10. Unusual Circumstances
On rare occasions, a student might request prayer for something we know is wrong, immoral, or against the will of God. Instead of refusing to pray for them, we pray for the Lord to meet the needs of that person according to His love for them.
On rare occasions, a student might request prayer for something we know is wrong, immoral, or against the will of God. Instead of refusing to pray for them, we pray for the Lord to meet the needs of that person according to His love for them.
Student requests prayer for something immoral.
For example, if Kevin asks, "Can you pray that I hook up with this girl Janet? She's hot and I want to have sex with her." At times this is just the student testing or teasing us to see our reaction. Turn it around and say, "I can pray for God to meet your needs in this area." Then pray: "Heavenly Father, thank you that you love Kevin and want to reveal Yourself to him. I pray the longing in his heart will be fulfilled with a relationship with You. Let him know You love him right now, in Jesus' name, Amen."
Student reveals they are a victim of physical or sexual abuse.
The proper course of action is to encourage the student to report this to a school authority such as counselor, administrator, or trusted teacher. All school employees are mandated reporters and are required to report this to the proper governmental agencies. You can pray with the student for courage to report this and for the comfort and presence of Jesus to be with them. We are not able to do more than pray at this point.
Student wants to engage you in a discussion about theology or doctrine.
Experience has shown this, in almost every case, is unfruitful and tends to hinder the outreach. Most of these students are in some type of religious sect or cult, and they just want to start an argument. If you are in the process of sharing the Gospel and genuine questions arise, that is one thing. What we are talking about here is a confrontation where the individual wants to pinpoint specific areas of doctrine or interpretation of the scriptures. It is best not to engage with them (it takes discipline not to) and tell them we are not here to argue or debate, but to pray. Engaging with them, even if you win the argument, you most likely lose the battle. Your time is taken away and opportunties lost. Our purpose is to pray and love the students we encounter. We can't do that well if we get sidetracked by these distractions.
Parents or school staff challenge your right to do this outreach.
This is unlikely but might occur. We need to handle this with some finesse. If we are not on school property (and we should not be), we have a right to be on the sidewalk, or other public property. But pushing our rights is not the first thing we want to say to those that challenge us. It is best to explain we are simply offering to pray for the students and nothing more. We are a group of Christians from various churches in the area and we refer the students to the campus Christian club sponsored by (name of faculty club advisor). We are not handing out any literature or recruiting students for a particular church. We are simply there to pray for students who want prayer. You can refer the parent or staff member to our website if they have questions or need more information. We want to avoid making a scene or a major confrontation. Be as friendly and humble as possible.