Below are prayer points for the sixth week of the Lent Prayer guide. Each week will focus around a different need in DR Congo with scripture and prayer points. If your church is interested in receiving these materials weekly via email, please email us at covenantkidscongo@covchurch.org and request them today. To view a sample of part of the material, click here or read the scripture and prayer points below. You can also view our preaching points by clicking here.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Poverty is a prison for thousands of families in Gemena City in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many came from the countryside to seek a better life and found it’s hard to feed their children without land to grow crops. As day laborers and petty traders, they make less than $1 a day.
Please pray for economic development for the people of Gemena.
In a country endowed with vast resources of mineral wealth, forests, and fertile land like the DRC, it’s not right for children to go hungry, for parents not to be able to supply more than one meal a day.
Heavenly Father, You put Adam in the garden “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2: 15). You honor honest labor through Your Word. Give the women and men of Gemena opportunities to develop strong livelihoods so that they can support their children.
So much needs to be done to overcome years of conflict, corruption, and poor governance and to build up stable institutions in the DRC. Only about 1 percent of the population has access to banking and formal financial services. Yet women and men need opportunities to make a decent income, to save, to take a business loan, and to have access to markets
Father, we know that “every good and perfect gift” comes from You. We ask for the gifts of perseverance and hope for the people of Gemena. Help them cooperate to borrow and pay back, to invest in themselves and each other so that they can build strong communities for economic growth and security.
More than half of Gemena’s children over the age of four are in the labor force. This is a burden that robs them of their childhood. It often means they don’t go to school or can’t keep up with lessons. Without education, they’ll carry on the cycle of poverty.
Dear Lord, bless the children of Gemena. Lift the burden of adult cares from their shoulders. May they have good food, loving support from family and friends, and school days filled with joy and learning.
Poverty and despair are the lot of many children in the DRC. Some are victims of neglect or abuse; others have been or-
phaned by AIDS. Children see few examples of the joy and peace that come from knowing and serving Christ.
Dear Lord, bless the children of Gemena. Lift the burden of adult cares from their shoulders. May they have good food, loving support from family and friends, and school days filled with joy and learning.
