Kenya

• Give God thanks for the work of the staff and volunteers with I Can Fly International (ICFI), a non-profit organization that serves children and women in some of the poorest rural communities of the Machakos District of Kenya. Thanks be to God for the life changing opportunities available to children and women through ICFI’s education, life skills, and healthcare programs.  http://www.shagivens.com/
• Pray for ICFI staff and volunteers as they launch the Butterfly Project, a new program that provides at-risk girls ages 13 to 17 years old free education, housing, and enrichment activities. Pray God will guide the project’s leaders as they determine which 100 girls will be invited to participate in this program. Participants are potential victims of child marriage or female genital mutilation, live in extreme poverty, or are orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Pakistan

• Please pray for the 170 families affected by a recent assault against a Christian minority neighborhood in Lahore, Pakistan. Pray for children and families who lost everything when their homes in the Joseph Colony were set on fire by a mob of protestors. On March 9 an estimated crowd of 3,000 people rampaged through the Christian colony protesting alleged blasphemous remarks against the Prophet Mohammed by a Christian.
• Pray for Presbyterian Education Board (PEB) support staff member Anthony and his family who lost their home in Joseph Colony during this attack. More than 160 homes were destroyed in fires set by protestors.
• Give God thanks for the arrests made in this case and pray for justice for the families affected by this violence. Pray families may be able to rebuild their homes and live in peace with their Muslim neighbors.
• Please keep in prayer all Christian children and families in Pakistan as they often experience the threat of violence from false accusations of blasphemy.
• Pray for an end to violence and hatred in the name of religion. Please pray for peace and reconciliation throughout Pakistan.  http://tinyurl.com/cuouzd8   http://tinyurl.com/bj2tz9v

South Sudan

• Keep in prayer girls in South Sudan who are married off at a very young age, some as young as 12 years old. Pray for the estimated 48 percent of South Sudanese girls (between ages 15 and 19) who are married.
• Pray for girls whose education has been interrupted or denied because of an early marriage. Pray for those who aren’t able to seek employment opportunities because of early marriage.
• Pray for girls who are at risk of domestic abuse and violence from much older husbands. And pray for girls who refuse early marriage and are at risk of verbal abuse or physical violence, including murder, from their parents or other relatives. Please pray God will protect girls who resist early marriage or try to leave abusive marriages.
• Pray for girls whose health is damaged by bearing children before they are physically or emotionally ready. Girls younger than 15 years of age are at tremendous risk of dying during childbirth.
• Pray God will bring healing to girls who contract sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, from their much older husbands.
• Pray all girls are given the choice to marry when, and only when they are able and willing to consent freely. Pray the cycle of poverty created by marrying girls off when they are too young will be broken through education, public awareness, and government support.  http://tinyurl.com/bsx9223

United States

·         Please pray for Pastor Willie Cockroft and his wife the Rev. Jini Kilgore Cockroft as they reach out to an impoverished community in South Los Angeles, California through HighWay Ministries and HighWay House. Give thanks to God for the compassion and dedication of this couple, the staff, and the volunteers with this ministry in a neighborhood that struggles with issues of poverty, substance abuse, homelessness, and, often, hopelessness. Pray for the children, youth, women, and men who are served by this ministry. Pray God will provide the resources needed to continue the work of HighWay Ministries in South Los Angeles.  http://hwmin.org/

 Burma

• Give God thanks and praise for the fifteen new Free Burma Rangers (FBR) teams that recently completed relief missions in Burma’s Karen State. Thanks be to God for the work of these teams that are comprised of a number of different ethnic hill tribe groups as they reach out to provide hope, help, and love to internally displaced people (IDPs) inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion.  www.freeburmarangers.org
• Pray God will continue to bring healing to the over 2,000 patients seen by the FBR teams’ medics. Give God thanks for the medics and their skills in treating so many people in very difficult circumstances and under very poor conditions in IDP hide sites.
• Pray for the students from approximately 100 schools in this area who were able to participate in Good Life Club programs run by FBR teams. Give thanks to God for the opportunity these children had to play and sing and spend time truly being children.
• Please pray for the school teachers from this area of Karen State as they face many daily challenges: not having enough food each day; poor health due to malnutrition and malaria; inconsistent attendance by their students because they’re helping their families; not having enough school supplies; and inability to access teaching materials.
• Pray for the students of these schools who don’t have enough food to eat each day; who have to help their families with farming, taking care of siblings, or gathering food or firewood; who don’t have the energy to study because they are exhausted or overwhelmed by this work; who are often ill due to poor nutrition and lack of shelter—malaria is one of the most serious health issues they face; who don’t have support from their parents and families that see little value in education and need the help of these children with farming, etc.

