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World Weekend of Prayer 2017 Summary Report

Over 2 million people took part in the World Weekend of Prayer for children

The World Weekend of Prayer (WWP) is a global initiative

held annually on the first weekend of June. It unites millions of

people across the world in prayer for children. Viva produces

resources and encourages our networks to hold events to

engage their members and other people in the community to

pray for children worldwide. Participation is not limited to

people that are connected to Viva. We have received feedback

from people in countries where Viva is not working, who have

been inspired to join this powerful prayer movement and

organise prayer events in their churches, schools and

communities – or even pray in a room on their own – joining

millions of people around the world in prayer.

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to

silence the foe and the avenger. Psalm 8:2

The reports we have received of events this year have shown that the weekend has a range of positive impacts

on the community. These include people engaging with prayer for the first time, improved understanding of

children’s needs and attributes, new members joining networks, children connecting with local churches and

positive steps towards changing the situation for children in the city. We also know that there are many more

involved who have not had the chance to feed back to us. The figures above are therefore conservative estimates

and we believe the numerical impact of reach and number of events held is far greater than this – the spiritual

impact is beyond quantifiable!

REPORTED NUMBERS:

All recorded participants*: 2,062,953 Events: 35

Countries: 22

Network initiatives 21

Non-network initiatives: 7

Child participants: 833,351

Adult participants: 853,729

*includes where adult/child was not differentiated

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We have received feedback from 35 different World Weekend of Prayer initiatives. Events have ranged hugely

reaching from one to thousands of people depending on the method and style. These have included:

feature in church services or Sunday schools

singular church events

collaborative events of multiple network

members

private events at home

national collaborations

radio shows

This year, from reports

received, over 2 million

children and adults participated

in the World Weekend of

Prayer. These events took

place in at least 22 countries

across Asia, Africa, South,

Central and North America

and Europe. We received

feedback from 7 non-network

initiatives which were held in

countries including Nigeria,

Bangladesh, Germany, Brazil,

USA and UK.

Theme

The theme of this year’s World Weekend of Prayer was ‘Teach us to Pray’. Viva recognises the power of

children’s prayer, and wants to encourage children’s workers and churches to create space for children to pray

and to listen for God’s word through children. As Viva’s partner networks are working to change negative

situations for children, many of the events also focused on awareness-raising or directing prayer towards needs

faced by children in the community. Here are some of the prayer focuses that were shared with us:

Education in Ranchi, India “as human beings we are helpless so need to educate, equip and empower ourselves

by talking and listening to God”

Conflict in the Philippines, “In Marawi city where there is war and children are suffering from hunger and

fears...in Sunday School, prayer concerns were written in paper and posted at the prayer wall after praying. Inside

the church, the congregation prayed for the event and an elder led the prayer hour”

In Patna, India, “We organised a prayer among slum adolescent girls (Dalit girls). They prayed for each other

with prayer balloons.”

In Nigeria, where inter-religious conflict is causing death, destruction and division of communities

children wrote the names of Muslims boys and girls on balloons and prayed for them.

Children in the Philippines also prayed for children who are hungry, uneducated of have been abducted.

Activities

It is encouraging to read that many who took part were able to use the activities

suggested. They brought joy to children and aided their prayer. It is also exciting

to see how people have held such different events and designed their own

activities. Some of the events were solely adults praying for children, others were

designed with more fun, games, dramas and activities for children to be pray,

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many were church congregations of adults and children together. One interesting idea, was an event organised

for children in the Philippines, but which was being covered in prayer by adults in the adjacent church.

Of the children’s activities suggested in the resource guide,

many used the prayer wall and world maps to visualise

their prayers and the location of children around the world

they were praying for. Others used the courage activity,

where children jumped up and down whilst praying, to

demonstrate that God expects us to have strength and

endurance to face difficult situations. The prayer balloons

seem to have been the most popular activity, particularly in

India. Many were able to use paper or online copies of the

book created for this year as well, drawing on the story of

Hannah and Samuel, and using the prayer points. In the UK,

some children read prayers based on each page of the prayer book, whilst in the USA, one woman held a solitary

prayer event reflecting on the book and praying for children in the knowledge that she was praying with millions

of others around the world.

