Pray day is a Europe-wide day of prayer which takes place on the third Tuesday of November each year, specifically focussing on prayer for local schools.

Pray Day 2010 took place on Tuesday 16th November 2010.  Here are some stories from around the country...

Marion Graham of Stewarton writes:

We provided a light lunch of sandwiches and cake and sent out invites to the churches in the town. We also notified the schools that it was happening and they were supportive of the event.  The Depute Head Teacher from the High School came along and joined in the open prayer time, bringing issues of concern to pray for.   We were encouraged at the turn out and have thought about doing something in the High School next year instead of asking folks to come to the church.

Alasdair Keane, an S5 pupil at Bannockburn High, tells what he did in school that day:

I ran a prayer room for pray day.  During lunch time on the day I created a prayer space for anyone in school pupils or staff, to come in for a quiet space to pray or to pray with others.  We had three different prayer stations- one for pupils, one for staff and one for the school in general. At each we had big sheets of paper where people could write down there prayers and we had some prayer pointers for each station as well.  The event was a great success with 2 teachers coming along to pray with me.  It also created a buzz around the school with people talking about the event and many including teachers approaching me in the corridor to ask questions about it.  The head teacher was very enthusiastic about it and it was a great stepping stone for future events in school.

Judith Barron, a teacher at Hamilton College, explains what happened at her school:

As staff we met together to pray at 8.30am, joining together Christian staff from the Nursery, Junior and Senior schools to lift up the various needs of our school in prayer.
At lunchtime we had a drop-in prayer time using the Lord's Prayer with various prayer stations for both staff and pupils to engage with. The highlight was seeing pupils pray for each other and pray together. The prayer wall was well used and some pupils wrote very meaningful prayers about acknowledging the need for boldness and courage.
We had a prayer box in the foyer for two days and pupils could write down things they wanted  prayer for.  A group of staff prayed for pupils at the end of Pray Day.  More junior than senior pupils took up this opportunity, but it was a privilege to pray into the lives of our young people.
Next year we hope to build on this and involve the SU Groups more actively in the initiative.

Selkirk High School's 'Flow Flighters' group also marked Pray Day in their school.  Mhairi Mitchell explains what they did:

We had a lunch time event, with three adults and five pupils attending.  We had various stations, where we prayed for different aspects of school - we lit candles for different parts of the school building and positioned them on a map of the school; we tied knots in string to remember learning     support staff;  we filled in the "5" prayer leaflet for our friends and we wrote post-it prayers for senior management and guidance staff.  There were also 'encouragement quotes' which we chose to take home to encourage us in our faith.
We will revisit it in the New Year to see whether our prayers have made a difference…"

Gordon McBirnie is youthworker at Craiglockhart Parish Church in Edinburgh.  Here he tells us what  happened in church on Pray Day:

We opened our church for the day (7am-7pm) to allow people to come in and spend whatever time they had praying for schools and schools work. There were a number of stations around the church with information relating to different types of schools work and different schools.

Scripture Union International's excellent website supplied prayer points for schools in countries all over the world.  The SU Scotland prayer diary and the prayer letters of our local SU workers were on a display board, and folks could pick up a copy to take away with them.

Around our church we have two primary schools, two secondary schools and a special school.  We have links with them all and we displayed a profile of each of them with information provided by each school, including in some cases prayer points of things to be thankful for.

It was heartening to see people from so many different places and quite a few braved the early morning on their way to work, although the bacon rolls on offer might have helped!  We saw people from our own church as well as many others. Thanks to all who came and prayed for our schools.  We look forward to opening our doors again in 2011. 

Free "History Maker" CD……

"History Maker", the inspirational song by Delirious, is available on CD together with a short movie to accompany the song.  This has been used to spur on young people to pray and make a difference in their school.

To obtain a free copy of the CD, please email pray@suscotland.org.uk or call 0141 352 7632.