Faces of Children: Prayer Requests

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Prayer Concerns for the week of 12/29/10

Africa/Haiti
• Thanks be to God for a peanut paste supplemented with vitamins and additional calories that has significantly lowered the mortality rates of children during famines in Africa and is helping malnourished children in Haiti. Plumpy’nut is specially formulated to renourish starving children.
• Give God thanks that this tasty paste helps children put on pounds quickly and allows them to receive treatment at home from their families instead of at a medical facility.
• Pray that the legal squabbles between the company that owns the patent on Plumpy’nut and other groups will not keep this powerful tool for malnourished children from reaching them.
A report from the New York Times

Chechnya, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
• Please pray for an end to the practice of abducting girls and young women to be brides in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Pray for a change in this increasingly frequent practice in Chechnya, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. As many as one in four marriages in Chechnya begin with the bride being kidnapped. Pray that laws are enforced to protect girls and women from bride kidnappings.
• Pray for those who have been kidnapped and forced into marriages against their will, sometimes in marriages to total strangers. Please keep in prayer young women who find themselves isolated in forced marriages and unable to continue their educations or careers.
A report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Ethiopia
• Give thanks to God for the work of Watch and Pray Ministries in Ethiopia as they prepare to build a worship site, a kindergarten, and a clean water site. Pray that God will provide the resources needed to complete this project. Pray for the children God will call to be educated at this school. Thank God that there has been no government interference with this project so far.
Website for Watch and Pray Ministries

Iraq
• Pray for Iraqi children and families who fled the country after the U.S. led invasion but recently returned, only to find unsafe conditions again in their home country. An estimated 100,000 refugees out of the more than two million that left since the invasion, have returned to Iraq.
• Pray for those who returned to Iraq only to find their houses either destroyed or occupied. Pray for those whose families cannot find work in Iraq or abroad. Pray for children and families who are afraid for their safety in Iraq and desperately want to leave again … for those who regret returning to their home country.
• Pray for the Christians in Iraq who are leaving because of recent attacks and persecution.
• Please pray for children who have witnessed death, destruction, and violence. Pray that God would bring healing and peace into their young lives.
A report from the New York Times

United States
• Pray for the girls and young women who have been trafficked into prostitution by members of Somali gangs based in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area. Pray for their release, their safety, and their healing.
• Pray for children and youth who are vulnerable to abuse and coercion by these gangs. Often Somali-born parents who fled civil war and famine in their home country are at odds with their American-born children. Pray for families in which this cultural disconnect has caused deep divisions and led youth to run away from home.
• Pray for Somali youth who came to the United States without their parents after living for years in refugee camps. Many of these young people have dropped out of school and spend their time on the streets in a low-income area some call Little Mogadishu.
• Please pray for the leaders and parents in this community as they struggle to find ways to stop the violence against and by their youth.
A report from the New York Times

Faces of Children
• Please continue to pray that more churches and individuals will join with the ministry of Faces of Children in spreading awareness about children in crisis and inviting more people to pray for children at risk.