International (MNN) – “We believe prayer is powerful, prayer is effective, and that people’s prayers here in the United States make a difference in the lives of children around the world.”
Ask Matt Parker of Kids Alive International what he believes is vital to their ministry efforts in 15 countries around the world, and he’ll respond with one word: Prayer.
“We believe that it is God alone who transforms lives forever. And so we are committed as an organization to keeping Jesus Christ right at the heart of everything that we do – every children’s home that we run, every school, care center, community program, every decision that we take. And that means that prayer is very much at the heart of everything that we do as an organization.”
That commitment to prayer is why Kids Alive is hosting a Global Day of Prayer on June 7th. People around the world are invited to join the ministry in praying for lives to be transformed forever by the power of God.
The staff in the United States as well as the missionaries serving in each country spend the day in prayer for each of the 6,000 children currently being helped through Kids Alive programs. And the children themselves are also encouraged to pray.
Matt shares, “We want these kids to be praying for other children around the world, so our children in Lebanon for example are praying for children in Guatemala, for children in Haiti praying for the situation and the kids that we work with in South Sudan.”
While prayer is needed for every child, caregiver, and family, Matt says three specific ministry efforts have significant need:
(Image courtesy of Kids Alive International)
Pray for refugee children in Lebanon.
There are many children in Lebanon who desperately need help, children who have escaped the war in Syria and are now in Lebanon – a lot of them living in squalor and many of them living on the streets.
They have been working with about 100 Syrian refugee kids in Lebanon for the last 18 months or so, and they’ve seen remarkable changes in these children’s lives.
But pray as Kids Alive continues to help more of these kids that they would heal from the pain, from the trauma they’ve experienced in their lives, that they would develop a sense of love and forgiveness and acceptance as they heal from the hurts of the past.
Pray for the new kids and the new refugee children that will be joining the program in the next few months.
(Image courtesy of Kids Alive International)
Pray for their girls in Guatemala.
These are beautiful young ladies who have experienced so much suffering; so much pain. Many of them have been abused in horrific ways, some of them pregnant as a result of the abuse.
Pray for these girls that are rescued by Kids Alive in Guatemala. Pray that these beautiful young girls would heal, that they would commit their lives to Christ, and that their lives would be changed forever as a result.
(Image courtesy of Kids Alive International)
Pray for the kids in South Sudan.
Pray for the situation there with continued insecurity in the town of Wau where Kids Alive works, for the street children they are rescuing from the streets in this very volatile area.
Pray for the protection of these kids in their home there, for the staff, and pray for real changes in these kids lives.
Pray for the young men that Kids Alive has rescued from the streets will grow up to become Godly leaders in their communities, in their families and in their workplaces in the future.
Answers to prayers are shared both on the Kids Alive International website and on their Facebook page. The answers inspire Matt and his team to pray even more, “asking God to provide, to continue to transform the lives of the kids and the communities where we work.”
You can read the stories of transformation here, and then be part of that transformation by sponsoring a child through Kids Alive International.
God be with you always