Similarly, in Zimbabwe, where resources were scarce, “people were requested to pray in their homes, churches and

organisations because the network did not have the resources to have some prayers at some central points. The materials

were circulated on email and nothing was printed but it is interesting to note that the churches were still able to hold the

prayers in their services.”

Some networks linked with other organisations and movements in prayer. For example in Costa Rica, the

network coordinated with World Weekend of Prayer with the Evangelical Alliance, sharing prayers in their

churches and on their radio stations to reach thousands of people. The network in Colombia drew on publicity

for the World Weekend of Prayer and combined it with a current campaign that they are developing called ‘For

the Colombia that we Dream’, “where the children joined their works of art, drawings, stories, videos to pray for their

dreams of peace in this time of conflict that we apparently live!”. People have been able to use these events to engage

with authorities and help increase their awareness and understanding of situations faced by children. For example,

in Bolivia, “at the end of this world week of prayer, we had the presence of local authorities who prayed for children”.

Food and refreshments are often given at larger events, especially in more economically deprived areas. We

have been told of miracles of food donations being given to make this possible. In Uganda, where many do not

have food security, the event included lunch and children were given items such as clothing, soap, maize flour for

food and rice. “Before this event we needed resources for this day to be a success which were soooo limited. But God is

faithful he provided through the different people we approached who gave us donations and that was a very very big

miracle. The following Saturday 10th June someone gave us more maize flour to give to these needy children. We thank

God for that.”

Many continued their events even after the weekend. One event organiser said, “we had the privilege of using the

study and discussion outline that was developed for the World Weekend of Prayer. This material was shared with the

Sunday school teachers to use in one class, but as they were preparing for the class, they realised that the material was

very good and that compressing it in one class would not do justice to it. After discussion with the pastor, they agreed to

break it down into the 5 sections as they prayed for different needs of the vulnerable children each Sunday. We are

hoping that after this, children will continue to pray for the different needs of the other children that they live and play with

in their community.” The final session was on 9th July.

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We pray that for all who participated, the prayer will not stop at the end of the weekend, but that those whose

lives were touched by the weekend events will continue to be praying with and for children, and to encourage

children to pray.

Positive Impact

We have received many stories of lives changed, people touched by God, and many with new or renewed sense

of empowerment following the World Weekend of Prayer. Impacts of this weekend are vast, and many kingdom

results cannot be quantified. From responses we have had, we have broken the impact into three key areas:

Improved understanding, network development and changing situations.

Improved understanding of children and prayer

Many reported a change in the way they perceived children and

prayer.

Following an event in the UK, “a lot of the congregation said how touched

they were by being led in prayer by our children, also representing children

across the world”.

In South Africa, “many of those attended said that it was a life changing

experience for them and they really do realize how important children are.”

In El Salvador, “adults at this church are now aware of the children’s

situation, they were moved, and thought how they could prioritise not only

the children of our mission but the world and its child population.”

Similarly, in India, “About 200 congregation members heard about the

exclusion of children from prayer and participation in church activities. The

congregation prayed to take steps to include children in prayer.”

A pastor in Bolivia testified, “it is a good initiative because it unites the

churches and families, breaking denominational barriers and helps us in

the attached work of the Church. We also encourage the participation of

children in praise, tambourines and other ministries.”

Network Development

For Viva networks, the World Weekend of Prayer offers a good platform to introduce new people to the network,

share messages and encourage new members to join. This has been the case in the Philippines, where our partner

network PCMN said; “Many of those who came experienced WWP for the first time. It raised awareness among new

network participants.”

Connecting with the network has the potential to transform the lives of children. This can be through network

initiatives or by connecting children to local churches to benefit from their individual outreach. In Uganda, following

an event put on by one of the churches, they said “and guess what, we have made friends with these children some of

them have joined the pathfinder club that we have, others come and pray with us.”

