Faces of Children: Prayer Concerns for This Week

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 10/15/14

Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger

Due to the Ebola outbreak, schools in Liberia are closed and activities where groups of children come together are discouraged in hopes of preventing the spread of the deadly virus. The staff of Hinds Feet Ministries (HFM) has been giving away books and homework to lower income families in order that learning will continue even with this unwanted hiatus from school. Hinds Feet Ministries sponsors the early childhood education of some of central Monrovia’s poorest children, many of whom come from homes in which there isn’t access to reading materials, much less games or entertainment.
• more on this issue from Hinds Feet Ministries website ...
• Please keep the children and families served by Hinds Feet Ministries close in prayer during this frightening time. Pray God will provide for their immediate and deepest needs and keep them healthy.
• Give thanks to God for the staff and volunteers with HFM and their dedication to vulnerable children and families. Pray for their protection and safety from this deadly disease. Pray they will feel God’s comforting embrace and that the emotional strain will be lifted from them.
• Pray God will provide the resources HFM needs to serve this impoverished community during a season of fear and sickness. The ministry is short on food, disinfectants, buckets, soap, and other sanitary supplies needed to combat the Ebola virus .

Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan

Polio has become a public health emergency in Pakistan as another new case was diagnosed last week, bringing the total for 2014 to 202 cases. This marks Pakistan’s highest transmission rate of the disease in more than 12 years. Health officials are worried there will be even more cases by the end of the year. Pakistan now accounts for 80 percent of all polio cases in the world and is one of only three countries, including Nigeria and Afghanistan, at risk of exporting the disease outside its borders. Health officials in Pakistan and around the world are very concerned about the spread of the disease and Pakistan’s ability to halt it. Because of a deep mistrust of vaccination teams, some parents and religious leaders in remote areas of Pakistan will not allow their children to receive the vaccine. The Taliban and other Islamist militants have killed more than 50 health workers and security officials after discovering the CIA had used a vaccination campaign to track down Osama bin Laden.
• more on this issue ...
• Please pray for children who live in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan as those countries are the only ones left in the world where the virus is endemic due to violent conflicts, weak health systems, and poor sanitation. Pray for children in these countries under age five—they are most vulnerable to contracting the polio virus.
• Give God thanks that relief workers were able to administer 700,000 vaccinations in Pakistan this past summer. Pray the vaccination campaigns will be successful this winter and spring.
• Please pray polio can be eradicated throughout Pakistan. Pray the efforts to vaccinate every child in the country will be fruitful and that political unrest and the fight against terrorism won’t stop the forward progress of the vaccination campaign.
• Continue to praise God that India is now considered polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). Thanks be to God for the efforts of India’s millions of public health workers who have immunized hundreds of millions of children in this almost 20-year-long program to eradicate polio.
• Pray polio will be eradicated from the face of the earth.

Faces of Children

• Please keep in prayer Jim, the husband of Faces of Children prayer partner Carol, as he recovers from several strokes. Pray Jim can regain strength and mobility once again. Please pray for Carol as she helps care for her husband during this difficult season.

• Pray for Faces of Children intercessor John and his wife Kerry as they move back to Colorado from Texas later this month. Give God thanks for the ways in which God is providing guidance and support for this faithful couple.

• Give thanks to God for the opportunity to share the ministry of Faces of Children this week with the congregation of First Presbyterian Church and members of the Pensacola, FL community. Please be in prayer for the church and community participants as they learn about Faces of Children and how they can pray for suffering and at-risk children. Pray hearts and ears will be open to God’s message about prayer for children.

• Please keep Elyse and Ryan, the daughter and son-in-law of Faces of Children prayer partners Chris and Jeff Laufer, close in prayer as they await the birth of their second daughter. Pray God will comfort their 2-year-old daughter Hayley during this season of change and excitement.
• 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.

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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