Children's Companion Guide

The children’s companion version of Seek God For The City 2010 is intended to be a companion and not a substitute for the standard prayer booklet. It is ideal for giving kids the opportunity to pray along with their parents during these 40 days.

The children’s guide is available as a single PDF file. Each week has two pages, except for the last week, which has just one page. Each week is designed to be photocopied (double-sided) and distributed, week-by-week, to children or parents. You may also prefer to give them out as a complete set. The scriptures and themes are the same as the standard version providing another way for families to involve children ages six through eleven in united prayer for Christ’s glory.

Remember that the 40-day period is Wednesday, February 17 through Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010.

Special thanks to Trudy Landis.

Click here to download the Children's Companion Guide.

To view and print the children’s version of Seek God For The City 2010, you will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™, which is available to you at no cost by clicking the button on the right.

Also, we have a letter to the parents for assistance in using the children's guide, written by Kim Butts.

How to use the Children’s Companion Version of
Seek GOD for the City 2010

Dear Parents of Preschoolers and Elementary Age Children,

Use the Children's Companion Version to make Seek God For the City 2010 an exciting prayer experience for your entire family. It was developed to help elementary age children to be more involved. Of course, adults can adapt if for even younger children. Here are some ideas to make it useful for your family:

1. Meet regularly. The booklet can give you a focus point to meet regularly as a family. Of course, make it your intention to meet on a daily basis. If the daily habit is disrupted, don't hesitate to start again. Continue to pray daily even when one or more family members cannot participate.

2. Read and pray, read and pray. Each day, Seek God For The City presents an Old Testament passage and prayer with a Gospel passage and prayer that follows the same general theme. The children's Companion version presents only the Gospel portion. Read aloud the Old Testament scripture as it is presented in the adult book and the prayer that follows. Then invite your children to look up and read aloud the Gospel passage from a Bible and read the prayer in the companion version. Of course, you can read the Gospel passage from whatever Bible your children use. If you need a suggestion, try the NIrV. It is very easy for children to read and understand. You can look up each day's passage online by going to:
http://www.ibs.org/bibles/nirv/index.php

3. Talk about it. Answer questions your children might have about what is read, or discuss what it means in ways your children can understand. You might ask, “What does God want our family to do?” or, “What can we expect God to do?”

4. Make it specific. Each prayer from the Gospels, in both the adult and the children's companion version, offers some bullet point ideas to make the prayers more specific for particular people, friends, family members and neighbors.

5. More ways to pray. The sidebars on every page of the adult version give you even more opportunities.

a. Pray for particular kinds or groups of people. Each day presents another subgroup for whom you can pray, with creative, biblical ideas. For example, Day 6 shows ways to pray for sick people. Important: The subgroup does not necessarily correspond to the prayer theme of the day as expressed by the Old Testament and Gospel passages.

b. Prayerwalk. Explore how you may be able to apply the prayerwalking suggestion as a family. For example, on Day 6 you may walk as a family through a few blocks of your neighborhood praying quietly as you walk for people who may be sick, whether their illness is known to you or not. The sidebars are packed with creative ideas to pray for each of the subgroups.

c. Pray for the countries or continents of the world. The adult version presents the names of the countries of a different continental area of the world each week. All the countries of the world are listed. Choose one or more of the countries on each page. Find that nation (or nations) on the map. Combine the ideas so that praying for the nations doesn't become tedious. For example, on Day 6, pray for the sick people of that nation (or nations), making it simple to extend prayer for sick people in Guatemala or Haiti. You might wish to have a map of the world available to use each day, but keep it simple. Mentioning the names of one or two countries each day is enough to instill the idea that God is working globally as well as locally. Prayer for the nations stirs up healthy curiosity about the world, but if every day becomes a detailed geography lesson, it can become difficult to sustain a daily discipline.

It is our prayer that this Children's Companion Version will help your family grow in hope and prayer for your city and God's world!