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By Jim Coggins
WHEN five junior high school girls made a commitment to pray last fall,
they had no idea it would lead them to the Prime Minister's office.
Elaine Baillie is a member of the support staff at Fort
Saskatchewan Christian School in Alberta, working with special needs
students. The school covers kindergarten to Grade 9, is accepted as an
alternative school under Elk Island Public Schools and is a 'daughter
school' of Strathcona Christian
Academy in Sherwood Park, Alberta. Both schools were started by the
Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination.
Last fall, five junior high girls at the Fort Saskatchewan school had a
desire to pray, and asked Baillie to mentor them. The result was the New
Generation prayer team, which met once a week at lunchtime. The team
members took their inspiration from 1 Timothy 2:1-2, which commands prayer
for all -- beginning with "all who are in authority."
"This was definitely something that God orchestrated," Baillie said.
Later in the fall, she visited Ottawa. When she told the girls about the
trip, they asked: "Would you take us to pray there?"
Baillie received permission from the school board, and the girls raised
their own money for the trip. In the end, two of the five girls went,
along with a grade 12 student from Strathcona Christian Academy who is a
sister to one of the girls.
The girls were in Ottawa for a week, from May 28 to June 2. They stayed in
the National House of Prayer,
a nondenominational ministry whose purpose is to "provide informed, focus
and sustained prayer for Canada and its leaders." That week, NHOP was also
hosting groups from Summerside, PEI and Newmarket, Ontario.
The girls took part in activities usual for such groups. They attended
Question Period in the House of Commons and prayed silently. They took
part in a prayer meeting which NHOP hosts each Friday for Senators and
Members of Parliament.
The girls also met with Val Day, wife of Public Safety Minister Stockwell
Day and head of the Parliamentary Spouses Association, a non-partisan
group which offers support to about 35 MPs' spouses. The girls brought a
gift for each member of the group and a card saying the girls were praying
for them. Baillie said the team had been praying regularly for the spouses
of MPs, recognizing "the sacrifices they have made for their country and
the pressures they are under."
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| Prime minister Stephen Harper holds 'A New Generation Prayer for Authorities,' presented to him by Alberta students. Standing with him are (l-r): MP Ken Epp, Crystal McLaughlin, teacher Elaine Baillie, Kaybrie Haff, Cheryl McLaughlin, and Ellen Wideman. |
During the year, the girls had written a prayer for those in authority and
had had it matted and framed -- but they were not sure who to present it
to. Ken Epp, Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Sherwood Park and former
chair of the board which had founded Strathcona Christian Academy,
arranged for the girls to present the prayer to Prime Minister Stephen
Harper.
In a 10-minute meeting, one of the girls read the prayer to Harper.
According to Baillie, the Prime Minister "seemed visibly moved" and said,
"We need more of that here."
Baillie said the girls had a strong sense that "God had called them to be
there" -- but they also exhibited "a wonderful humility."
In keeping with the approach advocated by NHOP, Baillie said they had gone
to give rather than to ask for something from government. "We went with no
other agenda -- other than to pray."
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The prayer the team presented to the Prime Minister:
A New Generation Prayer for Authorities
Heavenly Father, God of all wisdom and power, we humbly come before you to
pray as you have instructed us in your Holy Scriptures, for all who are in
authority. June 14/2007
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Don Allan
Former president, Alberta Association of Independent Church Schools
But let us not go down the street of placing the likes of Trudeau, Chr
you have missed the girls point.
They are not embracing any form of poitics or cheerleading as you put it.
We are commanded to pray for "autourity" not politics.
Remember Isa. 53 "all we like sheep have gone astray....Own way"
the girls have taught us a lesson, "we need the mind of the Lord"
Please reconsider you comments.
Tim Ogden
Pastor