Kids and Prayer Go Together by PAUL SCHREIBER
H Access Day One of Zambia Bound NOW! by MEGAN MCDANIEL
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ospel Adventures is Zambia Bound provide health care for their families. in 2022! Just like Thailand Trek, Go School expenses in Africa can be very Mongolia, and Passport to Peru, Gospel expensive for parents. To avoid the added Adventures: Zambia Bound is a free expenses, many young children often resource available to Christian schools, need to leave school to help provide homeschools, churches, and individuals. financial support for their families. The curriculum is filled with fun activities Allowing children to remain in school is and an interactive website for students one of the most important ways to ensure to learn how the Gospel is shared with they receive a foundation for their future. children in other countries. As a way to support children’s ministry New this year, the first day of around the world, individuals, schools, curriculum is already available. Visit and churches participating in Gospel gospeladventures.org to register for the Adventures: Zambia Bound can choose virtual “trip” and access this content to get to donate through chapel offerings a glimpse into the newest or change drives. These interactive experience. As YOU can help LHM donations will go toward always, the full curriculum fill school supply LHM’s Global Kids Fund and supporting materials supports ministries kits for students! that will be available in January that are similar to the ones • A gift of $5 will to everyone who has they see during the Gospel provide a backpack for registered. Adventures program. one school supply kit. Zambia has a very This year, gifts made to • A gift of $10 will young population, with the Global Kids Fund will provide the school about 50 percent being lessen the financial burden supplies and Christian 14 years old or younger! on families in Africa, book for one school Families are large with an allowing more children to supply kit. average of four children remain in school to build • A gift of $15 will per household. There are a better foundation for provide one complete challenges in Zambia such success in their lives. school supply kit of a as premature death of some LHM’s ministry centers backpack and supplies. children due to illnesses in Kenya and Madagascar that might be preventable are partnering with local with better care and education. Lutheran congregations to identify These trends are common across the children in their communities who are continent of Africa. Large, young families at risk of leaving school. We will supply across the continent are increasingly them with a school supply kit that leaving traditional farms and moving consists of a backpack filled with pens, to cities. Nearly half of the population paper, workbooks, other school supplies, now lives in cities where they work and a Christian book that shares the in industries, attend school, and do Gospel message with the children. many of the things we do here in the Visit lhm.org/give and select “Global United States. This has created some Kids Fund” in the drop-down bar to challenges for people to find meaningful support LHM’s children’s ministry employment, achieve education, and through the Global Kids Fund. ==
14 | The Lutheran Layman Fall 2021
as praying with your child proven to be a challenge? It has for many parents and grandparents. In 5 Ways to Pray with Your Child, LHM Learn offers easy-to-use prayer strategies, examples, and Scripture-based exercises to help. When your child has pressing prayer needs right now, the course also features “in-the-moment” prayers for adults to use with children. The course has been prepared by Mary Oldfield, a retired ministry director who has worked with parents and children for more than 20 years. It’s important for youngsters to pray in their own words. However, giving kids simple and easy-to-memorize prayers, as well as patterns of prayers to follow, can be a nice boost in the right direction. You can think of the course examples as “training wheels” for regular prayer, helping kids find their comfort zone and a relaxed spontaneity in their communication with God, as they grow and mature in their faith. The course’s five suggestions to encourage prayer with your child are “Mealtime Prayers,” “Praying Scripture,” “Finish the Sentence,” “Bedtime Prayers,” and a neat formula called “ACTS.” Mealtime and bedtime prayers are staples among praying families. Praying Scripture is a way for kids to include themselves by adding their names to the petition. It personalizes and deepens their connection with Scripture. Finish the Sentence prayers help children complete their prayer idea and round out their thought. ACTS prayers are interesting. This acrostic uses the words, “adoration,” “confession,” “thanksgiving,” and “supplication.” Each of these ideas are expanded so that adults and kids both learn about these specific areas and can pray accordingly. A course bonus three-prayer section features “Arrow Prayers,” or prayers targeting a certain need; “Blessing Prayers,” or prayers expressing one’s love and desire for someone; and “Responding to Creation” prayers that are triggered by God’s magnificent handiwork. This LHM Learn course includes two helpful PDF resources plus a link to LHM’s Households of Faith kit. The first PDF, 5 Ways to Pray with Your Child, summarizes the five prayer types, giving some examples. The second PDF, Helping Your Child Have a Relationship with God, is a Project Connect booklet written by course author Oldfield. In it, she addresses the value of prayer for adults and children, encourages readers to consider prayer as central to a spiritually vibrant household, and expands on course content. You can find this and all LHM Learn courses by going to lhm.org/learn. =