Kenya

• Pray for the children and people of Kenya following their country’s recent presidential election. Give God thanks that the election went relatively smoothly with minimal violence, unlike the disputed 2007 presidential election that left more than 1,200 people dead.  http://tinyurl.com/c5uqq7t
• Pray for transparency and integrity in Kenya’s government. Pray their new president Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, will seek God’s guidance to lead Kenya. Pray the court challenge by his rival, Raila Odinga, will be peaceful and not lead to violence.

Malaysia, United States

• Please keep 8-year-old Jehu close in prayer during this time he is separated from his parents. Jehu lives with family members in Malaysia until he is allowed to join his parents (who received refugee status before him) in the United States. Pray Jehu’s case will receive favor with the agency processing it and he will be allowed to rejoin his mother and father. Pray for his parents who miss their son very much.

Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq

• Continue to keep in prayer the more than one million people displaced by Syria’s civil war. Pray for the 1,000,669 refugees who have fled Syria for overcrowded, underfunded camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq. Pray for children in these camps who lack access to secure housing, schools, medical care, and sufficient food.
• Pray for children and families who have been displaced from their homes and communities in Syria. Pray for those struggling to find safe housing, food, and a means to support their families.
• Please continue to pray for peace and reconciliation in Syria.   http://tinyurl.com/b6aovlx

China, Burma

• Please keep in prayer China’s ethnic hill tribe people along the Nu River (also known as the Salween River) who face displacement when the construction of four dams begins in the near future. Pray for the 60,000 children, young people, and adults (most of whom belong to the Lisu ethnic minority) who will lose their homes, schools, livelihoods, and communities when the dam construction begins.  http://tinyurl.com/bg8mdlc
• Pray for Burma’s Kachin ethnic minority who live across the Salween River and will also be impacted by the construction of these dams.
• Pray for those authorizing and carrying out the dam construction projects … that they will treat the Lisu, the Kachin, and others facing displacement with fairness and be transparent in their dealings. Pray the environmental impact assessment will be completed with integrity and truthfulness. Pray those constructing the dams will comply with the assessment recommendations.

Syria, Turkey, Lebanon

• Continue to lift in prayer the children of Syria who have been subjected to incredible violence during the past two years of civil war in their country. Pray for those who have been shot at, tortured, and raped during this season of unrest and conflict. Pray for the estimated two million children who face malnutrition, disease, early marriage, and severe trauma because of this brutal civil war. http://tinyurl.com/bybgdul
• Pray for children who have fled their homes and sought refuge in barns, parks, and caves. Pray for those who have fled to Turkey and Lebanon and struggle to find housing and enough food to eat. Pray for children who have been separated from their families and for those who have experienced the death of a close family member or friend.
• Please keep in prayer children who are targeted by government forces as well as rebels. Pray for young boys who are used as porters, runners, and human shields. Pray for girls who are married off at a young age to keep them from being raped or to help reduce the number of mouths that need to be fed in their families.
• Pray for an end to this violence and for peace and reconciliation throughout Syria.

Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Zimbabwe

• Please keep the children and people of southern Africa held close in prayer as they face severe food shortages because of repeated cycles of flooding and drought that has destroyed crops, livestock, and safe drinking water supplies. http://tinyurl.com/cc66x8r
• Pray for the estimated six million people in Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, and Zimbabwe who are at risk of hunger because of this chronic crisis. In some areas across this region, child malnutrition rates have increased 50 percent more than last year.
• Pray for children who have contracted malaria, cholera, or diarrhea because of floodwater-contaminated water sources. Pray God will provide them with the resources and aid they so desperately need now.
• Please pray for a coordinated effort between humanitarian aid agencies, governments, and businesses to help relieve the suffering of so many children and people in southern Africa.

Burma

• Continue to keep the ethnic hill tribe children and people of Burma held close in prayer as they deal with additional abuses, predominately by the Burma Army. Pray for those in Burma’s Karen state who are being forcibly displaced from their communities by companies, corrupt government officials, or armed groups who desire the villagers’ property for mining, logging, development of hydropower dams, infrastructure development, or commercial agriculture. http://tinyurl.com/b3mvd9e
• Pray for the displaced in communities that were given little or no advance notice or compensation for the confiscation of their land. Please pray for those who have had their land taken illegally and are now deprived of their livelihoods. Seventy percent of Burma’s 60 million people are dependent on agriculture to make a living.

Sudan

• Please keep in prayer the estimated 100,000 people who have been displaced by inter-tribal fighting in Sudan’s North Darfur area. Pray for children who have been uprooted by the fighting between two Arab tribes over access to a gold mine. Pray for those whose homes, villages, and crops have been burned in this conflict. Pray that humanitarian aid will reach those who lack clean water, sufficient food, medical care, shelter, and sanitary facilities. Pray for an end to this violence. http://tinyurl.com/b4sbvcq
• Please also pray for an end to the ongoing conflict between non-Arab insurgents and the Arab-dominated government that began in 2003 and still continues 10 years later. Continue to pray for the estimated 1.5 million people who have been displaced by this violence across Darfur and live in camps where they are dependent on food aid to survive.

