Prayer. Praying in Youth Groups

Transcription

1 Prayer Praying in Youth Groups

2 Introduction How crucial is it that we pray? How important is it that we stay connected to God? I am continuously struck by Jesus commitment to prayer throughout His life we see how He takes Himself away to pray to His father and how He sets an example to those watching Him. If Jesus, the Son of God needs to pray then how much more do we, as humans, need to pray? Prayer is a simple yet exceedingly difficult practice. I find that the less time we spend in prayer, the less we are likely to want to pray at all; but the more that we pray, the more we will want to pray and walk closer in line with God. As easy or as difficult as we find it the important thing is that we do it; no matter what this is how we grow in our relationship with God. Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ to live. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Praying is something I was never comfortable with as a young person I loved doing it by myself but did not know how to navigate it in a youth group or even with one or two other people. This may be the same for you or your youth group. This resource is filled with some practical ideas to encourage praying individually and as a group in a youth setting. Ideas Prayer Chains all you need are strips of card, pens and a stapler. Encourage the young people to write a prayer onto their strip of card (they can of course have more than one). Once these are written, go round in a circle and have each person read their prayer (if they are not comfortable saying it out loud they can say it into themselves) once it is read they staple it to the previous one finish with a chain and a closing prayer. I have found that this works very well when praying for a specific topic for example, a country, an event or a news item. 1

3 Church Prayer Walk go round every room in your church/building and pick an item or object in each room. Give this list of rooms and items to each person and encourage them to walk around individually spend some time in each room, focusing on the object listed and pray. This encourages the young people to expand their idea of prayer and the possibility that we can pray about anything and everything and inspiration for prayer can be sparked through many different things. I have been massively encouraged by this exercise in youth groups I once listed the emergency exit doors in the main hall and they came back having prayed for refugees and those who have had to leave their home or country in an emergency. Sweets Prayer Walk make up individual cups of sweets (varying in colours e.g. M&M s, skittles, smarties) ensure there are different colours in each cup. Create a different prayer point for each colour. The young people will walk from one destination to another with a cup of sweets and prayer points- this can be done individually, pairs or small groups. This encourages the fact that we can pray at all times not just in church. Prayer Wall if your church/building/room allows it, dedicate a wall or a part of a wall to being a prayer wall something that the youth group can focus on every time you meet. Maybe have different sections that they can pray into e.g. church life, family/friends, world issues, local politics etc. Make it attractive and interactive and keep it up to date. This encourages continuous and persistent prayer. Tell God - this is a simple exercise that encourages conversation with God. Make a list of things you could tell God; just a few simple things that we would tell people through normal conversation, for example Tell God a funny story, tell God what your weekend plans are, tell God what you are worried about, tell God your favourite holiday destination and why etc. Give the list to each person and allow space for them to sit individually and have a conversation with God; encouraging them to know that God cares for all areas of our life, not just the big things. Prayer Room I have found that having a prayer room designed and set up for a certain amount of time helps people, no matter what age, engage with God. See our Prayer Room Resource for more information on these. 2

4 Write and Read a way to encourage young people to pray together and out loud is to provide space to write prayers down and then have a time of prayer afterwards allowing them to read their prayers together. Praying through the Lord s Prayer use the Lord s Prayer as a guide when praying together split it into sections and encourage each person to write what they want to pray about this could be done individually or as a group. Prayer Consequences take a piece of paper and write titles down the page, leaving space for writing after each one. Each person gets one and fills in the first title, for example, a name for God Father, Heavenly Father, Lord God etc. They then fold that piece over and pass it to the person on their left, everyone then fills in the next title, for example, Thank you God for friends, family, school, xbox, holiday etc etc. Fold that part over and pass to the person on the left. This continues until the whole page is folded over. Each person then reads a full page as a prayer. Prayer Airplanes each person takes a page and writes something they would like prayer for. Once written, spend a couple of minutes making a paper airplane and having a bit of fun with them seeing who can throw it the furthest, throwing them at each other etc. After a couple of minutes everyone picks one up that isn t theirs and prays for the person. Alternative ways to this include using balloons; putting the prayer request into a balloon and chucking them around for a while after a couple of minutes, burst them and pray. The young people could also take that prayer request home and commit to praying for that person for the coming week. Praying out loud at the same time - this may be a little more difficult for groups who aren t confident praying out loud but it is good to all pray together and not have the pressure of everyone listening to you. These are just a few of the ideas that we can use when encouraging young people to pray they can be used individually or as a group please do adapt them to fit the needs of your group. 3

5 If Prayer is something that you are looking at with your youth group or would like to look at, there are lots of resources out there that can help guide these sessions. For example, The Prayer Course this is a 6 week course that looks at the Lord s Prayer and how Jesus taught us to pray. This is easily adapted to different groups and ages. Kathryn Shirey her blog has so much on prayer what it means to pray, how we do it, why we do it, practical ways of praying etc and is definitely worth a visit if you re exploring prayer. Heart Soul Mind Strength 50 Creative Worship Ideas for Youth Groups Jenny Baker a book worth a look; full of creative ideas in prayer, worship, bible reading etc If you would like any further information please get in touch at office@imycd.org The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6:18 4