Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Their mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, they 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, TODAY
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,
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35, ESV
This week as our president signs executive orders on various immigration and refugee-related matters, please join me in praying for the heart and soul of our nation to reflect the values engraved on the Statue of Liberty and enshrined in the teachings of the religion our nation's leaders so often reference. It seems nearly impossible to write this sort of email and not be seen by someone as getting too political, so I will keep my words few. This I know: Our leaders need great wisdom, courage, bravery and insightful vision in order to navigate the line between closing our borders in an effort to protect our nation and being a place of refuge for the world's most vulnerable children and their families. Please join me in praying for them.
In addition to that, please join me in praying for the following matters this week:
"Compassion employs 6,000 workers in India who provide aid to children living in extreme poverty. It has worked in India since 1968 and is the largest humanitarian presence in the second most populated country in the world-providing $50 million in annual relief funds. But India is cracking down on foreign NGOs based on fears that groups are using humanitarian work to mask evangelization efforts. Those fears have prompted the government to block the inflow of relief dollars. Without a change in policy, Compassion has less than 3 weeks of funds left to continue operations within India."
Please pray the Indian government reconsiders Compassion's application so that it can continue serving the 145,000 Indian children they currently have enrolled in their programs. If they are forced to shutter their Indian operations, please pray for the estimated 80 percent of the children they serve who they think might fall through the cracks and not receive proper nutrition or other basic needs.
• Read more here ...
STORY OF HOPE
NIGERIA // Education Offers Hope of Healing Rifts Sown by Nigeria's Boko Haram
"When Boko Haram militants stormed his home in northeast Nigeria three years ago, 13-year-old Grema Mohammed was forced to watch as they killed his father. Now, sitting in a classroom where the pupils are practising their greetings in English, Mohammed quietly works alongside children of the jihadist group which shot dead his father. "I am friends with everybody, it doesn't matter who their father is," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation as his classmates chanted: 'I'm fine, thanks, and you?' in unison. "I feel sorry for my classmates, because what happened to me (losing his father) has happened to many of them," he said at Future Prowess, a unique primary school in Borno state which welcomes orphans and struggling children, even those born to Boko Haram fighters. Boko Haram, whose name means 'Western education is sinful' in the local Hausa language, seven years ago launched a bloody campaign to carve out an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.
The insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people and forced some two million to flee their homes. It has also deprived millions of children of an education and torn apart communities.
Ensuring children are in school, and encouraging communities to overcome the suspicion and stigma often directed at the offspring of the jihadists, is key to healing the rifts sown by Boko Haram, said Future Prowess' headteacher Suleiman Aliyu. "When some mothers complained and asked why we were enrolling Boko Haram children, I said: 'Should we exclude them, and allow them to follow in the footsteps their fathers? No'." "We tell the children: 'Whatever tragedy has happened to you, it is not the end of your life'," Aliyu said."
Praise God for this unification and reconciliation effort! Blessed are the peacemakers -- and educating children in such circumstances is certainly an exercise in generational peacemaking. Please pray for families who depend on their children to be wage-earners or laborers to overcome the financial obstacles necessary to continue educating their children. Also pray for the protection of the schools, which are known targets of the Boko Haram insurgency.
• Read more here ...
DISPLACED NOT MISPLACED
LEBANON // Syrian Refugee Children Reduced to Selling on Beiruit's Streets to Feed Their Families
Please pray for these families to have enough food to eat. Pray the children are protected from traffickers and criminals as they work. Pray for the aid organizations to receive the funding they need to help families maintain adequate nutrition. And for NGO's trying to work with families, please pray they can successfully help parents walk the line between educating their children and feeding the family.
• Read more here ...
Praying with you,
Carrie
Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153
* This is a phrase we have borrowed, with permission, from our friends at Partner's Relief and Development.
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
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