Prayer Altars

 Each month in Abuja we have a special gathering.  It’s called a “Prayer Altar”.    What is a prayer altar?  It’s an initiative that brings teachers and educators together to pray for common vision for Christian Education in Nigeria.  This was how the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Nigeria began establishing its presence in Nigeria.

 

 What inspires me about Nigerians is that they are “pray-ers” .  And have such faith that God moves and works through our prayers.  

                                       

 And God has been answering these prayers.  These prayer altars have grown over the years.  Our group in Abuja gets together monthly to pray.  Now we also add trainings to our prayer times on different aspects of Christian Education.  More teachers come.  We started with a group of 10 or so, and now we have 30-50.  Schools are taking turns leading the prayer times.  

                                          

 God is teaching us many things through our times together.  We are learning that we are not alone as we face the challenges of Education in Nigeria.  We are learning that as we listen to each other ideas are exchanged and solutions lie before us.  We are learning more about what it means to be a Christian educator:  our job is a calling, there are many ways we love and educate our students, that curriculum is a study of God’s creation and we have an active role to play.

  There are certainly challenges – sometimes attendance is low, messages don’t get out for people to come, excitement rises and falls, it’s hard to follow through on that which we have learned.

  But we continue to pray.  This is the solid foundation on which we find ourselves and know that as we pray, God hears and answers.  

                                                      

  Join me in praising God for Christian Education growing through Prayer Altars.  You are welcome to join us from a distance too!  We pray the second Saturday of every month from 9-11am.  Email me if you wish to receive our prayer points so that you can pray along with us!