DALLAS (ABP) — Some schoolchildren may use daily classroom moments of silence to pray for all “As.” Now a Dallas church has created a cheat sheet to help them do it.
Last year, the Texas legislature mandated a moment of silence in public schools at the beginning of each day.
The children's ministry at Park Cities Baptist Church developed a tool to help children use the time wisely, said Tommy Sanders, minister of childhood education.
“I have children in public schools and [I] volunteer in public schools a lot, and it's been my experience that children don't know what to do with that time,” he said.
The church distributed stickers that children can adhere to their assignment folders or notebooks to guide them as they pray.
“We knew there were a lot of acrostics to guide prayer out there, but we wanted to do something new,” Sanders said. “Boys and girls often want to get As in school, so we thought we would give them something to go along with that idea.
The stickers point students to words beginning with “A,” such as adore, admit, appreciate and ask, and they offer suggestions about how they could be incorporated into prayer.
For example, for the word “ask” the child is told: “Think about those who are sick or have other needs. Pray for needs you have. Remember to pray for your family, friends and teachers at school.”
Each child at church was provided with one sticker, but some have asked for more to give to friends, Sanders said.
The idea has been well received, especially by parents.
“Most of what we have heard has been from parents, and they have been so encouraged that their children now can make better use of this time,” he said.
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