A parent’s mission field

We’re all used to hearing about workers going into schools - and we know the fantastic work they do.  but spare a thought for the parents who stand daily on the school gate - there’s a mission field there too!

Sat at work one morning, a text came through on my mobile: ‘I’ve got a moral dilemma and you’re the woman for the job!’  Within a couple of hours I was drinking coffee with a parent from my children’s school. She was 20 weeks pregnant and had just been told she had cervical cancer. She was wrestling with a whole load of moral issues that this raised, and we spent time thrashing them out together.  I promised to pray for her, and to ask others to pray too.  20 weeks later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and all subsequent scans showed no evidence of the cancer. 

A couple of weeks ago I was sat drinking coffee with another mum, who told me that if mortgage rates go up again her family will probably lose their house.  We talked, she cried and I offered prayer and practical support.

There are many more similar stories - and they are all stories that began at the school gate and often continued over coffee days, weeks and months later.  These ‘on the gate’ conversations can lead to the most incredible opportunities to share our faith.  They earn us the right to speak into the lives of the mums and dads we meet at some of the most crucial moments of their lives.  And they earn us the right to offer the hope that we have, to bring Jesus into the conversation and to pray for the people we meet.

Let’s share these conversations, support one another on this very local mission field - and challenge the local church to join us in the task.