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Creative Prayer with Children
- 1. Workshop - Creative prayer
- 2. What is prayer?Prayer is us as we are meeting God as God is.
- 3. Why pray? Becausewe know the value of prayer in our own lives. We long to offer the youngsters we know those same opportunities .
- 4. A holistic experienceof prayer….. God has made us…. body, mind and spirit. creative. amazing bodies five senses different to one another
- 5.
- 6. Learning Styles KINSETHTICK READING/WRITING R AUDITORY A VISUAL V
- 7. Biblical thoughts KINSETHTICREADING/WRITING AUDITORY VISUAL Feeding of the 5000 Matthew 14:13-21 K Jesus reads scriptures Luke 4:16-22 R The good Samaritan Luke 10:30-37 A A tree and its fruit Matthew 12:33 V
- 8. Multiple Intelligences Kinaesthetic– Body Smart Linguistic - Word Smart Logical - Number Smart Interpersonal - People Smart Intrapersonal - Myself Smart Musical - Music Smart Visual/Spatial - Picture Smart Naturalistic - Nature Smart
- 9. What the biblesays about prayer Mat 6:6 When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private, and he will reward you. Mat 6:7 When you pray, don't talk on and on as people do who don't know God. They think God likes to hear long prayers. Luke 11:2 So Jesus told them, "Pray in this way: 'Father, help us to honour your name. Come and set up your kingdom. Luke 11:3 Give us each day the food we need.
- 10. What the biblesays about prayer Luke 11:4 Forgive our sins, as we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. And keep us from being tempted.' " Rom 8:26 In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. Phil 4:6 Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Col 4:2 Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful
- 11. Jesus used allthe senses. “ Take and eat ; this is my body” Matthew 26 : 26 “ My sheep listen to my voice” John 10 : 27 “ Look at the birds of the air” Matthew 6 : 26 Touch me and see “ Luke 24 : 39 She has done a beautiful thing (when Mary poured sweet-smelling perfume over Jesus) Mark 14 : 6
- 12. Prayer styles Meditativeprayers Reading a Bible verse or passage to help focus on God. Liturgical prayers Repeating or reading a prayer that has been written or taught Shared prayers Praying aloud with others in small or large groups. Conversational prayers Speaking to God in a conversational way, listening for answers as well as telling God our thoughts. Arrow’ prayers Spontaneous, a n immediate response to something that is happening. Active prayers Praying while walking or moving or doing something.
- 13. What to PrayBe thankful Adoration simply means ‘praise of God’. Prayer entirely centred upon God. Thanksgiving We express our gratitude to God for all that he has done and is doing in the world and in our lives. Be sorry Confession Aware of being in the presence of God, we also become aware of all our wrong. We come before God and ask for forgiveness. Be quiet Silence -Quiet, still, meditate on God and listen to what God is saying. Be led Intercession - An opportunity to pray for the people of God, to stand before God on behalf of the world and speak for it to him.
- 14. Games to Pray!“ Prayer Works. Prayer is Work. Prayer Leads to Work.” I sn’t it frivolous to talk about prayer in the realm of play and games? Aren’t you making the sacred secular? Are you not simply using a gimmick to get children praying?” Play is God’s idea and play and games are excellent ways to learn and grow. Why can’t we employ them to grow in our ability to listen to and talk to God? Games are often best enjoyed together so what better way to develop unity without which our prayers stand little chance of success! Andy Kennedy YWAM
- 15. What to PrayActive Intercession
- 16. Simple ideas. Handstogether, eyes closed? Circle prayers: passing an object to hold. ‘ Conversation prayers’ Picture prayers Object prayers ‘ Popcorn’ prayers Prayer Tree Something to focus on Prayer and Praise Rainbow
- 17. More ideas. Usingmusic and scripture. Using craft materials as a response. Using a blow up globe or Google earth. Going outside and collecting items to use to thank God for his world. Taking photographs and making collages. Pebbles/sand. Using wildlife/gardening/Nat. Geographic magazines. ‘ One small barking dog’ videos to bring visual as well as musical engagement. Action prayers, using the whole body. Perfumes/ incense sticks. Lemon and honey… Ps. 119:103
- 18. More ideas. Almost100 Prayer Ideas Thanks to the following contributors: Rev Dr Sandra Millar/Catherine Kennedy/Joke Vos/Alun Gifford/Wynne Stearns/Lynne Morris/Luci Turner/Eileen Pickering/Martin Abel/The Welsh KK Team/Andrew & Eleanor Carter/Richie Gardner
- 19. Prepare your owncreative prayer activities Choose one of the following themes and prepare a set of creative prayer activities for the children in your group. Taking into account their learning styles and cultural background. I am sayings I am the light of the world I am the gate I am the bread of life I am the good shepherd I am the way, the truth, the life I am the vine
Editor's Notes
- #3 KATHERINE
- #4 KATHERINE – 2 mins Think of a time when GOD has answered a specific prayer for you. How did you feel when the answer came? Has there been a time recently when you have cried out to GOD about something? Why did you do that? Have you felt particularly close to GOD recently? Where were you? In church? Being peaceful in the countryside or at the beach? In the hubbub of the city? On your own, with a friend or in a big group? We long to offer the children we know those same opportunities.
- #5 PAULINE – 3 mins God has made us body, mind and spirit: not just mind. God has made us in his image which is creative. He has given us bodies with lots of different functions therefore all our bodies should be able to communicate with and experience God. He has given us 5 senses through which we can experience God, his world and the things around us. He has given us different skills and abilities - Learning styles and multiple intelligences
- #6 KATHERINE – 3 mins Each person makes a paper cup out of paper. Every cup is different – POINT – every person is different, communicates in different ways and learns in different ways.
