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Our Sunday Prayer Routine

We have developed a routine of prayer at the beginning of each session with our 5-11s that now is an essential part of how we plan our work.  We do the prayer at the start of each session because, otherwise, it might get lost in the rush to finish on time and we really want to make it a priority!

Originally, we found that the children were very intimidated by praying aloud and often did not know what to say, so we started experimenting with less verbal ways of praying.  It really opened up a new world to us!

Our first and most vital component is the Prayer Board.  Seeing prayers answered every week really kick started the process!

Another weekly staple is the graffiti board and even the under 5s find it easy to draw their thanks to God

We also have found great value in having the healing board available every week. We had a period without it  but have now had to reintroduce it by popular demand!

As well as these basic stations we have a reflection area and 3 or so more prayer stations taken from our repertoire.  These stations will change every term, but the four basics remain the same.

When the children arrive in the room, they spend about 10 minutes exploring whichever stations take their fancy.  Then we all join together and the first question we ask is "who has had an answered prayer this week?"  It's great to see God at work!  If anyone has been in the reflection area we ask them to share anything they think God has been saying to them.  Next we share prayer requests and one person (normally an adult, though some of the children are starting to volunteer) briefly prays for these things before we then split into our groups to start the teaching.  Through developing this routine, children have really started to engage with prayer and to take ownership of the stations.  They are also much more aware of God at work in their lives and when we have to discuss the question of "how do we know God loves us?" we only need to point at the answered prayers on the prayer board!

16 comments:

  1. Unknown27 July 2012 at 10:22

    This is such a great idea! I have taken your idea and set up the same thing at our church which we will start tomorrow. Keep the great ideas coming! PS How long do you let this session run for each week?

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  2. Mina Munns4 August 2012 at 15:35

    Brilliant! Let me know how it goes! We generally spend about 10 minutes on this and then get on with the main session :-)

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  3. Anonymous7 July 2013 at 21:23

    I am inspired! Love your site. Thank you for great ideas on making prayer a priority for kids!

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    1. Mina Munns8 July 2013 at 22:29

      Thanks :-) I just find it so exciting! x

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  4. Anonymous9 July 2013 at 15:02

    I just recently started teaching the children's church kids about praying. Your ideas are inspiring. Thanks for posting.

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  5. NH9 September 2013 at 20:41

    I really like the idea of semi-permanent prayer stations. I've started this year with a "Thankful Table"...the children are encouraged to bring in a small item that can be shared with the class and give thanks to God for... a pretty stone, a fall leaf, a favorite book, a letter from a grandparent...etc.

    The healing and reflective stations are wonderful, can't wait to introduce these. May God keep the "creative juices" flowing!

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  6. Anonymous15 September 2013 at 05:33

    Thanks for the inspiration. These are really great ideas to borrow.

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  7. Unknown10 October 2013 at 10:28

    I just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful ideas! I have been reading your blog for ages which I love and I have really wanted to try out weekly prayer stations with the kids similar to what you are doing. We are looking at the Lord's prayer this term and it felt right to try out the prayer stations at the start of the session. We have been doing it since September and it seems to be going really well! The graffiti board and the healing board seems to be the popular ones at the moment. I am trying to mix them about so its not always the same each week. My favourite is the prayer requests/prayer answered board. I find it really interesting to see what the children want to pray about. Once again thank you for you brilliant ideas!

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    1. Mina Munns10 October 2013 at 20:22

      Thanks so much for the encouragement :-) I'm so glad. Our children love those two stations too! Please stay in touch. It's great to hear what people are doing!

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  8. Claire11 October 2013 at 13:34

    Thank you for so many wonderful ideas and for sharing with us so freely. First prayer bags are out with families at the moment.

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  9. Anonymous16 May 2014 at 16:36

    What a wonderful idea - I am going to try out one idea for everybody to use when they come into church whilst we wait for some others to arrive

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  10. MH'29 May 2014 at 20:32

    I am writing a curriculum relating to prayer and was wondering if I could have permission to use some of your ideas posted here?

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  11. MH'29 May 2014 at 20:33

    I am writing a curriculum relating to prayer and was wondering if I could have permission to use some of your ideas posted here?

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    1. Mina Munns30 May 2014 at 12:15

      Hi! Yes, that's no problem, but could you please credit where each idea you use comes from? I'd love to see a copy when you've written it! Blessings, MIna

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  12. Unknown21 July 2015 at 20:06

    If we transform next year, let's have a prayer station! I prayed over all the activities this year, but it would be nice for families to have an opportunity.

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    1. Mina Munns21 July 2015 at 20:41

      Yes! And I really hope we will transform next year! X

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