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Thank you for joining us this month as we take up “The Invitation” and join together with thousands of YWAMers from around the world as we pray and hear from God about Children at Risk.
Photo credit: Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Children and youth today represent a future hope for the kingdom of God. But today we see many gaps where God’s intentions for this generation of children and youth are not being realized. Children face tremendous suffering and risk around the world. Please join with YWAM this month as we pray for the world’s vulnerable children.
Today’s worldwide gaps:
- Child mortality: Every day, 15,000 children under five years of age die. In developing countries, half of those deaths are caused by malnutrition.
- Child soldiers: There are an estimated 250,000 child soldiers (some as young as seven years old) in the world today in at least 20 countries. About 40 percent of child soldiers are girls, who are often used as sex slaves and taken as “wives” by male fighters.
- Children and youth in crime, drugs and violence: Central and South America are experiencing a dramatic upswing in youth crime. “The drug mafia recruits children as young as nine or 10,” says Guaraci de Campos Viana, the chief justice of Rio de Janeiro’s juvenile court. “Children have no sense of danger. Being a member of a drug gang gives them a sort of adrenaline rush.”
- Street children: Many boys and girls under 18 years, find that “the street” has become home or their source of livelihood. They are inadequately protected or supervised. There are many more who are at risk due to the family situation. In 1989 it was estimated there were 100 million street children worldwide.
- Residential care versus family-based care: Worldwide many are now working toward a goal to have children living with foster families, adoptive families or in family-like settings, as opposed to traditional orphanages. Lost Kites is a film made by a YWAM team with the aim to see vulnerable families strengthened, and children restored to family – globally. http://lostkites.com/
- Sexual abuse and exploitation: Every day, across all countries and levels of society, millions of girls and boys face the alarmingly common childhood experience of sexual abuse and exploitation. Child sexual abuse is likely the most prevalent health problem children face with the most serious array of consequences. About one in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. About one in seven girls and one in 25 boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18.
- Refugee children: There are 70.8 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. Everyday this number grows 37,000 of which 50 percent are children! Many are unaccompanied or separated children, which puts them in an even more vulnerable situation. Refugee children and youth often are out of school and become easy victims of sexual exploitation.
YWAM offers many opportunities for students and staff to stand in one of those gaps and bring healing and restoration to those children, youth, their families and communities. As we do so, we can see a new hope for the kingdom of God.
Please listen to the audio from this short video, made by YWAM’s Children at Risk School in Perth, Australia:
https://vimeo.com/312469759
If you only have a few moments to pray during The Invitation please pray for the children at risk in your area and ask God to lead them to salvation.
Thank you for being part of The Invitation. We would love to receive stories from you regarding how you prayed. You can email us at prayer@ywam.org.
Prepare to Pray:
As your group prepares to pray, you are invited to settle into the time by having someone read aloud from Mark’s gospel, chapter 10:
“People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them” (Mark 10, 13-16).
If you have children in your group and it seems appropriate, have an adult near them extend a hand of blessing to them. Then have someone read aloud: “When he came into the world, the Son of God became a child and grew in wisdom, age, and grace in the eyes of God and of all who knew him. Jesus welcomed children, believed in their dignity, and held them up as a model for all who are seeking the kingdom of God. Children need the help of grown-ups if they are to develop their individual gifts, and their moral, mental, and physical powers, and so reach human and Christian maturity. So, we ask for God’s blessing, not only on the children of our community but also on all children growing up in this beautiful yet broken world of ours.”
Photo credit: Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Then have someone read aloud from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 18:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ’Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.’ “ (Matthew 18, 1-5)
As you go into the main part of this prayer time, consider the final phrase of the scripture above. Could the ways we make room for children be ways of making room for Jesus? What does this say about the ways we do not welcome children, sometimes limiting or even harming them? Hold onto this thought as you go to prayer.
Photo credit: Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Pray for Children At Risk:
- Pray for better healthcare for pregnant women in developing countries and for healthcare for newborn children. Pray also for food and nutrition for children in developing countries.
- Pray for children who live on the streets.
- Pray for the refugee children who make up 50 percent of all the displaced people in the world, for protection and educational opportunities.
- Pray for the enormous number of children and youth who become victims of sexual abuse all around the world.
- Pray for the children and youth who become victims of violence because of recruitment into gangs.
- Pray for children who ended up in institutional care.
- Pray for children and youth that were forced to become child soldiers because of armed conflicts.
- Pray for these children to hear the truth of the gospel and to receive hope and new direction in life.
- Pray for YWAM students and staff who work with these children. Pray for boldness and protection and provision. Pray that God will raise up more workers to reach children at risk.
