School Moms, Prayer Warriors

"We don't have much time, but we can set aside one hour per week to pray for our kids."

It's a sultry mid-August afternoon, and Ruth Hilden, like millions of moms across America, is running around town, trying to get her kids ready for another school year.

A trip to the mall to buy some new clothes for daughter Carrie, a high-school sophomore? Nope. A stop at Wal-Mart to pick up notebooks and Nikes for son Peter, an eighth-grader? Well, not yet.

First things first. Hilden will get to the shopping list soon enough. But on this particular day, she has a higher priority: She's going to pray for her kids.

So Hilden, a 50-year-old homemaker from Rockford, Illinois, hops into her old station wagon and drives a few miles to a friend's house, where she joins six other women for a noon prayer session. They gather around Stacy Wells's dining-room table and spend much of the next hour praying for something unique: a high school.

"Welcome," Hilden tells a friend, "to Moms in Touch."

These women--who pray for nearby Jefferson High, where they all have children--make up one of approximately 30,000 groups that Moms in Touch International (MITI) boasts worldwide. In addition to having prayer groups in every state in the U.S., the organization has members in such places as China, Egypt, Germany, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Romania, and Russia.

Whatever the language, they all share the same focus: All are moms committed to praying their kids through school.

ONE MOTHER'S VISION

It all started in 1984 when Fern Nichols, then a Canadian, grew concerned about her sons, who were about to enter junior high school. Nichols found another mother to join her in weekly prayer sessions for their kids and their kids' schools. And so Moms in Touch was born.

Nichols, who moved to California a year later, soon had a grand vision: She wanted to see a group of mothers praying for every school in America. At first, the movement grew slowly. But in May of 1988, when Nichols described Moms in Touch on a Focus on the Family nationwide radio broadcast, more than 20,000 women responded.

Ruth Hilden was one of those women. So in the fall of 1989, Hilden, a mother of four, started her own Moms in Touch group, meeting with several other women she says "were hand-picked by the Lord." Indeed, all of the group's original members, who had started out praying for their kids in elementary school, are still together.

"They're all very committed to prayer for their children," says Hilden. "That's why we've stuck together. We've just kind of moved up through the years. We started in elementary school, then moved on to junior high, and now we're still together as our kids are in senior high."

The Jefferson moms stay in touch with their target school in practical ways--like attending PTO meetings, volunteering as teacher's aides, working in the lunch room, and running concession booths at ballgames.

Hilden, now the coordinator for all MITI groups in the Rockford area, says she's committed to the concept of Moms in Touch "because prayer works. And because we're all scared enough of the public schools to get down on our knees."

Scared? Of what? "You name it," she says. "Curriculum. Racial issues. Peer pressure. Sex. Gangs. We're talking reality here."

Hilden says that through the years, her group has seen "fantastic answers" to prayer. She gives one example:

"We pray for safety, but sometimes the Lord lifts that protection and allows things to happen. Like last year, when one of the gal's sons broke his leg big-time in a football game. As his mom and dad were coming down the bleachers, a school administrator prayed with them before they went down on the field. On the field, one of the assistant coaches prayed with them while they waited for the ambulance--with the kid's teammates and the opponents standing right there.

"When the ambulance left, one of the assistant principals, a believer, opened the gate. When they got to the hospital, a Christian nurse helped to admit them. And they were assigned to a Christian doctor who prayed with them before surgery. We were just amazed at how the Lord put believers to encourage these people all along the way."

Hilden says that "we've had so many answers for things we never prayed for in specific ways. There are no barriers for the Lord. He's teaching us all the time."

The Jefferson group follows the format outlined in the organization's 28-page guidebook, which suggests using the A-C-T-S (Adoration-Confession-Thanksgiving-Supplication) model of prayer during meetings. "This format," says Hilden, "has revolutionized my prayer life."

The MITI book, which has been translated into 12 languages, also suggests getting right down to business at prayer meetings. This is not a social event. Says Hilden, "We don't eat and we don't chit-chat. That's the beauty of the program. We're all so busy, we don't have much time. But we can set aside one hour a week to pray for our kids."

At its mid-August meeting, the first of the 1995-96 school year, the Jefferson group spent a few minutes reading Bible passages aloud, followed by about 10 minutes in adoration, two minutes in silent confession, eight minutes in thanksgiving, and the remaining time--about 25 minutes--in supplication, interceding not only for their children, but for everyone and everything from the principal to the athletic program.

"We want to come alongside those teachers and administrators and our kids in those schools," says Hilden. "We just bring it to the Lord and leave it there."

At the meeting, one mom prayed for "unity among the staff, that they come with renewed zeal to work together." Another prayed for "unity among the students." Another, for "the incoming freshmen. Please still their fears." Another, for "racial unity, that they can find a bond and be friends." Another, for "students to have an eagerness to learn, to work hard on their classes."

When one mom prayed for her son in geometry class, "especially, Lord, with the problems with math he's had," the other women giggled knowingly, one patting her on the back. (Says Hilden, "We hang loose.")

The prayers continued, for "kids to see the importance of working hard for the Lord," for "caring enough about our children to allow difficulties to come into their lives," for "all kids at Jefferson to remain sexually pure," and so on.

One mother prayed for God's guidance "to help me know when to push my kids, and when to hold back. It's so hard for me sometimes to know when to do what."

"I echo that prayer," said another. "I need to know, Lord, when to pull back and give the boys more freedom, so they can mature. Please help them to stay on track."

A few heartfelt requests later, they were all saying "amen." And within minutes, most of the women were out the door, in their cars, and off for whatever the rest of their busy afternoons held in store.

For Ruth Hilden, that may well have included some back-to-school shopping for her kids. But as far as this mother was concerned, the most important part was already taken care of.

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By Mark Moring, associate editor of Campus Life magazine. Moms in Touch can be reached at 1-800-949-Moms.

Copyright © 1996 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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