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 10/30/13
Australia
• Please keep the children and people of New South Wales, Australia close in prayer as they deal with huge bushfires in the greater Sydney area, the Blue Mountains, and the Hunter valley. Pray for those who have lost homes and livelihoods in the 58 fires burning in this region.
• Pray for children whose schools and daycare centers have been closed because of the dangerous threat the fires pose. Pray for children and families who have yet to evacuate in regions threatened by the bushfires.
• Please pray for the safety of the hundreds and hundreds of firefighters working to contain and extinguish these massive fires.
Child Brides
• Please lift in prayer the 38,000 girls who are sold into marriage every day in what UNICEF calls “the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls.” Pray for girls who are married off or sold to much older men, leaving child brides to be subjects, not partners, of their husbands. Pray for girl children who experience marital rape in unions where they have no power or control.
• Please keep in prayer the thousands of girls from Egypt’s poor rural communities who are trafficked into child sex tourism under the guise of temporary “marriages.” In an effort to get around Islamic rules against pre-marital sex, underage girls are sold by their parents into these temporary “marriages” to wealthy men visiting from Gulf countries. Pray for those whose “marriages” last a couple of days or weeks … some girls have been “married” 60 times by the time they are 18 years old.
Pakistan
• Pray for the children and families of Pakistan’s Christian community who were affected by the Sunday morning, September 22 attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar. Pray for the family and friends of the 85 people killed in the suicide bombing…many were children attending Sunday school.
• Please keep in prayer the estimated 120 injured in the attack, what church leaders call the deadliest attack on Christians in the country’s 66-year history.
• Pray for 14-year-old Shaloom Nazir who lost his mother, father, sister, brother, and uncle in the bombing. Please pray God will bring him comfort and surround him with a community of love and support.
• Pray Christians, who make up only 1 to 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, will be protected from violent acts like this by Islamist militants.
United States
• Give God thanks for 11-year-old Jordan Peterson’s return home to North Dakota following nearly a year spent in Houston where he had a double-lung transplant. Thanks be to God for the success of Jordan’s transplant surgery…he has been cleared by doctors to play hockey again.
• Please keep close in prayer Laura and her husband Steve, and their three children: 6-year-old Trent and 3-year-old twins Amber and Tara. Laura has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been given a very short time to live. Pray Laura and her family will find moments of joy in this difficult season and that God will comfort them all and bring them peace. Pray for a community of support to surround this young family in crisis.
• Give thanks to God that 17-year-old Teresa * has managed to overcome her difficult home situation so far and is doing well in her senior year of high school. Continue to pray God will protect her from the high risk environment in her biological mother’s home. Teresa’s mother frequently spent her time drinking with men in her apartment, exposing her teenage daughter to harmful situations. Thanks be to God for Teresa’s recent acceptance into a university where she plans to study forensic science. She is the first in her immediate family to attend college.
* Name changed for confidentiality and/or protection.
Faces of Children
• Keep the Faces of Children exhibit team in prayer as they share this ministry with the participants at the Synod of the South Atlantic 2013 Gathering of Presbyterian Women on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. Give God thanks for the women whom God is calling to visit the Faces of Children exhibit booth this week. Pray the hearts and minds of those with whom the team visits will be open to praying for children through 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.
If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to Chris Laufer, FOC Coordinator, at claufer@facesofchildren.net
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