Week of Prayer for the Young Child

prayer focus

Week of the Young Child 2012: This week we are encouraged to celebrate young children throughout our nation. We’d like to suggest some things you might be able to do to help young children this year. Here are a few suggestions:

Pray for all the children in your church. Keep a prayer journal just for the needs and requests from children in your church. Let children know that you are praying for them.
Arrange to visit a preschool or kindergarten class and volunteer to read a book to the entire class. Spend time with the children afterwards asking questions and talking about the importance of reading.
Volunteer to teach Mission Friends^®, GA^®, CiA^sm, or RA^®. If you can’t teach full time, offer to substitute teach. Get to know the children in your class. Each quarter, send them a card or email. Have a cookout at your house where children come to celebrate missions calling it a Festival of Missions. (Parent volunteers can help with the planning.)
Pray for the children in your community.
Volunteer to help with the March of Dimes or other charity that helps children.
Volunteer at a children’s hospital where you can visit with children, read a story, play games with them, pray for them, or draw pictures with them. Take time to get to know their parents.
Visit children you know who may be sick, or send get-well cards letting them know you're praying for them.
Pray about volunteering to teach Vacation Bible School this summer.
Get involved in your church, community, and state to advocate for children. Take a stand for children.
Volunteer at a local school.
Get involved in Project HELP: Human Exploitation. Children as young as two years old (or younger) are often victims of many kinds of abuse. Do something!
Consider adopting or becoming a foster parent. So many children need loving parents to give them a good home.
Mentor an unwed mother and offer to help with her new baby. Take time to read the Bible together and also invite her and the baby to come to your church.

What else can you do? Our children need you…yes, YOU! Pray for your children each day. It's more than just a week of prayer for our next generation of kids.