Pathmakers Church

Classmate Prayer Cards

• At the beginning of the school year, ask your child’s teacher for a list of your child’s classmates.  You may only get first names, but that’s enough to get started.

• Get a pack of 3×5 index cards and cut the cards in ½ so there are enough cards for each child in the class and your child’s teacher.

• Sit down with your child and write out each child’s name and the teachers name one name per card and pray through the list as you are writing it.  

• Train your child to pray for the salvation of each child and whatever else she feels lead to pray.

• Put these cards in a handy place to pray for one child each morning at breakfast or on the way to school.  

• As you learn things about the children and each family, write parents’ and siblings names on the back of that child’s card and anything significant that you learn about the child (special needs or significant family changes).

• Encourage your child to let those children know he prayed for them each day.

• If you have a Middle School or High School student, you can have your student write down the names of each of his teachers and principals and pray for one teacher each day.  It’s amazing the connections he will make with his teachers if he is praying for them.

Serving Challenge

• After your child gets used to praying for one classmate per day, start challenging her to serve that child on the day she prays for him.  

• She can say something encouraging, push in his chair for him, pick up his pencil, pray for him if he’s having a hard time, etc.  

• Be sure to ask afterschool how she was able to serve that child so she doesn’t forget and is held accountable to serving!

Lighthouse Cards

• Get a staff list from someone you trust in your school’s administrative office (best if it’s a believer).

• Make prayer cards for the teachers, staff and administration who are followers of Christ to pray for their co-workers.  Keep the different teachers from the same grade and department together.

• Make one cover card that says something like this:  

Lighthouses,

Thank you for shining brightly at our school!  Jesus is loving the students, teachers and staff through you in obvious ways!  Keep it up! These cards are an invitation to pray with other Lighthouses and me each school day for different teachers and staff at our school.  Don’t feel guilty if you don’t do it everyday, just pray whenever the Spirit reminds you. Who knows but that we were sent here “for such a time as THIS”  (Esther 4:14)!  

Praying, (your name)

• Find out from another follower of Christ (hopefully your office connection) how many people on staff are believers and make enough prayer packs for each person who is obviously a believer.

• Place the prayer packs in the believing staff members’ mailboxes.  

• Pray through the cards each day with your children.  Pray for specific requests when you learn them.

Attentiveness

• Teach your children to pray during tense or emotional times (fire drills, a student is acting up, tests, a classmate seems to be especially sad or upset).

• Train them to be attentive to what is happening with their teachers.  Train your son that if his teacher has a headache, seems to be distracted by something outside of class, or is feeling sick or upset, those are times to be especially obedient and follow directions.  Teach your son to pray for his teacher when things seem even a little bit off. It’s good training for marriage!

Hallway Prayer Walk

• Train your daughter that as she is walking through the hallways of her school, she can pray for the different children and teachers in the classrooms and offices she passes by.

• She can pray for the children to have focus and do their best and for the staff to be wise and discerning about what and how they are teaching.

Christmas Tradition Sharing

• Before you know your child’s teacher will begin to use Christmas to guide her lessons and activities, train your child to include church times and family traditions in his answers to let people know that he is a Christian.  

• Some examples:  When his class is sharing what they are going to do for Christmas, teach him to say that he’ll be going to church on Christmas Eve.  When he is sharing or writing about Christmas traditions, encourage your son to write about how your husband reads the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve, gives a gift to World Vision to support needy families, or puts together Operation Christmas Child boxes each year.   it might inspire the other children.

Intentional Invitations

• Many people don’t attend church because they aren’t invited.  Use your church’s special events as an occasion to encourage your children to invite her classmates and their families to church.  

• Some good events to invite people to are Vacation Bible School, a Bible Study for children or AWANAS, your Christmas Program, and any family special events.

• Grab a church information card or 2 and put it in your child’s backpack.  That way when your child gets a chance to invite a classmate, she will have the important information on hand.

Writing Your Stories

• Encourage your child to write about his faith whenever he gets the chance.  When he is asked to write about family traditions, he can write about going to church together on Easter to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead or collecting nativity sets as a family for Christmas.  He can write about being a part of AWANAS or getting to go on a church family fishing trip.  

• Any opportunity to show his classmates his faith is important to him may give him an open door to answering any questions about the hope that he has (1 Peter 3:15).

• Him sharing his faith may also encourage other believers in his class to do the same.

Respresenting Jesus

• Help your child understand that the work she does at school represents Jesus.

• “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”  Colossians 3:23

• When your child does her best at her school work and is attentive to her teachers, she is representing Jesus well and it honors him.  

• Encourage your child that God placed her in her school as His ambassador and representative to be like Him for her classmates.

• Explaining this to her might be best done using a flashlight in a darkroom… explaining that God has called her to be a light in a dark place where others can’t see without her shining Jesus’ light for them.