“We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done…to teach their children… and they in turn would tell their children”—Psalm 78:4-6
Prayer Campaign for EDUCATION in Belize
Purpose of Education—To pass on the learning of past generations and produce students who can assess their developing SHAPEs (Spiritual gifts & callings, Heart passion, Abilities, Personality & Experience), contribute to team-building, and keep learning and solving problems as they arise in the seven mountains of influence on local, national & international levels.
Current conditions: A large percentage of the national budget is allotted for education. Belize has many Christian and church-based schools. Churches have constitutional rights to manage schools and provide religious instruction whether or not they receive government aid. Yet Christian schools feel much government pressure to become more secular. Yet the national curriculum provides an outline of all subjects that does makes room for Christian content. Also, there is a prevalence throughout the education system of overcrowded, undisciplined classrooms with under-trained teachers, increasingly secular curriculum and lack of parental cooperation, resulting in low grades, high drop-out rates, and student involvement in sex, drugs and violence.
AGREE IN PRAYER WITH US FOR
Teachers, course plans & resources
- Honoring God as the Originator and Guide for every school subject (Jn. 1:1-5)
- Show that all truth is personal in Jesus (John 14:6), not just facts
- Managements with workable goals and plans for students’ academic, ethical and spiritual growth.
- Conversion of non-believing and nominal teachers into passionate disciples
- Policies preventing practicing homosexuals from teaching in schools
- Elimination of homosexual propaganda in curriculum
- Textbooks & resources with a biblical worldview on all subjects, including intelligent design
- Curricula on right relationships with the opposite sex in friendship, courtship, marriage & parenting
- Christian teacher review boards with higher standards than Belize’s Teaching Service Commission
- Raising up more male and female teachers & administrators with a love for God and students and their subjects, with biblical worldviews, and with a well-rounded life as role models
- Thorough, well-paced, divinely-appointed course plans with room for Holy Spirit initiatives
- Integration of course plans so teachers can know and build on teaching in other courses
Parents and conditions outside school
- Partnership with parents in understanding, disciplining, and encouraging students as they develop
- Raise up teachers as father and mother figures, especially to kids whose parents need help
- Counseling for dysfunctional families to grow in right relationships with healthy boundaries
- Counseling & good options for students caught in fornication, porn, drugs, violence & self-destruction
- Agreement on times and quiet spaces at home for students’ schoolwork
- Safety and watchful eyes for students going to and from school
- Gang influence over students to be broken, and good family influences to increase
- Family finances to support ongoing education of all family members
- Right relationships among stakeholders for the good of the school & community
Conditions in schools
- More time in the school day for heart-to-heart worship & prayer, both planned and spontaneous
- More room for God during the day in heart-to-heart communications with students. As we make room, He will address every difficulty in learning, discipline & communication
- New works in believing teachers and students that draw many to Him
- Agreement among teachers & students on practicing biblical values
- Simple but comprehensive discipline plans which teachers & students agree on enforcing
- Divine protection so that students will consider weapons unnecessary
- Effective plans and resources for disaster response and recovery
- Show all students they are valuable to You
- A grace-filled social climate with basic cooperation and healthy, respectful competition
- Effective discipline of bullying and other serious misbehavior, and counseling for victims
- Respect and proper boundaries between the sexes
- Good male and female role models who help students grow in their God-given identities & callings
Learning activities
- Purposeful learning activities that build step-by-step into greater understandings
- Growth in understanding how each learning unit contributes to the big picture
- Classroom management of varied lessons that fully engage students with different aptitudes
- Student growth in multiple intelligences of literacy, logical problem-solving, group interaction, spiritual perception, nature appreciation, visual arts, music, physical activity and self-developed projects
- Opportunities to learn cooperative teamwork with team assignments and assessments
- Students who excel in any skill to teach other students, and help them outside the classroom
- Relevant resources & skilled trainers to help students through reading & other learning difficulties
- Methods and content that interact proactively with a quickly changing world
- Increased access to computers and other devices as students grow more responsible
- Equipping students to assess and improve their spiritual, mental, emotional and physical growth
Applying learning to life
- Relevance of lessons to current developments on the 7 mountains of influence
- Increasing participation in the 7 mountains of influence as students approach graduation
- Development of habits of lifelong learning and solving problems with God
- Promotions, based on thorough ongoing assessments, only when students are ready
- Jobs available upon graduation which will utilize & develop students’ skills for the greater good
- Preparing this generation for ongoing divine transformation at local, national & world levels
GOD ALSO SHOWED US TO
- Know He is standing at the doors of our schools and knocking. Whenever just one teacher hears His voice and opens the door, He will come in, and bring divine order as more open up to Him
- Open worship times to spontaneous prayer, and prayer times to spontaneous worship
- Express how valuable each student is to Him
- Students who don’t feel valued at school find false value in gang identity
- Encourage students to enter into this season of making new music
- See students as sunflowers with faces turned to God all day, growing in the light of His truth
- The end of the school year is a time for appreciating how God has grown our minds & hearts together
- Prepare the way for a great national awakening sustained by ongoing encounters with Him