group editorial process. Through this collaborative work, the prayers were edited and selected for inclusion in the final product.
Bethany Haynes, Art + Design graduate, designed the book's cover and the gentle art embellishment throughout the book. She worked with John Mark to organize the book's contents by theme.
“I hope that the Book of Prayer can be a comfort for many students in the future who need the reminder that they aren't alone in their struggles; many of us have gone before them and God has walked hand-in-hand with us all.”
— Janaya Hall, Humanities major
Among the project’s mentors and supporters were people with experience in publishing, who helped the students bring their project forward for publication.
“We hope that students are given this book and run with it, creating their own personal prayer and liturgy habits,” said Robbie. “We hope that unification is brought about in a desire for deep and honest spirituality. We desire that students internalize and adopt the heart posture behind these simple prayers and liturgies.”
A prayer in Bahasa Indonesia
Cindy Easterina, Global Engagement Office Intern, contributed to the project through translating a prayer, written by her close friend, into Cindy’s native language of Bahasa Indonesia.
“...The parts where my friend and I wrote and translated (into Bahasa Indonesia) were meant to show the presence of God within our friendship amidst our cultural differences and some language barriers.”
— Cindy Easterina, Global Engagement Office Intern
“I felt very honoured when I wrote it and now feel very touched seeing how it all comes together and seeing the heart of students being poured into the book,” Cindy said.
“Aside from the intentions of the whole book, the parts where my friend and I wrote and translated were meant to show the presence of God within our friendship amidst our cultural differences and some language barriers,” she added.
Cindy shared how, at meetings and activities led by the Global Engagement Office, students are free to pray in their own mother tongue. “We believe that even when we don’t understand their language, we can see and feel the depth of their personal relationship with God even more than when they pray in English,” Cindy explains. “Through that, we can show students that praying is not about impressing others who hear it, but about our own close personal relationship with our Creator."
Cindy says that through featuring an Indonesian prayer in the Book of Prayer, she hopes that others can see “the beauty of prayer in different languages and how prayer in different languages can help deepen our friendship with one another.”
Book launch and future plans
The Book of Prayer was released in hard copy in April, and 400 free copies were distributed in the first days, through student leaders gifting the book to others on campus. The book features prayers on the topics of life transitions, matters of global concern, suffering, leadership and community. It also offers prayers specific to student experiences, such as final exams, group work and writing a paper.
Already, the editorial team has their sights on a second edition. For the next edition, the team hopes to include artwork by students, as well as prayers in multiple languages.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier global Christian liberal arts university. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four campuses and locations: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.