United States

• Pray for children and families who are experiencing homelessness in the U.S. and around the world. Pray for those who live in cars, with friends or other family members, in homeless shelters, and on the streets.
• Please keep in prayer children who live in crowded shelters that lack the privacy and security of a permanent home. Pray for those who find it difficult to sleep, study, play, or bathe in facilities that are overcrowded and underfunded. Pray every child has the opportunity to live in a permanent, safe home. http://tinyurl.com/bytvvf5

·         Give God thanks for those who advocate for and work towards finding affordable housing for the most vulnerable in their communities.

India

• Pray for the thousands of girl children who are trafficked from India’s rural areas to urban ones and forced to work as domestic servants in the homes of this country’s growing middle class. Pray for girls who are lured into jobs with the promise of good wages, but find themselves working long hours for little or no pay, cut off from family, and often abused or sexually assaulted. http://tinyurl.com/be6clul   http://tinyurl.com/aa5u9o3
• Pray for the estimated four million children who are believed to be employed as domestic servants in India.
• Please pray for the more than 90,000 children who go missing in India each year. Pray for those who are abducted and then sold into forced labor on farms, in factories or in homes. Pray for those who are sold into marriage or prostitution. http://tinyurl.com/9xhguhc
• Please pray for a change of attitude regarding the issue of child labor within India’s law enforcement agencies and the country’s rising middle class. Pray current child labor laws will be taken seriously and enforced. Pray for an end to the destructive practice of exploiting children for labor.
• Give thanks to God for the work of the child rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan in raising awareness about child labor and for their efforts in rescuing trafficked and enslaved children. http://www.bba.org.in/main.php

Mali

• Please keep the children and people of Mali held close in prayer during this season of conflict and violence. Pray for the estimated 376,000 people who have been displaced since France began military action against Islamist rebels in northern Mali last month. http://tinyurl.com/azl5akn
• Please pray for the 660,000 children who are at risk of acute malnutrition because of this conflict. Pray for those who are at risk of becoming ill because of poor water and sanitation facilities in the displaced persons camps.
• Pray for children who are trapped in areas of conflict unreachable by emergency aid. Pray God will provide for these vulnerable children and their families during this frightening time.
• Pray farmers might be able to return to their fields to sow this year’s crop—if the conflict continues, it will interrupt the planting season causing further food shortages.
• Please pray for an end to the fighting and violence. Pray for peace and reconciliation throughout Mali.

Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso

• Pray for the 147,000 people who have fled the fighting in northern Mali and sought refuge in neighboring countries like Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The conditions in refugee camps along the unstable borders with Mali are desperate. Pray God will provide for the children, youth, and adults in these squalid camps.
• Pray for children in these camps as many of them are malnourished and their host countries struggle to provide them with sufficient food and water.  http://tinyurl.com/bcgzehj

United States

• Please keep close in prayer 2-month-old Lacey* who was born prematurely to a mother with severe health and substance abuse issues. Pray for a community of support around this baby girl who hasn’t bonded well with anyone yet. Pray for her mother Gina* who doesn’t seem to be interested or willing to parent her baby. Pray for Lacey’s father who is in prison and unable to provide any support. Keep Lacey’s maternal grandmother Sarah* close in prayer as she tries to care for her daughter and granddaughter as well as grieve the recent death of her own mother.   *Name changed for confidentiality and/or protection.

·         Pray for God’s healing touch to be upon 4-month-old Addison who has been hospitalized with viral pneumonia.

God’s Heart for Children

Just a Minute: In the Heart of a Child, One Moment … Can Last Forever by Dr. Wess Stafford and Dean Merrill, (Moody Publishers, 2012). Inspiring stories reinforce the value of children in God’s eyes and demonstrate how our interactions with them can change them forever. Hard cover, 224 pp. Adult. Available from Amazon.com.

Poverty

A Hungry World: Understanding the Global Food Crisis, (World Vision, 2005). Booklet provides 8 hours of material for teaching about global food insecurity. Includes background information, case studies, group activities, prayer materials and action ideas. Grades 6-12. Available from www.worldvisionresources.org

Not Just a One-Night Stand: Ministry with the Homeless by John Flowers and Karen Vannoy, (Discipleship Resources, 2009). Based on the ministry experiences at their own church in Texas, the authors gives creative approaches to ministry among the marginalized. Paperback, 128 pp. Adult. Available from Amazon.com.

