By CCCNZ Children and Family Ministries Enabler Julie McKinnon
It has been great to hear of churches celebrating children and young people as the school year begins. This is being done is a variety of ways.
Jake Moir at New Plymouth Community Church posted their blessing prayer on the church's Facebook page as an encouragement to teachers and children as they returned to school.
“On Sunday we prayed this prayer for those in our church heading back to school and contributing to the education of our tamariki.
Today as everyone is heading into school and getting the day ready I wanted to post the prayer here.
Know that we are continuously praying for you, and God is with you.”
Rach Dixon at Hillcrest Chapel led a time of prayer during the service where children from preschoolers to high school year 13 were prayed for by small groups of adults of all ages.
People were encouraged to engage with the children and youth to determine how they would like to be prayed for and prayer prompts were on the screen to help.
Each young person then received a back-to-school pack with their name on it.
An older man in the church commented “It was so amazing bringing kids and adults together in prayer.”
It is great to see the different ways the Church gathers around children to show them they are loved and cared for. If you have stories and photos of this happening in your community please send them to me, I would love to share them as an encouragement to us all.
