How to Pray for Your Child's School

As parents, we often feel there's very little we can do to connect our faith with our children's public schooling. King David himself asked, "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). The answer is clear. We can unite and build a wall of prayer to protect our children and our schools. And it really can have a positive impact in the lives of students, teachers and administrators. Here are some tips for organizing your own prayer network from the ground up.

Form Prayer Groups This can be as easy as praying with a friend on the phone every day for your children and their schools. Or meet with other parents to pray for your school district once a week or once a month. Be sure to use the time exclusively for prayer?not complaints about teachers or school policies.

If you're not sure where to start, contact Moms in Touch, a worldwide prayer movement for mothers. They can connect you with other mothers in your area. You can reach Moms in Touch by calling (800) 949-MOMS or check out their website at www.momsintouch.org.

Plan a Prayer Rally For community-wide impact, hold a prayer rally. Our group rented the high school cafeteria for an evening and decorated a table for each of the schools in the district. Parents sat at the table where their children attended school and prayed specifically for that school. The evening was interspersed with praise music, Scripture and testimonies from teachers, students and parents about the power of prayer in their lives.

Sponsor a Prayer Walk Invite community churches to join a prayer walk. In our area, we met in the middle school parking lot and signed up to pray for different areas in the community. While some groups walked the perimeter of town and prayed for its needs, others signed up to walk around the schools. Some walked through neighborhoods where students congregate before and after school. Still others walked around the district offices to pray for the administrators.

Involve Teachers As a prayer group, write an encouraging note to your children's teachers and let them know you're praying for them and other teachers in the school. Ask them to share any needs or concerns. Work to keep the lines of communication open and continue to show your support throughout the year.

?Geneva Cobb Iijima

1999 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian Parenting Today Magazine.

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