Prayer at the Gate is an idea that came out of American churches. In the early 2010’s the Equippers denomination were one of the main groups to make this idea ‘famous’ around New Zealand.
The idea is simple but powerful: Christian youth meet together outside the gate of the school prior to school on a weekly basis to pray for the school. And that is it.
The point is all about what happens next.
- People ask what you are doing. When you tell them, leads to intrigue about your faith and why you pray.
- I’ve heard of teachers feeling a group by the road was not safe — so they were asked to pray inside the school gates, and were thus given recognition (permission?) as a group in the school. To note it, student initiatives are usually loved and supported by teachers — so long as everyone is respectful in their conduct and manner. So there is very unlikely to be a weird ‘authority’ problem with this in a school. Anyone is free to pray. Just stay respectful toward others!
- But the real thing this achieves is in what happens within the students who pray — as the result of their prayers. As we pray for others our own desire to do things to encourage and bless them grows. Students become more pro-active in engaging others in spiritual conversations as a part of this. And, as a group, the students sometimes come up with weird and wonderful ways of being a blessing to their school.
How do we change the world?
- While we can certainly do some good in our own strength
- …it goes without saying that we will accomplish more when working WITH God.
Connecting us with God is what prayer achieves — and with God, there is no limit to what few youth could achieve!