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Changing Children’s Situations

As networks develop, Viva helps build strategy to change the situation for children in the city. Achieving this

requires a multi-pronged approach including collective action programmes to meet physical needs, changing

attitudes, increasing understanding and engaging with city authorities. The World Weekend of Prayer has helped

to further these objectives in some cases.

Helping children to know that they are loved by God and can trust and depend on him, can immediately change

the outlook of a child. All of these events will have achieved this. One example from Uganda says, “These children

learnt the story of Hannah and they can never forget that through prayer God responds to all our requests”.

It is a role of the church to provide for children and share the love to God with them, yet many struggle to do

this amongst busy church calendars and other needs of the community. Five churches in Zimbabwe indicated that

the event wakened their church to work with children since they were not doing it before.

Teaching children about negative situations and making them aware of the needs of others can also help to change

the situation sustainably for the future generation. In India, “many churches said children are encouraged to continue

to pray for children who are in need of things for education. They are happy as they are involved in praying for other

children. It was also a time of learning for many children. They came to know many children are not having access to

education like them and need help.” As we are developing children as agents of change, this understanding is a vital

first step.

Expansion of the network in Costa Rica means that churches from

areas with many socio-economically vulnerable families have begun to

come together. Children who participate World Weekend of Prayer

activities are from communities where drug addiction, alcoholism,

poverty, sexual assault and murder are prevalent. The network

believes “it is very important to expose how the Lord is surrounding and

protecting the children of those communities through united churches and

ministries, where the word of God and discipleship is being shared. There is

an opportunity that offers the children of these communities a the path of

salvation.”

It is encouraging to see that local authorities were engaging with many of the World Weekend of Prayer events,

raising awareness of issues children face and the need to address them, with a spiritual context to help drive

change forward. This has been a source of encouragement for many. Representatives from Bolivia said; “the

presence of local authorities who prayed for children was a very special moment because we noticed that the authorities or

their representatives were impacted very hard when we pray for each one of the problems that children have to live and

deal with in his life. The authorities now have a better attitude to our work for children and adolescents and that we are

evangelicals, they now listen to us more carefully and are willing to help us.”

Testimonies1

Many powerful and encouraging testimonies have been shared and many have been written in to the report

above. Below are a few others encouraging stories:

1 All names changes in the interest of child protection

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Bolivia

Testimony of Marylou, coordinator of a comprehensive care center.

“As a comprehensive care center, they prayed for sick children during the World Weekend of Prayer and with the

children they prayed for medical care for all children and for doctors to come to the centre because many children cannot

go to receive medical care in hospitals for economic and cultural reasons.

The Lord answered their prayer and doctors visited the centre to make a medical appraisal for the children. They felt the

love of God because they not only received this blessing but also received free dental care at the center for the children.

Marylou and the children are very grateful to the Lord for he heard the cry of your requests and prayers.”

Bolivia: testimony of a child

“Patrido says that initially he was not attracted to the idea of praying for others. He thought it was in vain and boring

when he played at the comprehensive care center to intercede for his parents who are separated. During the World

Weekend of Prayer event he prayed for his parents to be together again. Patrido says that now that the Lord is answering

his prayers because his father came to visit him and he is noticing signs of his father wanting to get closer to his family.

He now says he will continue praying for the family to be together again.”

Venezuela

“In Carabobo, the testimony of a girl who sang impacted all who

attended the World Weekend of Prayer event. During the whole

week before the event, she was at rest with a bronchospasm. She

could not sing and was very sad because she wanted to do it on

Saturday in the activity. After praying, her mother sang a song of

recovery that speaks of healing. The Lord in his infinite mercy,

restored the little girl´s voice and she was able to sing that same

song on Saturday 3th June. No one who had heard of her state of

health, could understand how she was able to sing that day – The

Lord was Glorified.”

