Prayer Request 3/18--3/24

Tuesday
China's has the worst gender imbalance problem in the world. It is the worst in Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Anhui, and Henan. It is illegal to use ultrasound to determine the sex of an unborn child but many still use it to abort the female fetus. We pray for those couples with daughters who experience pressure from their parents. We also remember all the believers who will have children this year and ask the Lord to give them wisdom to raise a godly child.

Wednesday
A "letter of appointment" is a letter of introduction which the government gives to graduates of approved colleges and essentially guarantees a job in a governmental agency with residency (hukuo) and medical benefits. It also serves as a recommendation from the Party leader at the school. Finding a church to serve after one finishes training is a complicated process in China that is greatly influenced by where one received theological training and what recommendations he has. Let us pray for all those who are waiting for the right place to minister, especially graduates of Three-self seminaries who have not found a church in which to work.

Thursday
Many churches have few children's programs to offer and are not willing to provide training for teachers or buy the much-needed materials to teach children so there are few children who attend Sunday services. Many parents simply let their children play computer games rather than taking them to church and often even the children of church workers stay home. We pray that more churches and more parents will catch the vision for and the importance of ministry to the little ones.

Friday
With 110,000 heroin users, Guangdong leads China in having about 1/7 of the nation's drug addicts. Illegal drug use among teenagers has been increasing steadily and youth from Christian families are not immune. Hundreds of college students have been recruited as volunteer promoters of drug abuse prevention and some addicts have come to know Jesus through Christian involvement. Let us pray for the officially-sanctioned drug rehabilitation work by several organizations with Christian ties.

Saturday
In the 1970's the University of Science and Technology of China had a special "child prodigy" class whose members were deemed to be future Nobel Prize winners and were closely followed by the media. Unfortunately, the program was unsuccessful and most of those children suffered from stress. Presently many Sunday school teachers lack good training and the programs are only "singing songs and story-telling". Let us pray for an overall improvement in the children's programs in all Chinese churches with more leaders who will see the importance of young believers.

Sunday
The government reported that at the end of 2006, 56% of China's 13-billion population was in rural areas. However, migration from the villages to the cities as well as from city to city continues. Many urban churches report that their Sunday school students come and go as they travel with their parents who are seeking better jobs elsewhere which makes it difficult to follow up on those children who do attend. Let us pray for wisdom in teaching and that the Holy Spirit will work mightily in the hearts of all the urban Sunday school students.

Monday
In China, books telling parents how to raise a child who is a genius are consistently bestsellers. All parents want to help their children get ahead academically or in musical performance so they spare nothing to give their only child all kinds of lessons. Most churches in China do not have a full Sunday school program so the real challenge is how to make the children's programs interesting when the teachers lack training. Let us pray that all the teachers are able to help their students understand and apply Biblical principles.

星期二
中國是至今全球出生性別比例失衡最嚴重的國家，其中尤以江西、廣東、海南、安徽、河南五省爲甚。雖然以超音波檢查胎兒性別是屬違法，卻廣泛被濫用。我們為許多因生女兒而倍受傳統壓力的夫婦們禱告。同時，記念所有將在今年爲人父母的信徒，求神賜他們智慧來養育出敬虔愛神的孩子。

星期三
「派遣證」是中國政府發給高校畢業生的介紹信，予以保證能在享有戶口和醫藥福利的公家機構任職。這也是學校幹部的推薦信。神學生在國內完成神學訓練後要尋找服事的教會，過程並不簡單。所受的神學訓練，以及所獲得的推薦對該生有很大的影響力。讓我們為所有正在等候適當事奉工場，尤其是從三自神學院畢業、尚未找到服事崗位的畢業生們禱告。

星期四
很多中國教會欠缺針對兒童的節目，而且不願花費提供兒童主日學教師訓練或購買所需的教材，因此參加主日崇拜的兒童寥寥無幾。許多家長乾脆讓孩子在家玩電腦，往往連教會同工的孩子也不上教會。我們禱告神賜下更多異象給教會和家長有此前瞻，能看到兒童福音工作的重要性，願意致力推動兒童事工，為未來的屬靈承傳盡上本份。

星期五
廣東吸毒人口居全中國之首，單是吸食海洛英的就超過11萬人，佔全國吸食人數七分一。青少年吸毒者逐年增加，連基督徒家庭的孩子也不能倖免。廣州各高校的百多名大學生志願者，參與推展青少年禁毒教育，一些吸毒者則因當中的基督徒而認識了耶穌。讓我們為受官方認可、有基督教背景的戒毒服務禱告，求主大大使用、賜福，叫更多沉淪毒海者能重獲新生。

星期六
1970年代中國科技大學專門為多名神童成立天才兒童「少年班」 ，栽培未來的諾貝爾得主，此事受到媒體的緊密追蹤。這個少年班不幸因成員負擔太多壓力，最終宣告失敗。目前國內好些兒童主日學，因為老師沒有接受適當培訓，僅止於一般性 與孩子「唱唱歌，講講故事」的節目而已。讓我們禱告中國教會能有更多看重年幼信徒的領袖，兒童節目能有全面的更新進步。

星期日
據中國的官方統計報告，2006年底中國大陸13億人口中，農村人口佔56%。然而從農村到城鎮，以及各城市之間的人口轉移仍會持續。許多城市教會反應，由於家長到別處找尋更好的工作機會而四處遷徙，他們的主日學生也進進出出流動率極大，使得兒童的跟進工作難以進行。求主賜教導的智慧給城市教會，聖靈也在主日學學生心中動工。

星期一
在中國，教導家長如何培養天才兒童的書籍經常都炙手可熱。所有家長都希望幫助孩子，無論在學術，或音樂上，都能在起跑點上領先，很捨得讓獨生孩子上各種學習班。多數中國教會沒有完善的主日學系統，目前最大的問題是在教師缺少訓練的情況下，如何把兒童節目做得有聲有色。讓我們為所有主日學老師禱告，求主幫助他們能夠有效教導學生明白和應用神的話。