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).
Invitation to Prayer, WEDNESDAY
Hi Friends,
Thank you for joining me in prayer for the children of the world. If you can, we'd love to have you pray together with us this Wednesday
- TODAY - at 11:30 a.m., in the gym conference room at
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, followed by lunch together.
Also,
Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries.
All the best,
Carrie
Dear Intercessors,
We just finished VBS, and for our VBS Missions Project this year, we raised money to send to one of our partner ministries,
Partners Relief and Development. The purpose of Partner's is to work for free and full lives for Myanmar's children, and the money sent will be used by Partner's to help them buy relief supplies for members of the
Rohingya ethnic group who are forced to live in concentration camps in Myanmar. For the next few weeks, I thought I would share what we did in VBS. For those of you with children, each one of these has a corresponding learning activity that can be done to help further explain the situation.
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| Partners Photo |
One of the hardest parts to understand about the Rohingya's situation is: why does everyone hate them? Truthfully, this isn't even something that grown-ups can easily understand. But, the truth is sometimes people are afraid of those who look different or who have a different religion, culture, or belief system. This happens even on the playground, where sometimes the "cool" kids gang up and are unkind to one particular child.
But we talked about how as followers of Jesus, we are called to love everyone! And when we love people like He does, it can make us a powerful force of good in a broken and sad world, and when we extend kindness, hospitality, and love, it gives us opportunities to tell people that Jesus loves them too.
We also discussed that those things that make us different can be the most beautiful of all! For example, in Myanmar people often use a white paste, called
Thanakha, to apply decorative patterns on their faces. Not only do they think it is beautiful, but it also serves as sunscreen! Today we got to try out Thanakha and talk about how when God made the world, He filled it with many different and beautiful people and traditions, and how that's something to celebrate - not fear!
A prayer for you and your kids to say together: Dear Jesus, Please fill us with your powerful love. Help us to love others the way you love them, and to treat others the way we want to be treated. Please change the hearts of the grown-ups who are in power in Myanmar who have decided that it is OK to treat the Rohingya this way. Please help them see that they are just people who deserve to have free and happy lives like everyone else. Please help groups like Partner's as they work to not only meet the Rohingya's practical needs, but also to reassure them that the world hasn't forgotten all about them. Amen.
Sincerely,
Carrie
Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153
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 info@facesofchildren.net
Steve and Oddny Gumaer started Partners Relief and Development in response to the needs of refugees and displaced people from Burma. Their mission is to demonstrate, through holistic action, God’s love to children and communities made vulnerable by war in Burma.