Photo credit: Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
Take Action
- Spend quiet time listening to this testimony and ask God if He wants you to be serving children at risk. Then explore the options and information listed in this section. Testimony: “As a team from the Children at Risk school, we were invited into a community in a country in East Africa, to host a four-day seminar: three days with children and one day with parents. This community is one that suffers a lot from sickness, poverty and addiction. Many unbelievers and Muslims attended the seminars. We were able to share the gospel and see 20 children respond to Jesus for the first time! Some mothers also attended and at the end of the seminar we were able to gather the mothers in small groups to talk and pray with them. One of our local contacts then led all of the mothers to Jesus as well! It’s amazing to see mothers and children so ready and eager to respond to Jesus’ invitation. One child even came up to us and said, ‘I want to accept Jesus today!’ without us even giving an invitation. The harvest is ripe and Jesus is pursuing families here!”
- Seeking to understand what God wants us to do in a world where children are suffering and hurting, pray about doing a Children at Risk School, a three-month course learning how to help children at risk. The school is given in different countries. childrenatriskschools.com. This is one of YWAM’s second-level schools, the first level normally being the Discipleship Training School.
- Join one of the many ministries of YWAM around the world that serve in the developing world in the area of health care. One example is YWAM ships https://ywamshipskona.org.
- Join one of the YWAM locations in or close to conflicted areas. Three examples:
- Northern Uganda, http://www.ywamuganda.org/
- Northern Thailand, https://www.ywamthai.org/ or
- Greece, Lesbos, https://www.ywamlesvos.com/
- Join one of YWAM’s community centers in poor communities around the world, some examples: https://www.jocumborel.org.br/ or https://bhcentro.wixsite.com/english or https://www.ywamsanfrancisco.org/ and many more on every continent. Or start one in a community close to you. Think about: tutoring, language training, sports, Kings Kids, etc.
- Join one of the many ministries of YWAM around the world with the homeless or start one in your city.
- Pray about becoming a foster or adoptive family for abandoned children or start a ministry finding and preparing such families at your location and at your church.
- Start prevention and awareness programs about sexual abuse and join or start a ministry to victims and perpetrators.
- Help refugees around the world. http://www.refugeehighway.net/ and https://www.ywamrefugeecircle.com/
- Learn more through the resources linked to in the letter:
- The effects of malnutrition on child mortality in developing countries by D.L. Pelletier https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2486780/pdf/bullwho00408-0029.pdf
- World Health Organization, key facts Sept 2018 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-reducing-mortality
- https://theirworld.org/explainers/child-soldiers
- https://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/violence-in-rio-de-janeiro-child-soldiers-in-the-drug-wars-a-469510.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_children
- Search Google:
- Report on UN event on child sexual abuse and exploitation: https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/10/1022152
- Facts on child sexual abuse: http://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/all_statistics_20150619.pdf
- Report on refugee children: https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2017/10/half-refugee-children-not-school-report-says/
- Report on the abuse of migrant children: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/8293/europe-s-shame-the-abuse-and-sexual-exploitation-of-migrant-kids-in-greece
Photo credit: Johan and Jeannette Lukasse
- If you are interested in prayer and communication, you can be part of The Invitation. Contact us at prayer@ywam.org. We need an administrator/coordinator; photographers/videographers; and researchers.
- Share on facebook.com/youthwithamission, post a picture and add a comment about how you prayed.
- Go to twitter.com; search for #praywithywam and tweet about your prayer time/post a picture. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
- Send an email to prayer@ywam.org letting us know how you prayed and what God revealed to you.
How We Prayed
September 2019 – Hindu World
- Several people posted that they prayed for the Hindu world as part of The Invitation and some noted they would also pray during the 15 Days of Prayer for the Hindu World starting October 20.
Future Topics:
- November 14: Tokyo
- December 12: Israel
- January 9: Lordship of Christ
Don’t Miss The Invitation:
- Sign up for prayer updates. Go to ywam.org, find the “Stay Connected” box on the home page, put in your email address and click “Sign Up.”
- Download prayer updates in a specific language. Go to ywam.org/theinvitation. (Currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, Korean or request other languages.)
- Join the conversation about how God is leading in these prayer times. Comment on the Facebook page on the second Thursday at facebook.com/youthwithamission or on Twitter @ywam, hashtag #praywithywam. You can also post a photo on Instagram and use the same hashtag, #praywithywam.
- You can now listen to The Invitation as a podcast. To sign up or listen to past episodes, go to: ywampodcast.net/prayer.
- If you sense God giving you a word or a direction for YWAM’s prayer, please contact us: prayer@ywam.org.
