Prayer Postcards 4 Police expands internationally
“We are seeing God’s hand all over the globe with churches building alliances with officers to pray together.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Prayer Postcards 4 Police has expanded internationally. Founded in 2016, the Ottawa-based ministry offers prayer, encouragement, and support to peace officers. After making significant inroads with the Ottawa Police and distributing more than 1,600 of their distinctive prayer postcards to officers across Canada, the ministry was receiving numerous requests to send cards internationally.

Ministry founder Janice Sadler says police officers face significant and increasing challenges, with few places to turn.

“They are in so much trouble. I had a letter from an officer in Texas who said they ‘are crumbling’, that’s how he described it. I think prayer is the one thing that is going to make the biggest difference.”

Prayer postcards are the ministry’s most distinctive hallmark. The hand-coloured cards are distributed to officers either in batches at special events or when wherever ministry members see them in public. While colouring the cards, ministry members spend their time praying for the officer who will receive the card. In Canada the card also includes a pre-paid and self-addressed envelope so officers can anonymously send prayer requests to the ministry.

For the new international cards, rather than trying to procure stamps and enough postage for officers around the world to send prayer requests, the international cards direct officers to submit prayer requests through the ministry’s website. The international cards also have a slightly different vision. Rather than being primarily a personal prayer for officers, the international card can be used by churches to pray for and encourage officers in their own communities.

The front of the international prayer postcard.

“The card includes a prayer that I had a vision of groups of citizens praying it in front of police officers,” Sadler states. “It could be used by a church, a prayer breakfast, or a cell group.”

“The card is very priestly-oriented,” explains Ken Sadler, Janice’s husband. “The opening paragraph, directed to officers, is in blue, the prayer is in purple, and the statement at the bottom is in red [reflecting the priestly colours in the tabernacle of Moses]. We want the Church to see this as a priestly intercession for officers. They can read it as their prayer to God for police officers.”

At the bottom of the prayer, on the back of the card, is a statement, “We won’t let the darkness overcome you.”

In just a few months, the ministry has already sent out nearly 1,200 of the international cards, reaching 11 countries, as far away as Cambodia and Romania.

Ken and Janice Sadler. Photo courtesy of Prayer Postcards 4 Police.

“We are seeing God’s hand all over the globe: Australia, England, South Africa, in the United States, the same idea, churches building alliances with officers to pray together,” Sadler states.

“We have a contact in South Africa, where there are six major churches having discussions with the police departments because there is such a problem with crime in the cities,” Ken adds. “They have police officers who won’t go out at night, they will only go in a car, and they won’t go out to the countryside because of the violence. So the police departments and the churches are trying to come up with a solution.”

The church leaders are meeting with officers and the police chiefs to pray and discuss ways the Church can be a support. The trend is growing in many places the ministry is in contact with.

“In this profession, to have someone come say, ‘Thank you for what you do, I’m praying for you and for your safety,’ we don’t see that,” says RCMP Constable Mubiru, who has a strong connection to the ministry. “You wouldn’t believe how many people out there tell you they wish someone would shoot you or something bad happens to you. Then to hear from someone who is actually praying for you, for your safety, it’s a good thing. It makes a difference.”