Faith Milestones are those teaching workshops offering developmentally appropriate faith formation experiences for kids shared with someone they love and who loves them. Children’s Ministry offers multiple faith milestones each year specific to holy habits such as prayer for 1^st and 2^nd graders and their families.

Promotion: FB event (2 months out), bulletin (1 month out), posters (1 month), personal mail (3 weeks), fliers home from Sunday school (1 week), large group announcement (2 weeks), talk about it everywhere (3 weeks), email (2 weeks)

Set up a quiet room with two chairs at each station

• Photo station with Jesus
• Names of all registrants on a jumbo post-it note where I can see it (prompts me to use all kid’s names in attendance; know who’s not yet arrived)
• Start on time; end 5 minutes early
• Starter activity: kids pick up an empty bag; squishy Jesus; handout; ink pen

Schedule

5:45-6pm             Welcome; write-in the blank handout (big fills out the blanks while littles watch/listen and hold squishy Jesus); act out 2 prayer stations; surround room with pictures of kids praying artwork
6-6:15pm             Self-directed remaining stations
6:15-6:30pm       Review 4 steps of prayer (Greet God, Thank God, Ask God, Close in Jesus’ name); invite each child forward to receive their certificate (read one aloud so they know what the certificate says; students receive their certificate AFTER they tell me aloud their favorite station – as they speak aloud I tell them “I LOVE hearing your voice! God wants to hear your voice EVEN MORE!”; close in repeat-after-me prayer and group photo

Handout: How To Pray

Prayer is t_____________________ and l__________________________ to God. (talking; listening)
Prayer can be shared

1. In your m_________________ (mind)
2. Out l__________________ (loud)

For meaningful prayers, it is best to pray

1. By yourself and in a q___________ place. (quiet)
2. With someone you t__________ and love. (trust)

When we pray we speak to our Lord God, three in one:

God the Father Creator.

                Jesus, God’s only son, our Savior and friend.

                                The Holy Spirit, our helper and comforter.

G______ the Lord. (Greet) – who are talking to?

T______ the Lord. (Thank) – grateful for God the giver of all good things

A______ the Lord. (Ask) – after thanking God we can ask for help

Close in Jesus’ n_______. (name) – We do this because Jesus is our Savior, our mediator and go-between between death (physical and spiritual) and eternal life. We also close with saying AMEN because it means we accept or agree with what’s been said.

Pray for f___________ (forgiveness)

Pray in a g__________ (group)

God will answer prayers with a Y____, N_____, and a N______ Y_______. (Yes, No, Not Yet)

Prayer Stations (stations prepared from ‘What’s in my closet? What’s already in my hands?’)
Prepare signs for each station AND prepare a take home paper with same info/images to their take-home bags so they can implement clearly at home.
Journals – composition books; trace hands of those you love (as you pray, place your hand on the traced hand)
Glory celebration bells – celebrations of ‘glory!’ to praise the Lord (place in a room where everyone meets)
Berenstain Bears book on prayer to take home (read aloud book is super kid-friendly)
Prayer cubes leftover from last Easter (hardy, hand-held item with prayer language)
Fidget spinners – thankful prayers while it spins until it stops; waiting prayers for in line or waiting on appointments (encourages longer, unrushed times of listening and talking with God)
Mini scented playdoh (aka prayer-doh) – when hands are busy, minds are calm (God’s favorite smell = our prayers! Psalm 141:2)

What’s already on your shelf or in your supply closet? Make it simple, limited text, add an image of what you’re doing and kids can take it from there with someone they love sharing the teaching and practice.

“I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense, may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” Psalm 141:1-2

Kindergarteners and 1st graders are very image-led so it seemed the perfect age to learn to pray and practice praying with visual prompts with their families. When we set the date for this Faith Milestone, we chose a few months after school began so we could use centers and circle time spaces the children had grown familiar with at school.

We announced it in the bulletin, sent personal emails, and a formal invitation. We set up the room with several round tables as centers, a place to eat cheese, crackers, and grapes, and a circle time space to begin filling “Prayer Kits.” The students gathered first at the circle time space to get their red bags to fill as they moved from center to center with their parents. I asked them “Do you pray?”, “Where do you pray?”, “Who do we pray to?”, “Why do we pray?” which made for precious conversation.

