Prayers for the People: Interceding for Those in Higher Education

Emily Umulis wrote the following prayer liturgy recently for a seminary class. If you are part of a campus fellowship of students or faculty, consider praying this together at the start of the new academic year. Feel free to personalize the prayers by naming your institution or department. Each section begins with a prayer prompt (have someone read it aloud) followed by an invitation to name aloud particular people for whom you want to intercede. Each section is closed by reciting out loud together, “Lord, hear our prayer.”

Opening:Lord, you are present to your people throughout the world. You have called us, as students and faculty, to learn, love, and serve within the universities where you’ve placed us. Hear us now as we bring them to you.Lord, we pray…

1. For those who serve on boards of trustees, developing strategy and overseeing leaders in higher education: give them eyes to see clearly and hearts that balance human need with fiscal responsibility. Fill them with a vision rooted in your kingdom for the places they serve.
   • Individually: Name any board members you can identify.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”
2. For leaders in higher education, including presidents, provosts, deans, department heads, and others who manage internal operations and external relationships that influence the flourishing of the University or College: give them wisdom as they navigate complex systems. Provide clear communication paths that nurture both the university’s mission and the lives of the people within it.
   • Individually: Name specific leaders of whom you are aware or know.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”
3. For faculty who teach, mentor students, conduct research, and take part in various service obligations balancing day-to-day tasks with pressure to achieve in an increasingly competitive environment: give them insight as they order their days, create boundaries between work and life, and prioritize the demands on their time. Fill them with wisdom and grace as they bring words and influence into young people’s lives and engage in research that furthers our understanding of your world.
   • Individually: Name faculty members you know and/or work with.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”
4. For graduate students who often work countless hours in solitude, studying a topic few people in the world understand, and feel caught between their own needs or desires and the power structures in which they live and work: give them peace. Fill their loneliness with a sense of your presence and connect them with others in meaningful ways.
   • Individually: Name graduate students you know and/or work with.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”
5. For undergraduate students who are often both excited and overwhelmed as they navigate new independence and spaces of need: meet their longing for beauty with your presence, ground their identity in your love, and breathe your Spirit into all the ways they long to impact the world.
   • Individually: Name undergrad students you know and/or work with.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”
6. For those who serve the University without long-term titles, including adjunct faculty, operations managers, grounds and cafeteria workers, who navigate power systems in which they are not at the top and serve in positions that are often overlooked: provide financial stability, open their eyes to see the impact they have, and speak truth and justice into the systems that affect their lives.
   • Individually: Name staff members you know or have seen at work on campus.
   • Together (at the end): “Lord, hear our prayer.”

Closing:Lord, we bring to you the places where you have called us and the people there. Fill us with your Spirit, bless the work of our hands, and make us to be a redeeming influence in our classrooms, departments, and universities. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Emily Umulis serves as the Director of Staff Training and Leadership Development with InterVarsity’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries. In addition she works on the Purdue University campus with grad students and faculty. Much of her life revolves around academia. In addition to working with students and faculty, she is pursuing an MDiv from Luther Seminary. She is married to a faculty member and has one child at college.