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 5/8/13
Canada
• Please keep in prayer nine girls, between ages 13 and 17, who were trafficked into prostitution in Ottawa by three other teenage girls. The victims were lured to a home using social media, given alcohol or drugs to control them, and then taken by taxi to the homes of men who allegedly paid to have sex with them. Pray for the emotional, physical, and spiritual healing of these young victims of sexual exploitation. Pray for justice for these teenage girls ... that those who prostituted or abused them will be held accountable for their actions.
• Pray for the teenage girls, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, who ran this alleged prostitution ring and who now face charges including human trafficking, procuring for prostitution, abduction, forcible confinement, robbery, sexual assault, assault, uttering threats, and printing and publishing child pornography.
• Pray for the four men who allegedly paid to have sex with the trafficked girls...that they will come to truly understand how their behavior devastates young lives.
http://tinyurl.com/cxzn94d
Haiti
• Continue to keep the estimated 320,000 homeless people close in prayer as they face evictions from their make-shift homes in temporary camps set up in Port-au-Prince after the January 2010 earthquake. Pray for children and families who've been evicted without notice off public spaces by Haitian authorities or private property by landowners ready to reclaim their land. Pray for an increase in affordable housing in Port-au-Prince-the housing shortage was severe even before the quake with about 70 percent of the population living in slums.
• Pray for the girls and women who prostitute themselves to be able to survive or feed their families. Pray for those who struggle to survive in the camps. Poverty, overcrowding, and horrible living conditions coupled with the scarcity of jobs often compel women and girls to exchange sex for food.
http://tinyurl.com/cd967ez
Kenya
• Keep the 38 children and the staff and volunteers at Naomi's Village in prayer as they deal with heavy rains that have caused mudslides near this home for orphaned and at-risk children. Pray the roads leading to Naomi's Village will become passable soon. Please keep in prayer 2-year-old Francis and 7-year-old Jane, the two newest children at Naomi's Village, as they adjust to life in their new home.
• Give God thanks that the CURE International Hospital on the Kijabe mission station didn't sustain structural damage in a mudslide there. Thanks be to God the patients and staff are all safe! Please pray for CURE's staff and volunteers as they assess the impact this mudslide will have on the hospital and the other ministries in which they are involved at the mission station.
http://tinyurl.com/bpm3ys5
• Pray for those who have lost homes and loved ones in the flooding and mudslides. An estimated 90,000 people have been displaced by the flooding and 62 have died, including children buried alive in landslides. Pray for those who have lost their homes, crops, and livestock. Please pray for those who are stranded and for those without access to food, dry shelter, clean water, and medical care.
• Pray Kenya's government will be able to implement water harvesting and water management during these periods of heavy rain as their country swings between drought and flooding almost every year.
http://tinyurl.com/c6l6l76
United States
• Please pray for children who are abused and neglected. Pray for the safety and healing of each child abuse victim. Pray they have someone they can turn to in times of crisis or emergency. Pray every child has the opportunity to grow up in a nurturing environment, free from harm and fear. Pray for raised public awareness of child abuse and neglect. Pray more people will step forward when they recognize a situation of child abuse and report it.
• Pray for the women and men who work for child protective organizations around the country as they serve abused and at-risk children and struggling families. Give God thanks they are willing do very challenging and difficult work-investigating situations of abuse and neglect, removing children who have been hurt, working with parents to help them regain custody of their children, and placing children in safe homes. Pray for the safety, emotional health, spiritual wellbeing, and leadership skills of these workers. Pray God will bless them with wisdom in their interactions with children, parents, advocates, and those in the legal system.
Faces of Children
• Please keep Faces of Children prayer partner Margaret close in prayer as she receives treatment for pneumonia. Pray for her complete healing and recovery.
• 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
The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) is a multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement. They bring help, hope and love to people in the war zones of Burma (Myanmar). Ethnic pro-democracy groups send teams to be trained, supplied and sent into the areas under attack to provide emergency assistance and human rights documentation. Together with other groups, the teams work to serve people in need.
