Standing in the Gap for Our Children
Parents Arise is one of the expressions of Hour of Liberty Fellowship, under the leadership of Pastor Oluwakemi Onalaja. It was birthed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we began gathering online every Saturday night to pray for our children.
What started as a weekly prayer meeting soon became a commitment that has continued to this day. There were times we prayed from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., crying out to God on behalf of our children and committing their lives, destinies and futures into His hands. By the grace of God, we have seen many testimonies, and our conviction that we must continue to pray for our children has only grown stronger.
The online prayer meeting has remained a constant, taking place every Saturday night, week after week. We have made it a priority to ensure that the prayer continues because we believe that no matter how busy life gets, we must never stop praying for our children.
Over time, the ministry began to extend beyond Nigeria. Parents Arise UK was established in London in August 2021, followed by Parents Arise USA in Maryland in August 2024. These expressions grew out of the same burden for our children and the desire to see parents in the diaspora come together to pray. The physical gatherings also created opportunities for Pastor Kemi Onalaja to minister to families and pray with them.
As we continued to have physical gatherings in Nigeria, the thought arose that our members in the diaspora should also have the opportunity to experience these meetings in their own countries. This contributed to the growth of the UK and US expressions. It was Pastor Kemi who subsequently suggested that we should also have a physical gathering here in Nigeria, bringing parents and their children together for a time of prayer, worship and the Word.
And so, in December 2025, we held our very first Parents Arise Nigeria physical conference. To the glory of God, the meeting was fully attended, and we were grateful for all that God did. We are looking forward to our next gathering in December 2026, trusting God to do even greater things.
Today, Parents Arise is both a global online prayer movement and a growing family ministry with physical expressions in different countries. While we look forward to our annual conferences, the Saturday night online prayers continue without interruption. Every week of the year, parents are still gathering to pray for their children.
Our prayer is that our children will become all that God has destined them to be. As the Bible declares in 1 Peter 2:9, they are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a peculiar people. We want to see them walk in this identity, stand firm in their faith and shine as lights in their generation.
Parents Arise is our way of continually standing in the gap for our children, trusting God not only for their lives today but also for the generations yet unborn.
We will keep praying. We will keep believing God. And we will keep trusting Him to raise our children as mighty seeds in their generation, in Jesus’ name. Amen.