Moms In Touch: Women Who Come Together To Pray

Enter one particular house on Glenwood Road on any given Monday morning and you'll witness something unique: small clusters of moms—some in the living room and a pair or two at the dining room table—praying for their children. Indeed, while eavesdropping, a few of them could be heard praying that their children stay focused during the holiday season.

One of the women is Joy Kay, area coordinator for an organization called Moms in Touch. Come to find out, there are organized pockets of mothers in Montclair praying for Montclair High School, all three public middle schools, and every elementary school (except Nishuane and Hillside), Montclair Kimberley Academy, and St. Cassians. The moms meet every week for at least an hour to pray for their children, as well as for the staff and teachers at each of the schools. In addition, there is a college and career group of moms that prays for their older children and also for each college represented.

Patch recently sat down with Joy, as well as with Elise Parker, who has been a state and area leader, to find out more about Moms in Touch. They say the number of women attending their weekly prayer group averages about a dozen. But the local groups are part of a much larger body—Moms in Touch International, a nonprofit ministry in 120-plus countries.

Q) How long have you been doing this?

A) Elise: "I've done this for 18 years. I have four kids ages 32 on down to 16." Joy: "I've only done this for 18 months. I have a 21 year old and a 14 year old. I met Elise through a mutual friend and she told me about the group and it was exactly what I was looking for."

Q) What do you like about it?

A) Elise: "The wonderful thing is that it brings women from different denominations together. Everyone comes from a different background. But we all want to pray for our children. The idea is to have a prayer group for every single school. And there are anywhere from three to 12 moms praying for every school. MKA has a new group. We all know each other very well ... the women are wonderful."

Q) How does it work exactly?

A) Elise: "We meet on Mondays. We start with the college and career group that prays from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. And then we have a little social break from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. And then we have our Montclair High School group from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. We call this our marathon Mondays."

Q) Do you spend time chatting?

A) Elise: "We are pretty strict. Sometimes you want to sit and chat. And it's tempting to chat and have social time. But we say that we should 'pray it and not say it.' Because if you start talking, you won't get to the praying. And that's why we are here ... to pray for our children.

"In general there are the ABCs of rules. Always begin and end on time. Be committed. And what is said here remains confidential. You can't bump into a child and say 'oh, sorry to hear you're struggling in chemistry' ... it doesn't work that way."

Q) It sounds very organized ... is it?

A) Elise: "Yes, it is very organized. We praise God for the first 10 minutes. We praise God for who he is and not what he does. We do a silent confession for two to five minutes. And then we have time for giving thanks. And then it's tissue time. I'm the minister of tears. I cry all the time. We then break up into groups of two or three and shower our kids with our prayers. And God answers us!

"We also pray for schools and we go through and pray for the teachers and the principal. We pray for five or six teachers a week. When those [MHS] students were in that bus accident, we prayed for them."

Q) And do your kids know you are praying for them?

A) Elise: "Yes, we do tell them. They know that every Monday we're praying. I think the kids love it." Joy: "My daughter is in college and she'll actually put in requests ... for example, she'll tell me she has a final coming up and ask me to pray for her."

Q) What do people outside the group think about you all and the idea that you come together to pray once a week?

A) Joy: "I'm sure some people think we're a little out there and crazy." Elise: "I think there are people who would love to come but it's intimidating to pray out loud. And that's okay. But there's something amazing about praying and carrying each other's burdens. No one is holier-than-thou around here. We all have gotten to know each other very well but we're also very welcoming."

Q) How do you get the word out about the group?

A) Joy: "I'm the area coordinator and I attempt to spread the word by word of mouth. But we're also on Facebook. We want to use the media more to tell people about what we're doing."

Q) What churches do you two belong to?

A) Joy goes to Christ Church and Elise goes to St. Cassians.

Q) What do you like about Montclair?

A) Joy: "I love the small town feel of Montclair. My husband Bryan grew up here so we know both old and new Montclair. I've been here for 23 years and I'm still considered to be new. Our favorite place to eat in town is Montclair Char-Broil. Gus, the owner, always makes us feel at home."

To find out more about this growing group, email Joy at joykay08@yahoo.com or Elise at Pray4Kids2@aol.com. The group is on Facebook here. To find out more about Moms in Touch International, go here.