![]() ![]() After a few minutes we gave them a one-minute warning to wrap up. ![]() They took turns sharing and then prayed over each other. We had the children self-select into pairs and then we modeled for them and set them to it. When we piloted this in class, it worked wonderfully. (Variation: Share best and worst experiences from the week and pray over that.) Here, my wife added her own touch to suggest having them share one thing they’re thankful for and one area where they need help. My friend also suggested breaking them into groups of two or three to pray. What else could we do? Break into Smaller Groups And modeling wasn’t really having the encouraging effect we were hoping for. Of course, public speaking ranks slightly above the fear of death in adults, so we recognized volunteering them too soon or too often could be scary enough to drive our children away for good. Some of the tactics my friend mentioned we were already using. You’re there to grow in fun, faith and friendship. Growing closer to God is a joyful experience. You’re aiming for laughter and light-heartedness. Youth Ministry Strategies for Teaching Prayer Set the Toneīefore you do anything else, make sure you’re welcoming the children to the class. Next, I sought advice from a colleague who regularly volunteers to work with early teens. ![]() We began experimenting with video and the kids said they appreciated it so we added short 5-7 minute video lessons to compound the learning. Discuss the day’s lesson and supporting scriptures until adult service lets out.Squeak out some prayers around the prayer wall >.Return to classroom and grab snacks (a cheap bribe to encourage attendance?) >.Attend worship in adult service for the first 20 minutes, until message began >.Here is the early rhythm we established for our kids: Since this early-teen class was a new level of youth ministry for our church and there was no template, we were drawing our own map. See? Never a dull moment allowed for shorter attention spans. Read the memory verse and close in prayer >.Return to your classroom and break into small groups for an activity with group leaders >.rehearse the day’s complimentary memory verse >.Leave the classroom join other classes in “large group” to.There was always a rhythm established to keep the children’s attention: We recalled the younger grades, where the Sunday school curriculum was set by a weekly subscription. Even with the repeated encouragement to take time to quietly pray over the list before or after class, the prayer wall was languishing. Well, it seemed 7 th-9 th graders were a little shyer than we thought.Īfter several weeks of modeling or selecting our more confident kids to reluctantly try their hand at public prayer, we realized something had to change. We adults modeled what it might look like to pray over the notes publicly and then turned for child volunteers, hoping they would jump at the chance. Our intention was to eventually move requests to the “Answered Prayers” and build a visible testimony to God’s faithfulness. ![]() The students were encouraged to write their prayer requests on sticky notes and place them under the “Prayer Requests” heading. Our wall was divided into two sections, with one section labeled “Prayer Requests” and one section labeled “Answered Prayers”. Built by placing plastic letter clings on a wall in our classroom, the prayer wall was simple enough. When we first tried bringing prayer to our church’s junior-high youth ministry, we constructed a prayer wall. ![]()
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