- #7 KATHERINE – 3 mins Learning Styles : Auditory, Visual, Kinaesthetic Only 20% of people are Auditory Learners A number of theories have been developed about the different ways in which people learn, and which styles an individual might find most helpful. There is no ‘best style’ that fits everyone or that everyone needs to use; they all have advantages. No one learns in only one style, but most people have a clear preference. A variety of styles can be helpful to individuals and is a must to include everyone in a group. There are fun questionnaires online to find out more about your learning style. VARK is only one example. Type ‘learning styles’ into the search engine to find others. It is useful if those preparing sessions are aware of their own learning preference, because there can be a tendency to use the preferred style most often. Deliberately varying the learning style being used in a group enriches the experience for everyone. Visual: learns best by seeing (pictures, diagrams, multimedia etc.) Enjoys finding a new place on a map. Auditory/aural: learns best by hearing (a discussion, a speaker who tells stories to illustrate a point etc.) Enjoys debate and exploring ideas out loud. Read/write: learns best by reading (a leaflet, handout, written information etc.) Enjoys looking up information in text. Kinaesthetic: Learns best through action (trying things out, doing activities alongside someone else etc.) Enjoys getting out and doing things.
- #8 KATHERINE – 1 min Jesus used different teaching styles, which met the differing preferences of his hearers and disciples. Lack of references to reading/writing because in Jesus’ time people didn’t have these skills. Today, most of our teaching and learning involves reading. Can you think of others?
- #9 PAULINE – 3 mins What are Multiple Intelligences? What are Multiple Intelligences? | Take a Test | Results | Notes It has been claimed by some researchers that our intelligence or ability to understand the world around us is complex. Some people are better at understanding some things than others. For some of us it is relatively easy to understand how a flower grows but it is immensely difficult for us to understand and use a musical instrument. For others music might be easy but playing football is difficult. Instead of having one intelligence it is claimed that we have several different intelligences. These are listed below: Kinaesthetic - Body Smart Linguistic - Word Smart Logical - Number Smart Interpersonal - People Smart Intrapersonal - Myself Smart Musical - Music Smart Visual/Spatial - Picture Smart Naturalistic - Nature Smart
- #10 Pauline – 5 mins
- #11 Pauline
- #12 Pauline – 3 mins
- #13 KATHERINE – 5 mins Prayer is an expression of spirituality, of making a relationship. Christians focus their prayers on God through Jesus and, like spirituality itself, their prayers have many forms. Some people prefer formal prayers, others are happier with unspoken words. Can you remember your earliest prayers? Can you remember what you prayed about when you were younger? When we are working with children, it is possible that we will encourage them to use the prayer styles with which WE are most comfortable, rather than helping them to discover other ways of communicating with God. These might include……. Meditative – read Matthew 18. Imagine you are sitting with Jesus, what would you say to him. Liturgical – After each thing I pray, you respond: help us to be more like Jesus. Could the children create their own? Shared – using an object passed around. Giving a starting sentence e.g. thank you God for… Help me to…. Conversational – Drama re. telephone/prayer, song ‘Wireless connection’. Could you get children to text in their prayers? Arrow prayers – remind children they can talk to God anywhere about everything. Don’t forget to thank him. Active prayers – cover later.
- #14 KATHERINE – 5 mins There are lots of ways to pray and lots of things to pray. P78 core – to read full descriptions. Look at the prayer types, are there any that you prefer? Are there any that you find difficult to use? Now think of your work with children. Which type of prayer do you use? Does it vary with age of the children? Be thankful Be in awe through watching bubbles, wildlife videos, photos of God’s creation. Response ‘God you’re amazing’ etc. Wwrite or draw, praise post-its, Praise Shouts, machine gun firing praise Be sorry - Write or draw sorry prayers on scraps of paper to be thrown into a bin, burn them, dirty stones held and then washed in a bowl. Be quiet – There are three main voices we hear in our minds and hearts, God’s, our own and Satan’s. It is a simplistic way of looking at it we know but can help us focus! With some basic teaching we can help young people learn to recognise the voice of the Enemy and his tactics of temptations, accusations and condemnation etc. What is harder is learning to discern between our own voice and ideas and God’s voice! John 10 says “His sheep hear His voice” So we are saying “Lord we choose to shut out any distractions or influence the Enemy would want to bring to us now and we take authority over him in Jesus name. Lord we choose to listen to your voice right now, trusting in your ability to speak to us. Light a candle as a focus. Show pictures linked with the day’s theme. Open by saying that GOD may want to speak to us through the pictures, ‘I wonder what He is going to say?’ Sand, drawing, bubblewrap, soft fabric etc can all be used if you introduce the prayer activity carefully in words. Explain how you are going to use them. Intercession – Traditional - Actions for ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit’, Actions for Lord’s prayer. Write or draw prayers on balloons, e-prayers, prayer wall, paper chain, prayer people, Could you set up praise, sorry, thanksgiving and please prayer activities in different parts of the room/church and encourage children to move around at their own pace?
- #15 KATHERINE – 1 minute
- #16 KATHERINE – 1 minute Show photos from Summer camp intercession sessions.
- #17 PAULINE – 5 mins
- #18 PAULINE
- #19 KATHERINE – 1 min
- #20 PAULINE – 10 minutes to do in groups. 10 minutes to report back.