Displaying items by tag: Children

Core Group Mentorship is a discipleship movement that has seen God’s power turning their mentorship into a movement. A massive children’s revival is happening among Core Kids. The children are prophesying, evangelising, praying for people, and some are shaking while they praise Jesus. They worship freely and are even casting out demons. Thousands of children and teens are experiencing a strong move of the Holy Spirit. The leaders have trained and seen thousands of Core Kids turn to Jesus, walking in their full calling, set free, whole, and healed.

13-year-old Marcelo and his younger brother leave their Venezuelan home at 4.30 am every day, to walk unaccompanied, in the dark, for 2 ½ hours, to attend school in Colombia. Their lessons start at 6.30. They slip into Colombia through informal border crossings known as trochas - dangerous rural dirt tracks weaving across the arid border, controlled by local armed groups, drug gangs and smugglers who often charge users a fee to pass through. In a sign of teenage bravado, Marcelo denies being scared of journeying through these crossings: he says, ‘I like coming to school in Colombia. They don't ‘have lessons where I live’. Venezuela's crumbling economy and socio-political crisis have pushed institutions to the brink. Rural schools are neglected, offering only a few lessons a week with a critical shortage of teachers. Official border crossings have reopened, but sadly few have the necessary papers to use them.

Christian parents and teachers are distressed by Relationship and Sex Education that is being welcomed into the classroom. Now a 130-page report of inappropriate sex lessons read by the PM has prompted a call for a review into Sex Education. We can pray for an end to primary school children learning about masturbation; for an end to drag queens telling secondary school children there are scores of different genders and asking what they feel about oral sex. Also, there is supposed to be a review of guidance for schools on transgenderism, which has been consistently delayed. Much of the inappropriate teaching and the harmful school culture stems from the gender identity ideology which underpins nearly all RSE resources, and which leads to schools socially transitioning pupils, often without parents' knowledge, for example, the book ‘My Shadow is Pink’ for 4-year-olds. Pray for parents to be allowed to see the materials which schools are using.

‘Peace is the wish of everyone in Kadugli,’ says Bishop Hassan James. The area suffered decades of civil war and has recurrent tribal violence, cattle theft, murder, intimidation and displacement. Against this volatile backdrop a symbol of hope for the present and future has risen and flourished - the Peace Episcopal Primary School, supported by the diocese. ‘We started the school as the society needed more options for affordable children’s education; especially orphans, poor families and Christian children,’ said Hassan. ‘It’s called The Peace School because living in a war zone, needing peace, we must teach children about peace.’ Over 480 pupils from ages 6 to 15 attend, with a separate kindergarten for 80 children. Bishop Hassan works hard to promote peaceful relationships between the Christian and Muslim communities. He regularly speaks on the need for peace via local radio and advocates for peace and reconciliation efforts with local authorities.

People across the United Kingdom have voiced their concerns about age-inappropriate LGBT teaching. The government has responded to a parliamentary petition that has now gained over 200,000 signatures. The clear request from those signing is in response to the aggressively promoted LGBT content which schools are now using. The numbers are so high that a parliamentary debate is now planned.

Tate Britain will host a drag queen story hour in half term hosted by ‘queer hero of literature’, neuro-divergent drag queen Aida H Dee. Catholic commentator Caroline Farrow has launched a petition for the Tate to stop ‘promoting gender ideology to children’ through its half-term free event. Her petition received over 8,000 signatures on its first day. She said drag queens are a form of adult entertainment mainly found in gay nightclubs, presenting a highly demeaning and distorted vision of women, which many find offensive. Drag acts do not constitute education and do not teach tolerance. Their aim is to expose children to sexualised and political messaging regarding the LGBTQ+ movement. Caroline is also concerned that the Tate produces a teaching and guidance resource for teachers and schools. It is co-authored with a transgender lobby group, is full of gender ideology, and encourages educational professionals to break the law.

Due to conflict, abuse, or persecution, large numbers of children are in need of hope and healing. This is why SAT-7 KIDS is creating a new programme, due to be broadcast in early 2023, to help children suffering from trauma. ‘Basically, if a child (or anyone) has not addressed their trauma, they cannot connect with their family, with others, or with God,’ said the president and CEO of Life Focus, with whom SAT-7 Egypt have produced the programme. ‘So, if you want someone to know Christ, you need to address trauma.’ The thirteen-part series addresses trauma caused by poverty, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and religious persecution, through drama, entertainment, and Bible verses. This aims to show young viewers that healing is possible and available for all broken hearts. It is not only for children; hopefully parents will watch and see the effect of their actions on their children.

New plans to change the online safety bill will see the UK come one step closer towards making the internet a safe place for young people by preventing access to content that promotes suicide, eating disorders and self-harm. The amendment will give the act additional teeth to deliver change and ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children. Christian charity CARE welcomed the amendment but said further action still needs to be taken. They would like to see the government go further to protect children from the specific harms caused by pornography and for children to be afforded the same protections in the online world as they are offline.

Golden Hills Elementary School in California is facing backlash from parents after promoting an after-school Satan club aimed at children as young as five. The controversial club is scheduled to hold monthly meetings starting in December. It was created by the Satanic Temple - not to be confused with the Church of Satan - as an antidote to the evangelical Christian groups cropping up in public schools. The organisation’s website states, ‘The Satanic Temple does not advocate for religion in schools. However, once religion invades schools, as the Good News Clubs have, the Satanic Temple will fight to ensure that plurality and true religious liberty are respected.’ In this instance, the after-school club was created in response to the Good News Club, a weekly Christian programme for 5- to 12-year-olds at the school. Many parents believe the Satan club is a Trojan horse to promote devil worship in schools.

Suicide is the biggest killer of people aged under 35 in the UK. ‘However bad you feel, this will pass. You are not alone, things will look different tomorrow.’ That is what Pete would have said to his only child, Jamie, if he had been able to read his suicide note before he died. Jamie was one of 1,621 young people under 35 who took their own lives in 2019. After Pete had struggled to cope with his death for two years, he read about three fathers going through the same thing. Known as the ‘Three Dads’, Andy, Mike and Tim walked 300 miles, in memory of their three daughters, to raise £3,000 for suicide prevention charity Papyrus. They eventually raised over £800,000. Over 200 school children commit suicide every year. They say we are doing nothing to equip young people with understanding and skills that could allow them to save themselves.