New Year Prayer Points

Happy New Year to all!

I was reminded of this lovely poem by someone in an email this week, so at the start of this new year, let me share it with you too.

“The Gate of the Year"

It was Christmas Eve 1939. Britain and the Allied forces were at war against the Axis powers. Anxiety gripped the empire. The war was escalating in intensity each day. King George VI was about to address the nation, searching for the most appropriate words that could offer encouragement and hope in that dark context.

King George’s wife, Elizabeth, mother of Queen Elizabeth II, brought him a poem that had touched her deeply. King George chose to begin his speech with the opening lines of this poem, entitled “The Gate of the Year” written by an anonymous poet at the time: Minnie Louise Haskins.

The words he spoke then were as follows:

"And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,

“Give me a light so that I may walk safely into the unknown.”

And he answered,

“Step into the darkness

and put your hand in the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light

and safer than a known path.”

So, I went forth and, finding the Hand of God, I walked gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East."

As we stand at the gate of a new year, education often feels like stepping into the unknown. Teachers and school leaders face uncertainty, pressure, and change; pupils carry anxieties about the future; and schools continue to shoulder profound social and moral responsibility.

Yet we do not step into 2026 alone.

Like the king in 1939, we are invited not to demand a clear path, but to place our hands in the faithful hand of God — trusting that His presence will be better than light and safer than certainty. With that assurance, we pray:

Prayer points for education and schools in 2026

For teachers and school staff

• Pray that Christian teachers would step into this year held and strengthened by God’s presence, not overwhelmed by what lies ahead.

• Ask that they would be buoyed by the gospel — rooted in the knowledge that they are called, loved, and sustained by Christ in their vocation.

• Pray for renewed courage, wisdom, and quiet confidence to live faithfully and graciously in their schools.

For schools as communities

• Pray that schools would be places of hope, truth, and stability in an uncertain world.

• Ask that relationships between staff, pupils, and families would be marked by patience, compassion, and mutual respect.

• Pray for school leaders making complex decisions, that they would be guided by integrity and a concern for the flourishing of every child.

For pupils and students

• Pray for young people stepping into their own unknowns — exams, transitions, pressures, and questions of identity and purpose.

• Pray that they would encounter adults who model faithfulness, kindness, and hope.

• Pray that schools would be environments where students are known, valued, and supported.

For the witness of Christian educators

• Pray that 2026 would be a year of knowing the faithfulness of God more deeply in daily school life.

• Ask God that Christian teachers would have opportunities, when appropriate, to share that faithfulness — through words, actions, and the way they teach and lead.

• Pray that God would use His people in education as lights, pointing others to Christ.

For the year ahead

• Entrust the uncertainties of education in 2026 to God — policy changes, cultural pressures, workload, and wellbeing.

• Give thanks that the God who leads us into the darkness also leads us toward “the breaking of day.”

• Pray that this year would be marked not by fear of the unknown, but by trust in the One whose hand we hold.