I read the first few pages of The Berenstain Bears Say Their Prayers and invited them to pick up a yellow clothespin to be clipped at home near their toothbrushes so they are reminded to pray when they brush their teeth. Then we sent them on to the prayer centers with their parents.  This first I Can Pray event proved especially delightful to me as my students were all boys and it was their dads who participated.  Pure sweetness!

We ended at the snack table where the students prepared a snack for each member of their families and prayed with their dads. After a few minutes, I joined the table as we enjoyed an echo prayer that I found from Mark Burrow’s ‘Children In Worship’ listing of action prayers and closed it out with elbow prayers (we touch elbows and echo a short prayer of thanksgiving.)

They brought home their prayer kits that included a bottle of bubbles, a silly putty egg, a Berenstain Bears book, a starter journal with hands traced, a yellow clothespin, and a glory bell.  It took all of about 45 minutes immediately following the 11 o’clock service.

I’ve heard from one of the dads since the event who shared that his son came home and shared everything with his Mom and they are sharing in prayer every day. Could I ask for anything more?

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.'” Luke 11:1

A Faith Milestone: I Can Worship With My Family was a teaching service in the Sanctuary at 11am, the prime time of our church family gathering. The service was the culmination of two months’ of teaching with teaching continuing within the service.

The local church may teach holy habits in classroom settings and at special events, but I’ve never known a church to teach about worship. We talk about it. We plan for it. We set aside the greatest amount of our budget for it. We guard the space and time for it. We built for it. Yet we expect everyone to just ‘pick it up as you go.’ It’s been my experience that worship is caught and rarely taught. This makes for awkward moments, uncertain expectations, clumsy transitions, and unsettled assumptions for our guests no matter how well we roll out the hospitality before and after. The generation of parents today will do anything to avoid feeling uncertain, clumsy, and anxious about anything. We help by offering spaces and places where we learn together.

In the actual service, we taught four specific elements within the service.
1. Who were the people on the stage/chancel and why were they there? Example: a choir is a group of people who lead us in singing praises to our Great God. The individual pastors gave their names, explained what they each do, and made an announcement.
2. What are the hymnals and how to read a page? Example: the title is not always the actual title to a song; the words along the bottom are special; we sang a William Bradbury song and our special worship leader gave a brief, kid-friendly history lesson since he also wrote “Jesus Loves Me.” Mr. Bradbury wrote choral music and loved writing music children could sing well in church.
3. As United Methodists we give and return to the Lord from our vows of membership: we give our prayers (we pray for each other), our presence (we come to church; gather together in community), our gifts (we give a regular amount of all money we receive through earning or gifting), our service (we use our skills and learn new skills to help our church family and our neighbors), and our witness (we invite people to come to church to worship and learn about Jesus).
4. Ways to respond/participate in what we hear, sing, do in worship? We sing, we listen for special words (every time we heard the word ‘strong’ or ‘strength’ we flexed our muscles) and we return to the Lord our portion. The congregation walked up to drop/pour their offerings in buckets (noisy buckets of galvanized metal on wooden steps). 

The teaching which took place over the two months’ prior included:
1. The purpose of an order of worship by forming and directing a worship planning team.
2. Taught the Apostle’s Creed line by line as well as the American sign language in Sunday morning large group as a statement of what Christians believe.
3. Worship art to provide the visual elements to worship. Two 5th grade girls signed up for flowers and they filled the stage area with flowers, vegetables, and plants of the fall season. The 1st & 2nd graders painted banners and black foam boards in their Sunday morning small group time (what colors…white on black foam board… can be seen in a large group in a large space to make it feel more intimate?)
4. It was the 3rd Sunday of our Stewardship campaign so the children were given and taught the Godly way of handling money 4 weeks prior, then given plastic jars to take home to work to earn money to ‘save’, ‘spend’, and ‘return’ back to the Lord at this service since everything belongs to Him anyway.
5. We published and promoted the ABCs of Family Worship in print, social media, and on the bulletin back so the expectations were as clear as we could make them.

