ECM issues a 2014 prayer guide

International (MNN) — What happens when misfortune strikes? Sometimes, an unexplainable tragedy or misfortune can cause people to draw closer to Christ. In other cases, believers may question their faith or push away from God.

In Africa, misfortune is usually thought to be caused by someone else’s actions. Every Child Ministries (ECM) says the “why” questions that immediately follow misfortune are almost always answered by witchcraft.

In response, ECM issues a 2014 prayer guide titled, When Misfortune Strikes.

“It guides people in prayer for four problem areas that…result from the way families respond to misfortune,” explains ECM’s Lorella Rouster.

Children are not well-equipped to defend themselves, so they make easy targets for a family’s fears. ECM has spent the past 29 years working with Africa’s families and children.

During those years of ministry, ECM has discovered that responses to tragedy usually fall into one of four scenarios: children are trafficked, accused of witchcraft, used as sacrifices, or forced into ritual servitude.

See how ECM helps children who are abused or fall victim to these practices.

“At ECM, we work with children who are affected by all four of those problems,” Rouster says.

In their 2014 prayer guide, “we offer specific prayer suggestions that are related not only to our own work and helping those kids, but also praying for the situations that put them in those very ugly places to begin with.”

Click here to request your copy of ECM’s 2014 prayer guide.

“It’s free on reques, and we send it by e-mail,” adds Rouster. “The goal in this is to significantly increase the prayer warriors who are praying down the Enemy’s strongholds in the lives of these children.”