“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.” James 3:17
The ‘back to school’ season feels like a sort of New Years – a time to reset intentions, examine how we can be walking closer with the Lord, and make a fresh start.
Teachers have cleaned and decorated their classrooms to be exciting learning environments and filled the walls with calendars, vocabulary lists, and colorful bulletin boards. Students are entering new grades, excitedly greeting their friends, backpacks filled with fresh packs of crayons, colored folders, and rulers, maybe even protractors and borrowed copies of classic novels from summer reading assignments.
Teachers and students are also bringing in their hurts and pains – a summer spent wondering where their next meal would come from, a growing technology addiction, worries about how to protect students from gun violence, and fear of another year being bullied.
This is why the NDP Task Force uses August as time to diligently pray for the sphere of Education!
“There are a lot of prayer requests about how people treat each other; students have big hearts for that,” says Olivia Williamson. She serves as the director of campus ministries for Never The Same, the parent ministry for a youth prayer movement, youth camp, youth worship encounter, and other strategic missions to equip our youngest brothers and sisters to be evangelists and intercessors. In Williamson’s interactions with students, she says the most frequent and heartbreaking prayer needs of students are regarding anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts or attempts, and bullying.
The needs of teachers are directly linked to the needs and the wellbeing of their students, whether it is a seasoned teacher fighting burnout, or a new teacher trying to learn how to keep a room of young people engaged for a full day of instruction.
“Some of the best teachers are so tired – we are praying that they have strength and love for their job,” Williamson says. “We also pray for teachers who want to know how they can make a difference – they see the needs of students up close every day.”
Williamson and the team at Never The Same’s youth prayer initiative, Claim Your Campus (CYC), have developed tools to cover a school in prayer through a prayer walk around school grounds.
We know God is omnipotent, and there is power in inviting the presence of the Lord into a place. For young people who attend the schools they are prayer walking around, the prayer walk can be the first step to creating a habit of walking with the Lord in prayer throughout their day: learning to listen to God’s prompting to pray for a friend who is struggling, to give words of encouragement to classmates, and even to pray for a teacher who seems to be having a bad day.
Are you READY to get back to school in PRAYER?
For students and parents, CYC has specific prayer guides that can be used to prayer walk around the school. These include prompts, discussion questions and ideas for continuing in a lifestyle of prayer. A guide is offered for younger students to be led in a prayer walk with their parents, or older students to lead the prayer walk for their peers.
CLICK HERE to access the Claim Your Campus resources!
If you are not a parent or guardian of a school-aged child, you can still participate by ‘adopting’ a local school to prayer walk and continue praying for throughout the year! This can be a school in your community, or a school near to your heart, such as where your grandchildren attend or where you attended as a student.
CLICK HERE to adopt a school in prayer!
Will you pray with me right now?
Lord, You are good and gracious. You call me to learning and growth through spiritual lessons, educational lessons, life lessons. As schools begin another year of learning and growth for young people, I pray that You would pour out Your love into the minds and hearts of students, that they would be safely anchored in You, in their hearts, souls and minds. Strengthen the educators whom You have called to cultivate the curiosity and learning of young minds – remind them that You have appointed each of their students to be under their care and tutelage. As I continue to pray for education and seek to adopt a school in prayer, give me opportunities to learn how I can pray strategically for the unique needs of the teachers, students, administrators and staff members at the school. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Peace and blessings,
Amy Parks
Communications Coordinator
