World Weekend of Prayer for
Children at Risk Global report 2010 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV)
The headlines Over 69% of participants were under the age of 18! The average number of people praying at a network event was over 940 Across the Latin American networks alone, 184,000 people attended 186 events in 15 countries Children at an event in the Philippines Growing promotion Thanks to some amazing partners, organisations and individuals, promotion of the WWP was bigger than ever: 17 radio stations across Indonesia announced the weekend, and three aired a Children‟s Prayer Concert; 4,000 „Got a Minute‟ cards were distributed, encouraging individuals to take just 60 seconds in prayer; Promotional materials reached at least 346,000 people; Resources were translated into 15 languages, building on the 10 from last year.
Events outside the networks... This year, we recognised that there are two distinct groups of people getting involved in the WWP; those from outside our own networks, and those within the networks. Both groups are growing – here‟s some of the growth we‟ve seen outside the networks this year... Growing awareness Participants‟ biggest motivation for organising an event was to highlight the issues of children at risk to others. An organisation in London reported that they were so moved that they made a commitment to start meeting regularly to pray for children at risk. Growing child participation For the first time we developed a prayer resource especially for children. We heard from one childcare project in Uganda whose children visited four needy households and prayed with them, encouraging them and helping them to feel cared for by people they never would have expected. Growing church mobilisation For the first time, we developed a church pack to send out to 100 churches throughout the UK. A group of churches in Kenya said about their event, “It was an answer to prayer to see churches working and praying together for the benefit of children.”
Singing and dancing at an event in Indonesia
Signing a commitment to pray for children daily - the Philippines
Focus on the networks
Over 320 events At least 336,764 attendees 27 countries across Latin America, Africa and Asia Weekend promoted to over 270,000 network contacts
Learning to pray for each other in Pakistan
Within our networks, the WWP is all about projects, organisations and churches coming together to put on community or city-wide events, often organised by the children themselves. Because the WWP is often the culmination of a series of child advocacy and prayer events, the scope for creativity is huge, and we are always amazed to hear about some of the incredible ideas that event organisers come up with.
Growing creativity
: In Tanzania, child ambassadors organised a „children‟s parliament‟ where they shared their views on child rights
: In Bolivia, event organisers booked a sports stadium, where children stood up and spoke and prayed about their projects. There was singing, games and clowns, and after the service the children marched onto the streets with banners and balloons
: In the Philippines, children and adults signed a commitment to pray for children daily : In India, 6,000 prayer bookmarks, in English and Hindi, were distributed to children in Indian churches : In Uganda and South Africa, helium balloons with prayer requests and information on child protection tied to them were released into the sky
: In Guatemala, child ambassadors wrote prayer requests and sent them to television stations and Christian organisations
The power of our prayers
Prayer and praise parties in South Africa and Uganda
We were blessed this year to hear two stories of children‟s lives that have been changed thanks to the WWP in 2008! We are so encouraged to know that even two years down the line, these events are having an impact. Unfortunately we don‟t have room to tell you about them here, but they will soon be up on our website, so do take a look if you would like to find out more... Meanwhile, we are excited to share some of the miraculous events that took place this year! In Nigeria, a girl who was so sick she was almost dying was brought to a prayer event by her mother. People at the event prayed for her and she was totally healed! The good news spread through the village In Brazil, some non-Christian children from the local district came to the event and were clearly spoken to by God, and wanted to know more about church At an event in Indonesia, a girl turned up with 20 of her classmates after being inspired by prayer at an earlier event In Kenya, eleven fathers and nine mothers have started coming to church regularly since an event that their children got involved with and invited their parents along to.
To hear more stories from the weekend or to find out more about praying for children at risk, visit our website at www.viva.org/prayer or email pray@viva.org