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Walking - seeing - praying

Every Tuesday we go prayer walking in Wanhua.

We begin walking and praying at the corner of the Dali Elementary School, where we hold our weekly kids club meeting. Because God provided enough teachers to help this past semester, we were able to split into small groups. This allowed us to have more structure and a setting to get to know the kids on a more personal level. In my group of third and fourth graders I sensed a gradual bonding and atmosphere of trust forming between the teachers and the kids with each week, each game, and each conversation. Our connection with them is not measured by the depth of conversations held, but rather by spending time with them, playing together, and just having fun. I’m realizing more and more how much time is really needed to build ministries, to build relationships.

At the Dali Elementary School every week we play simple games with some of the kids that stay after the kids club. On the outside of the school kids run around the playground. Not all of them are from our club. “No, we don’t want to play with them!” protested the girls to me. “They smoke and swear, and we don’t want to learn bad habits!” I looked incredulously at the group of boys, who couldn’t have been much older than the sixth grade. Already at such a young age kids are being led onto wrong paths. With negative influences all around them, as well as parents and grandparents who are often absent and unable to watch over them, many kids become involved in gangs and are led astray.

As we continue with our prayer walk around the school, we think about the kids and teachers inside, and we pray for them. Crossing the street, we walk further down to the Luti Park, where we do our park ministry every Saturday. At the park we play games with the children there, and when they get tired, we sit down with them to tell Bible stories. I love the part of each Saturday when we gather the kids together on the bench and tell them about our Creator who breathed life into this world. As we walk through the park, we sense the spiritual darkness, and we claim God’s victory over the place.

Walking around the block and then back to the front of the Dali Elementary School, we meet the kids as they get out of school. We then move on to the nearby Fu Min neighborhood. In a place where the desperate need for God here is so clearly evident and overwhelming, we are still able to see God’s hand at work. Things are far from being stagnant. We hope to see a community center in this area, where children and their families can come, chat, relax, feel cared for, and experience God.

As we walk through the Fu Min area, we see poverty, people, and familiar faces. We pray for our ministry on Thursdays, for each of the kids that attend the English tutoring lessons. We pray for more creativity and for fun ideas to attract the kids. We pray that the kids will be interested in hearing Bible stories. We see and hear and feel all around us—and we pray.

Katherine Woo, Taipei