pr a m e ye r e ti page ng on
the secret prayer meeting here’s some ideas for a prayer event Arrivals Put up a Secret Children poster at the entrance point. Or make it more striking with several of the posters, mixed with large print Bible verses or inspirational quotations. For inspiring Bible verses and quotes, go to www.opendoorsuk.org/pray/creative prayer
Arrange the venue
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oster on door, set of pra yer cards Prayer S tations – posters cards, ite , prayer ms for dis play Action S tations – practic people c al ways an suppo r t the Secret Ch ildren Departu res – thin gs to tak including e away, response leaflets
Ask eight people beforehand to be responsible for setting up the Prayer Stations as described below. Set up the venue with the Prayer Stations – you could ‘hide’ them in different corners of the venue. Put up a poster for each station, and assemble the suggested items for display. You could add a map and flag for each country – use your imagination. Print out prayer cards from the DVD (or download at www.opendoorsuk.org/secretchildren). You could give everyone a set on arrival; you could print each one on A3 paper to create a Prayer Station poster; you could have them available to pick up and use at each Prayer Station – and they could then be taken home. Offer people something to listen to by making your Prayer Station into a radio station! The DVD has eight audio tracks, one for each country, highlighted at each Prayer Station. A technical person will be able to put the right track on an mp3 player with earphones available. An older person might use CD-players with headphones!
Leading the event Invite people to be prayer leaders for each Prayer Station, to speak briefly and guide the prayer time. If you want to direct people, you can delegate one person to coordinate the meeting. Groups could gather at different starting points and then you could direct their movement and time by letting people know when to move on – for example, after 7 minutes or longer. You might like to produce a printed prayer guide for the event. To bring each short prayer session to a conclusion you might play a short piece of music that allows people time to move to the next station.
next page >> Open Doors Registered Charity in England and Wales No. 1125684 © 2011
the secret prayer meeting Prayer Stations Station 1: North Korea
Jong-Cheol – Disposable Items for display: Origami swallows*, picture of Kim Jong-il, thin blanket. Suggestion: Hold a paper swallow in your hands as you pray. *Instructions in the Sunday School session one resource
Station 2: Iraq
Leah – Displaced Items for display: A tent, a filled rucksack, a doll and a children’s Bible, a map, a compass. Suggestion: Wear the rucksack while you pray.
Station 3: Pakistan
Rika – Vulnerable Items for display: Barbie colouring books, children’s books, children’s Bibles. Suggestion: Colour in a picture from a colouring book – or use our colouring sheet table mat – and pray.
Station 4: China
Pedro – Disadvantaged Items for display: Various simple schoolroom items, including an old exercise book and pen. Suggestion: Write a prayer in the exercise book.
Station 8: Nigeria
Gabar – Devastated Items for display: Football, shirt, boots. Run the Change their World film on a small DVD player or laptop. Suggestion: Have a box of Lego blocks or building bricks (Jenga blocks) available. Each person holds a block while praying for God’s protection on the children, then adds their block to the wall.
Action Stations In addition, you could have one or more Action Stations for people to visit after they’ve prayed, with things they can do to consolidate their response.
Station 5: Egypt
Station 6: Indonesia
Yati – Rejected Items for display: T-shirt pegged to a washing line, sewing basket. You could also tip out some rubbish to represent her scavenging when she was eight. Suggestion: Write a prayer and peg it out on the washing line.
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Station 7: Colombia
Xiao Ming – Deprived Items for display: Picture of a prison door, items of Chinese food, including prawn crackers or rice cakes. Suggestion: Break a cracker or cake. Pray for Xiao Ming’s broken relationship with his father to be restored. Amir – Isolated Items for display: A print-out of enlarged sad and happy face emoticons, pictures of Egyptian tourist sights and printed out headlines about the political changes in Egypt (search on the internet). Suggestion: Imagine you are Amir happy at home: pray. Then turn around and imagine you are Amir sad at school: pray.
pr a m e ye r e ti page ng tw
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Read and fill in the Secret Children leaflet
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Sign up to pray for the Secret Children from 6 November to 24 December
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Put a donation in a child’s piggy bank for Open Doors’ ministry to children
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Have a laptop (linked to a projector?) available for people to explore www.opendoorsuk.org
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Write to a persecuted Christian: details at www.opendoorsuk.org/write
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Sign a campaigning letter on behalf of persecuted Christians: details at www.opendoorsuk.org/campaign
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Read more about it: buy a copy of Brother Andrew’s books God’s Smuggler or Secret Believers.
Departures Give out Secret Children leaflets. Thank people for coming. Invite them to your next event.
children The hidden victims of the persecuted church
Open Doors Registered Charity in England and Wales No. 1125684 © 2011