International (MNN) – Tent Schools International has created a new type of ‘tent’ beyond what you would typically think of. It’s called The Prayer Tent!
The Prayer Tent
(Photo courtesy of Tent Schools International)
The Prayer Tent is a virtual page Tent Schools utilizes. Through this page, refugee school children can continue healing spiritually under the ministry’s ‘Schools that Heal’ theme.
Tent Schools’ Dale Dieleman says while their schools in refugee camps work to heal kids emotionally and academically by giving them a loving, caring, and compassionate environment, “we also are looking on more of the spiritual side as well and how can we help kids heal through prayer.”
The Prayer Tent allows refugee kids to virtually share their prayer requests. However, Tent Schools is making it open to believers like you and Tent School workers to relate prayer requests as well.
“We wanted to initiate this opportunity for people who are either working with us in a different country who want to send in prayer requests…as well as people who are supporting our ministry, encouraging them to also send in prayer requests. [There are] also opportunities for people to intercede, to pray for others.”
Dieleman says The Prayer Tent is for everyone and because it’s virtual, there are always opportunities for people to be involved.
A Global Community
The Prayer Tent acts as a global community and truly connects the worldwide Church.
Prayer volunteers can share, become informed, and act on the different prayer requests people have all around the world. Sometimes prayer requests can be as simple as praying for everyday needs like pencils or paper at the tent schools, or it could be for healing in a refugee child’s life.
Through The Prayer Tent, Dieleman says prayer requests become real-life issues.
“I think when people will go to this website or find us on Facebook with that, they’re going to find out that it’s okay to just pray for your daily needs, your daily bread.”
Dieleman points to the book ‘A Praying Life’ by Paul Miller which helped in inspiring the idea for The Prayer Tent.
“One of the themes of the book is ‘pray like a child,’” Dieleman says. “And how do children pray? They’re just very honest and open and they pray for things that we sometimes chuckle at, but that’s how God really wants us to approach prayer.”
The Prayer Tent wants to encourage people to do just that in a community that supports them. Tent Schools hopes to help people be more intentional about their prayer as well.
“Sometimes, we start using formulas in our prayer sometimes — either in worship or at home or wherever we might be — and we just want to encourage people just to live in a state of prayer,” Dieleman says.
Get Involved
(Photo courtesy of Tent Schools International via Facebook)
Tent Schools invites you to get involved in The Prayer Tent. You can share your prayer requests anonymously or with your name. Though fellow believers may be overseas, they’ll be right in your virtual backyard so you can know their prayer requests and pray for them as well.
Whoever you pray for, Dieleman says it is important and it does make a difference.
“We receive reports from the school or we receive reports from people who have been supporting us saying how grateful they were just to be part of this. Also, [we hear] from teachers who have seen some remarkable turnarounds with the students or refugee families, people they’ve been able to reach out to, and so, there is evidence of results.”
Be an encouragement and a prayer volunteer by joining Tent Schools’ Prayer Tent today!
(Header photo courtesy of Tent Schools International)
