Children’s WNOP in Great Britain

CHILDREN’S WORLD NETWORK OF PRAYER
By Jerolyn Kelley, Missionary to Scotland

“It is easier to train a child than repair an adult.” With this concept in mind, the vision was born to establish a Children’s World Network of Prayer in Great Britain.

So often we as adults have been programmed to pray very selfishly and with a narrow vision. It is easy to pray for those we know. We should do this. However, our vision must reach beyond our own local needs and the boundaries of our own country. We must learn to pray big prayers for big situations. We must learn to pray for the entire world, not just our little corner of it. We must learn to pray for nations, for governments, for principalities and powers that rule and reign in many places. We must learn to pray for people we will probably never meet. We must learn to love the world through the eyes of Calvary.

What better way to begin this re-programming of our prayer concepts than to teach these principles to the next generation? If we teach our children to pray for the world, for nations, for governments, for world disasters, etc., then they will automatically have a world vision as they grow into adulthood. When they become adults, they will already know how to pray “world prayers.” Of course, God cares about all of their little bumps and problems, but children can easily learn to have faith that will move beyond their own little world to pray for God to work in big situations.

We as parents, teachers, and leaders must take advantage of the simplicity of children and train them to reach beyond themselves. In Great Britain, we are sending all of our churches a bi-weekly “Children’s World Network of Prayer” sheet. The requests are brief and easy for children to understand. The requests may be for a need in one of our churches, for cities where there is no United Pentecostal Church for children to attend, for victims of disaster, or for a child they probably don’t know that has a need. Children joining together to pray for specific needs are just as powerful as adults who do the same thing.

I am very excited about the power in children’s prayer groups. We are encouraging our Sunday schools to use the Children’s World Network of Prayer and to form children’s prayer groups. It is so inspiring to observe the simple faith of children.

Let us not allow our children to become trapped in a selfish and narrow vision. Let us strive together to see future generations trained and established in the type of praying that will truly reach our world for Jesus. We can see it happen if we teach them to pray with a world vision.