MOMS PRAY FOR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

The adage ``ask and ye shall receive'' could be the motto of Moms In Touch, a group dedicated to the notion that schools - students, teachers and staff - benefit with a little prayer on their behalf.

The nondenominational Christian organization will host a prayer rally, open to the public, at 6 p.m. Sunday. The gathering at Grace Baptist Church, 24736 Quigley Canyon Road, will be held to pray for everybody involved in education, public and private, elementary through college, in schools across the Santa Clarita Valley.

Sharon Givens, 49, formed the Santa Clarita Valley's first chapter of the international organization back in 1989. Her three children, who graduated from Hart High School, are adults now; only her youngest, a 20-year-old son, is still in college.

But there's still plenty of reason to close her eyes, bow her head and submit her petitions, oftentimes on behalf of the kids whose mothers belong to her circle of prayer, Givens said.

``You get to depend on that support, and you get so excited when your prayers are answered,'' she said. ``You don't stop being a mom when your kids are out of school.''

Low profile

This isn't prayer in the public schools, it's prayer for the public schools, members of Moms In Touch point out.

``Moms In Touch . . . is very intent on keeping the ministry behind the scenes. We're not a political group or lobbying group at all,'' Givens said, noting that many parents, teachers and administrators aren't even aware that about 30 prayer circles exist across the Santa Clarita Valley, most focusing on a different school.

Forcing religion on anybody isn't the group's style. ``We're not trying to be secretive in any way. We're just trying to be a positive force,'' Givens said. ``We just try to stay behind the scenes.''

Moms In Touch International was formed in 1984 by Fern Nichols, a British Columbia mother who later relocated to the San Diego County city of Poway. The group now has 30,000 chapters around the world.

Nichols established a philosophy to which the chapters adhere: Moms In Touch does not lobby for political or social causes. Members keep a low profile, meeting one hour a week at a member's home to unite their voices in prayer that ``schools may be guided by biblical values and high moral standards,'' according to their club statement.

``We're just a group of cookie-baking moms who pray,'' Givens explained.

There is no specific theme for Sunday's prayer rally, the second such gathering Moms In Touch has organized. ``We just want to commit this school year to prayer . . . to ask the Lord's guidance for this school year,'' Givens said.

``We're just asking the Lord to bless this year and keep the kids safe.''

The subjects of Moms In Touch prayer include ``wise decisions'' by administrators, ``character qualities'' for the children and ``wisdom in the classroom'' for the teachers, Givens said.

Trust in God

``When Hart High School was looking for a principal, we were praying that a good one would be chosen,'' Givens said. But generally, the group ``doesn't get into the specifics. We trust God with that,'' she said. ``We're not into `Lord, send more money so that we'll (be able to build) more schools.' ''

Even when inconvenient circumstances intruded, the women in her circle persisted in their weekly communal prayer habit, Givens said.

For a while, they convened during their lunch hours at a centrally located gathering spot - a public parking lot. ``My prayer group met in my car,'' Givens recalled. ``We met at Bouquet Junction, behind the McDonald's, in my van. We would have our hour of prayer, and at the end of it, we'd all get back in our cars and go back to work.''

During another era, group members met at her house, but because of her job, Givens sometimes would be the last to arrive. She'd leave a house key for her friends under the doormat, they'd let themselves in, set up chairs in a circle and start the hour of prayer.

Givens said she usually came home to find the session in progress and would slip in quietly and unobtrusively to join them.

The origins of the group are twofold: Mothers, traditionally, tend to be the spiritual center of a family, and mothers tend to be more reluctant to turn over the child they bore and raised from infancy through toddler years to another caretaker - in this case a teacher - when the child comes of school age.

``The mother is concerned for her child, who's no longer under her total care. There's six or eight hours a day when they're with someone else,'' Givens said.

``So they feel a sense of dependence on God to watch over the (child),'' she said. ``Praying for my children has totally changed my life.''