Welcome to the digital preservation of the William Prayer Chapel journals!
The prayer chapel at Indiana Wesleyan University, opening in fall of 2001, has been the place of many journals where students and staff alike would write prayers. With it now being 2024, twenty-seven of these journals from a twenty-three year timeline have been gifted back to the university for preservation in our archives (found in the Lewis A Jackson Library). These journals serve as a "temperature" of the campus. Ranging from many different years and life events, these journals reflect the heart of the campus through people sharing their heart with God through prayer. The Williams Prayer Chapel (hereafter WPC) is said to be a place of peace and hold a true sense of God's presence to many. The vulnerabilities of sadness and joy, as well as everything in between, being reflected in these journals shows the faith and spiritual formation of those on campus.
Through prayer and reading through these journals, it has been joyfully decided to share them for others to see. For confidentiality, all names and identifying features have been edited out of the images. Only prayers written over five years before the current date will be publicized on this page.
Of course, these are not all the prayers. Thousands of prayer have been written throughout the years---all of which will be preserved in our private collection in archives. A prayer not being publicized here does not mean it is beautiful or mundane, and finding a prayer on here does not mean it is extravagant---but rather every prayer in fragrance to the Father.
Our prayer is this: that students, staff, and faculty alike may find encouragement in reading these prayers throughout the years. Sometimes it is through being "invited" into the prayers of others that we, too, grow in prayer. By reading through these prayers, you will find prayers of joy and sorrow, of confusion and disappointment. God is present in all of these, and He is the One that overcomes all. On the side bar, you will find a tab called "Types of Prayer". Here, there is also an explanation of the different prayer categories.
Blessings to you as you read, wherever you may find yourself.
The Jackson Library Team
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
Acts 2:42 (The Fellowship of Believers)
