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This Sunday marks the fourth year at Seven Oaks Church of Christ we have spent the Sunday morning worship before school starts praying for our kids and teachers. We call this program, “Send Them Back With Prayer.” This is not original to us, in fact, I got the idea from Jeff Jenkins and the Lewisville Church of Christ in Texas. They have been doing the program for more years than us.
I would encourage your church to consider this ministry. Here is how we do it.
- We have all the kids K – 12 grade sit up front during worship.
- We have prayers organized by topics. Here are some of our programs and themes:
- 2010 – One man talk and another pray about the following themes: Strive for Excellence, Yield Not to Temptation, Shine as Lights, and Commitment to Growth in Christ.
- 2011 – Advice from Elders – We have four elders and they each shared some advice and had a prayer on the following topics: Academics and Behavior at School, Friendships, Parents and Teachers, and Faith.
- 2012 – We had prayers for the following areas: Students in their Studies, Extracurricular activities, College students, Parents, Teachers and School Workers.
- 2013 – We had our youth fill out a survey last week during Bible Class and we have organized the prayer topics around these results. Our youth minister will share the information the kids shared and each of our four elders will lead a prayer regarding these requests and struggles. We have broken them into four categories: 1) Challenges and Temptations, 2) Blessings and Family, 3) Sports, Academics, and Extra Curricular, 4) Spiritual growth.
- At each of these services, after the prayers, we have a final motivational thought and expression of love for the kids that leads to extending the invitation.
Some of the benefits of this program that we have noticed:
- It places an emphasis upon youth and families. I think it is easy for youth to feel like they are neglected in our typical prayers and preaching.
- It teaches your children they are loved by the church.
- It helps the youth to consider their actions and behaviors. They go into school knowing they are representing Christ and their is a measure of accountability and expectation by the church regarding their behavior.
- It is a great way to ministry to parents and grand-parents who are concerned about their children’s spiritual and emotional well-being.
- It is powerful for teachers and helps them be encouraged in their work for Christ within the school.
- If you get your elders and deacons involved it is a great opportunity for them to be visible before the children and offer wise counsel and advice to the children.
- It is a great way to serve the college-age population and parents before they return to school.
- Finally, praying is what we should be doing as Christians! Because through prayer God works. We believe this impacts our students and teachers for God by channeling the blessings of God on their behalf. How many blessings do we miss out on because we do not pray? We try to keep the focus each year on the power of prayer and the ministry of prayer for these students and the school system.