When Do We Eat? Understanding World Hunger and Doing Something About It, (World Vision, 2010). 1-hour lesson to help children understand the causes of world hunger and learn how they can make a difference. Grades 1-3. Available at www.worldvisionresources.org.

Refugees

Home Away from Home: How Children Find Hope When they Lose Their Homes (World Vision, 2010). 1–hour lesson explores reasons for homelessness with an emphasis on refugees. Grades 1-3. Available from World Vision at www.worldvisionresources.org.

-May 27: Global Day of Prayer

-June 2-3: World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk

It’s a Small World gives your kids the background they need before they pray. This fun lesson introduces 1st-5th graders to the global village through a demonstration that shrinks the world population to 20 people. Children learn about the major languages spoken in the world and issues that many of their peers face on a daily basis (lack of healthy food, clean air, safe water, and electricity). The lesson also addresses the spiritual condition of the peoples of the world, including those who have never heard of Jesus. It’s a Small World takes 25-30 minutes and is highly interactive. It’s great for mixed-age groups. The lesson comes as a downloadable PDF and costs $5.

After the demonstration, lead a time of prayer using some of these free materials for children:

-Global Day of Prayer’s downloadable, 10-day prayer guide for children.

-Viva International’s downloadable, children’s prayer booklet for the World Weekend of Prayer.

God’s heart: Including kids in our missions focus reflects God’s heart. In Mark 10:14 Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Numbers: Currently, 2.2 billion children live on our planet. In many cultures considered unreached or resistant to the gospel, boys and girls under age 15 make up 40-50% of the population – that’s almost half of God’s harvest field.

Receptivity: Children have open hearts to receive the gospel. Research shows that many believers put their faith in Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. We shouldn’t neglect the ripest fruit in God’s harvest field.

Bridges: When children become believers in Jesus, they are eager to share their faith with others – relatives, friends, teachers, coaches, and neighbors. Want to reach adults in an unbelieving home or village? Build a bridge by first establishing relationships with their sons and daughters.

Need: 1.2 billion children at risk face dire situations every day – poverty, disease, war, abandonment, and exploitation. These kids need the hope and transformation that only Jesus can provide.

Potential: Boys and girls who trust in Jesus become functioning members of the Church and partners in ministry. They have their whole lives to serve God as participants in the gospel. Think of the impact these young disciples can make on families, communities, and nations.

Join us in observing Global 4/14 Day. Download and use the free Prayer and Fasting Guide. Here are two more ways to pray for children on a continuous basis:

1. Check out the Red Card Prayer Page for weekly updates and requests for children around the world. These focus on areas of the world in the news.

2. The Stand4Kids Prayer Pages provide a way to pray for one child and request every day of the month. These requests represent needs of unreached kids in animistic, Hindu, atheistic, Muslim, and Buddhist cultures as well as needs of children at risk.

• Stand4Kids: Every Last Drop lesson addresses issues that children without access to clean water face. Includes demonstrations, photos, a Bible passage, prayer time, and optional Week for Water giving project. Ages 5-10.

• LifeWater International: WASH (Water, Sanitation Hygiene) Around the World 5-lesson download includes short stories of real children in five countries with discussion questions. Ages 3-11.

• WaterAid: Water Around the World Slide Show. Ages 5-8. Pumping It Up lesson with an experiment that demonstrates how a well pump brings up underground water. Ages 8-11.

• Blood:Water Mission: Lemon:Aid project to raise money for wells, water filters, and rain tanks for communities in Africa.

Freedom Sunday is this weekend. We have the opportunity to remember children who are enslaved and trafficked and intercede on their behalf. Do not underestimate the power of prayer for these precious boys and girls. God hears their cries, is present with them their situations, and promises to bring justice both for them and their oppressors.  Here are some Bible verses and prayer requests to get you started.

Child Laborers

Psalm 72:12 -“For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.”

• Pray for God to protect child laborers from physical and emotional harm
• Pray that parents can find work so that their children are able to attend school.
• Pray for employers who oppress and exploit children to realize their worth and choose to protect and nurture them.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.

Child Soldiers

Psalm 91:2b, 5 -“‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’ … You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day.”

• Pray for child soldiers to be released back to their families.
• Pray for God to restore children who have experienced the painful trauma of war.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.
• Pray that God will give wisdom and compassion to ministry workers who are helping children reintegrate into society.

Sexually Exploited Children

Psalm 10:17-18 – “You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”

• Pray for safe and secure shelters to provide for needs of children living on the streets so that they are less vulnerable to traffickers.
• Pray for strong law enforcement efforts and for brothels to be discovered and shut down.
• Pray for God to convict the hearts of traffickers, pimps and the “customers” and to transform their lives.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.