Praying for your School

Lord teach us to pray...

The words of the disciples to Jesus are just as appropriate as we think about praying for schools in the 21st Century. But throughout the Bible we see examples of how God’s people prayed and God acted.

People often say ‘all I can do is pray’. In fact when Jesus saw the crowds coming to him he had compassion on them and he turned to his disciples and said, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.” Praying is a vital part of getting involved in God’s plans for your school.

You might decide to do this simply by giving people information to help them pray. You could produce a bookmark or a regular prayer sheet and distribute to those who want to pray. Remember to write it in such a way that it would be acceptable if seen by anyone – teachers, parents or students – people who are of any faith or no faith.

Some people have found that meeting specifically to pray at school can be a really effective way of bringing people together from a range of churches.

• If you want to know more about how to start a school prayer group see below
• If you want your church to pray for your school and want some ideas see "Praying for school at church" below.

• Share the idea with some people who might be interested
• Talk to someone in authority at school – e.g. a Christian teacher and share your idea with them. Ask them who else should know about it
• Plan an initial meeting
• Produce a written notice about the initial meeting. Make sure there is a way for people to be informed of future meetings even if they can’t make the first one
• Prepare to start small. Sadly prayer meetings tend not to attract huge crowds, but two or three praying regularly can make a huge difference
• Contact known Christians in the school. Invite them to the meeting, or ask them to give you suggestions for prayer
• Pray about your plans

You will find a checklist of what needs to be thought about at the bottom of this page.

The first meeting

• Share your vision for the group with everyone, develop the vision as people have new ideas
• Give everyone space for questions, comments, etc.
• Agree how often you will meet

What to pray for

• Pray about the whole of school life: Pupils, staff, class teachers, management, appointments, Christians in the school, governors, RE policy, assemblies, special events, exams, discipline, safety etc.
• Keep a record of the things you pray for, and how God answers
• Treat everything in the group as confidential. Make sure the information is not used as the basis for gossip

Keeping going

• Think long term. Sometimes we need to pray for ages about things
• Look for ways of sharing with local churches what has been going on in your group. Have a regular way of getting your group advertised in churches. Through their weekly or monthly news sheets
• Occasionally invite someone along to pray with you or to share with you things for prayer. This could be a local Christian involved in education, some pupils from school, or a local Scripture Union schools worker or associate

• In your youth group(s) – have a regular slot where you tell people what is going on at your school so that they can pray
• In church services – there is a regular day allocated as ‘Education Sunday’ once a year when churches are encouraged to focus on schools.
• Interviewing teachers and students can be an important way of highlighting what needs to be prayed for. But why not do this on a more regular basis as part of your church prayer life
• In other church meetings – get each house group to pray specifically for schools. Adopt a teacher or a school and pray for them on a regular basis.Don’t forget to ask them what to pray for
• Through church notices – have a regular slot in your prayer diary or on your notice board where items for prayer for local schools can be mentioned

Perhaps the way this is most likely to happen is if someone takes responsibility for co-ordinating what goes on in this area of church life – keeping people informed about what needs to be prayed for. Is there an adult at your church who could fulfil this role?

Does the school know that you are meeting?
Where will you meet?
Which day and at what time?
How often and for how long?
Should the venue be fixed or varied?
Who will lead the meetings?
How will you make sure anyone interested hears about it?
How will you find out what needs there are to pray for?
What different approaches to praying will you use?
How will you record what you pray for so that you know the answers?