What is it about?
The founders of the Student Volunteer Movement credited prayer for their success and power. They used many different forms of prayer. However, the foundation of the movement was the prayer of surrender. This prayer had many features similar to the prayer of release and surrender advocated by the Keswick movement. Since both movements were highly interrelated, this commonality suggests that a very personal prayer of surrender was crucial for recruiting students into the Student Volunteer Movement.
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Why is it important?
Prayer is often seen as passive and ineffectual. For the Student Volunteer Movement, it was the basis for action and a life of service.
Perspectives
Studying the Student Volunteer Movement, I found recurring references to prayer. This article enabled me to see how prayer formed a crucial motivating power for the Movement. It also opened up an entirely new path of research on the relationship between Keswick theology, the Student Volunteer Movement, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church which I am a part of.
Edward Allen
Union College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Form and Function of Prayer in the Student Volunteer Movement, 1886–1914, Studies in World Christianity, August 2019, Edinburgh University Press,
DOI: 10.3366/swc.2019.0256.
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