What happens when a school invests in the transformational power of prayer instead of traditional discipline procedures? What follows is an incredible story of how one South African school is exploring a different way to love their neighbour…
“I’ve just come back from an amazing weekend,” writes Nadine Arendse from Cape Town, South Africa. “We trained regional coordinators and team members from a group called "Gateways" who work in schools across our nation. We shared with them about God’s heart of Intimacy and the different prayer focuses we have for young people. They were totally taken with prayer and together we renewed our vision for transformation in South African schools.
As we shared together I heard an amazing story from a school called Paarl Gymnasium here in Cape Town. In a school of over 600 students one of the Gateways youth workers discovered an amazing approach to bad behaviour. There are approximately 70 Christian small groups or cell groups each of them led by students. Over 400 of the young people in the school belong to them. When the school was asked how they approach challenging personalities their response was surprising:
“We gather our intercessory team which is made up of a cross-section of the cell groups and give them the name of the student and then mobilize every group leader to connect with the student by showing small acts of kindness. They might give him or her some chocolate, buy them a cup of coffee or even befriend them. Eventually the problem student is swamped with kindness and prayer."
"He or she is then invited to an evangelism adventure camp where the message of Jesus is presented. Whether they make a commitment to follow Him or not the relationships they’ve formed continue to grow and many become members of cell groups they’ve connected with.”
"It’s amazing that young people are using positive peer pressure to influence their friend’s way of life and their future in eternity. What an example of what can be done when we pray and take Jesus’ command to love each other seriously.”