Nigeria

“We participated to pray for the vulnerable children on Saturday and Sunday respectively. We believe that if we ask God

anything, He is faithful to answer our prayers. All that was tabled before Him on Saturday and Sunday, we believe out of

the mouth of babies and infants God ordained strength. We thank God for the privilege to join the world to pray for

children at risk what a wonderful time in the presence of God. As we prayed we felt the Holy Spirit is saying that He will

heal our Land and Revival will be experienced worldwide as a result of our cry to Him in unity. Praise the Lord.”

India

“My name is Chiranjiv. I am 9 years old and I live with my family in Patna. My younger brother Kundanlal had a hole in

his heart by birth. The Doctors told my parents that he will not survive. My family was very upset with this development as

we are very poor to do anything. He was very weak and sick.

Over the last year I started to attend Sunday school and church with my family, and from there I learned that Jesus

answers our prayers. I started to pray regularly for my brother Kundanlal. I love my brother very much and wanted to play

with him every day. I am very happy that God has answered my prayers and my younger brother is doing fine. At present

he is four years old.”

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Dominican Republic

“The Biblical presentation and reflection on the importance of children from the heart of a child was shared to more than

200 people in one of the integral care centers. This reflection was recorded on video. The integration of Country Directors

of Schools in the devotional is a declaration of the marvels of God.”

Panama

“Thank God that through prayer many churches and schools participated and the event is opening doors for the

government to get involved, many families were blessed. For example, the life of little Paulino. One of his great wishes was

to have a decent home to live and thank God his prayer was answered on June 14th the social worker together with the

Ministry of Housing approved the construction of his house. We also believe that many prayers were answered to

thousands of Panamanian children.”

Cuba

“In one event, they wrote the names of each child on pieces of paper and asked each child to pray for another. In the

week on June 3rd, church members visited the homes of these children. They were impacted by the prayers. They had

asked God for the children’s parents not to beat them anymore, or to drink. They prayed with tears in their eyes and

God´s presence was felt in that moment. On June 4th for the Glory and honor of God the majority of the parents went to

the Church and are now attending as they have been discipled.”

Colombia

“It was special because the parents from vulnerable areas wanted to come with their children to the event put on for the

World Weekend of Prayer. We hires a bus and brought them, but when they arrived at the celebration, the parents were

"frightened" to see how the children got into the "river" of the Holy Spirit and were filled with joy and praise. The parents

were "frightened" to see this and wanted to leave but then the Lord convinced them to stay, making them feel like VIP

guests.”

“In Medellin, a group of people who were doing a "Bible Study", seeing the children in prominence and prayer, the class

was filled with joy it was really beautiful!”

“The children had the opportunity to talk about War & Peace, and how they lived in their homes. It really was very sad

to hear so much abuse and abuse from adults but at the same time it was an opportunity to "PRAY & HEAL" their

hearts!”

South Africa

“There were three groups meeting all over East London. 25 people attended the one I led. A children's ministry pastor led

the program and did a wonderful job in leading us all through the story of Hannah and Samuel in prayer. One of the

ladies that attended is a teacher. In groups we were asked to pray for children's needs and one of the needs were chairs

for children to sit on at one of the schools in our area. This teacher prayed specifically about this need. Our Prayer

meeting took place on Saturday and on the Monday 5th June, there was an article in the newspaper highlighting this

problem at the school for the Department of Education to attend to. Many of those attended said that it was a life

changing experience for them and they really do realize how important children are.”

UK

“We did indeed have a special time of prayer with our children taking part, reading prayers based on your lovely prayer

book with the pictures projected on the screen above us. A lot of the congregation said how touched they were by being

led in prayer by our children, also representing children across the world. I really felt we were being led by the Holy Spirit.

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One little boy who’s too young to read out prayers yet, and has been too shy to do something out front before, joined in

with a sentence he could memorise! We will continue to look at prayer over several sessions, building on our Viva

resources (including webinar).”

Zimbabwe

“The prayers have continued to be a memorable event in the network with churches joining hands in praying for children.

Two organisations joined one church prayer event and prayed for children together. 5 churches indicated that the event

wakened their church to work with children since they were not doing it before. One church indicated that the program

should be done at national level and have all churches and government ministries joining hands in praying for children.”