The special movement elements included:
1. The scriptures read were printed on slips of paper and ‘found’ under the pew cushions.
2. The Call to Worship was a familiar song with motions: My God Is So Great
3. The processional included acolytes (candle lighters; cross bearer), littles holding up signs with special words-of-the-day to listen for in the service (painted on black foam board); percussion instruments played by children
4. Children served read scripture from the floor; read prayers; directed people where to sit; handed out bulletins they’d folded at dress rehearsal the Wednesday prior; handed out worship bags.
5. Bags were given to all with pipe cleaners which were used to shape into hearts and held by families to pray together in place of a pastoral prayer. The children filled all the bags at the dress rehearsal the Wednesday night before.
6. Leaf cutouts were placed in all the hymnals on the page we would be singing from.
7. Our special worship leader taught movements to the first congregational song, Raise A Hallelujah, A bridge in a song, the hymnal pieces, etc.
8. Everyone was instructed to text a family selfie to a number at the beginning of the service. The pics were compiled and our amazing tech ninja team put them into a slide show at the close of the service as the congregation sang, “I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God.”

As a teaching service, it looked nothing like a children’s program. That was the point.  Our senior pastor still preached his stewardship sermon. It was a service where the entire church family could participate, not just spectate. We sang, we gave, we served, we shared, we moved, we learned, and we want to do it again. There are so many other elements to teach and learn and one service is not enough time. We’ve already asked for the last Sunday in March.

What is it? A worship service….
– where little people actively participate in various interactive elements…and so do their families.
– where children learn and practice some of our church’s cherished traditions.
– where there is movement and all five senses are engaged.
– where we utilize art, drama, songs, percussion, storytelling, current events, poetry and holy habits to reinforce a central theme as we help children connect with God.
– when we create a developmentally appropriate faith formation teaching experience that worship is so positive that worship will always be a major part of their lives.

In complete transparency, this was amazing AND it had its challenges. There were lots of moving pieces over an extended period of time. There were lots of unmet expectations because those expectations did not serve the ‘what is it’ above. The amazing parts were the people, the parents, the grandparents, the children, the leaders, the pastors, and the feedback of, “We need to do this every quarter or more.” Families want to learn to follow Jesus and grow in their faith together. Worship teaching services are worth all the challenges, because everything we do that tells Jesus, “I love you!” is worship. Even walking through challenges. He is worth it!

“He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:5

One of our super-leaders serves on staff at another local church in a neighboring county. She shared with me how the church she serves lives out praying for their neighborhood at their weekly prayer meeting. We’ve adapted their system to be kid-friendly for our own community using the 5-finger prayer method for a sticky, holy habit with our students.

5-finger prayer
Thumb – pray for someone closest to me (a local business; local entrepreneurs)
Pointer – pray for someone who teaches me (a local school)
Tall – pray for our leaders (a local public official; local first responder)
Ring – pray for those who need help (another local church/missionary)
Pinkie – pray for our own (a church family facing extraordinary challenges)

We introduce our monthly five on the first Sunday of each month. A new prayer prompt card is shared with the students to take home. We invite the students to hold up that finger (their whole hand for the tall finger) as we silently pray as a large group for each organization/family/person is named. We practice in large group each week, then follow it up throughout the month on social media and by email who the prayer recipients are each month. This time of silent prayer and repeat-after-me prayers naming our neighbors has become one of my favorite moments each Sunday morning. 

At the beginning of each month, we draft a letter to each organization, family, person. The students and our leaders sign their first names in fabulously colored ink to each letter upon arrival in the Welcome Center to be mailed the following week. One example would be:

Dear…..
We consider it a privilege at McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church to partner with and to pray for our neighbors. We believe that it is also a joy to lift up our local businesses and their staff. After all, we are all serving God’s families and that service needs us working together.

This month you were chosen as our local business of the month. During the McEachern Kids Sunday school hour you and your staff will be mentioned by name in a specific season of prayer. We will pray that you will be touched by God’s protective hand as you go about your daily interactions with our community. 

May God’s greatest blessings rest upon you as you faithfully serve in this community.

Seek Him First,
McEachern Kids
K-5th graders and leaders

Teaching students to pray for their neighbors, at church and at home, is a holy habit everyone can practice. Yet most littles don’t know who to pray for outside themselves, making most of their prayers all about themselves. This holy habit also lets our neighbors know that we want to be good neighbors, too.

Who can you pray for today?

Rev. Ken Hagler is widely known as Jedi Pastor Ken. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church currently serving a local church in Alaska, he records video, writes a blog and books, speaks, and prays like a coach and teacher to help spiritual pilgrims along their way. He is a real Jesus follower in the trenches of life who experiences great joy, great grief, great redemption, great wonder, and has faced head-on some of life’s greatest challenges. 

A jedi is someone trained to guard peace and justice in the universe. 

Ken is one of my favorite Jesus guys. He’s just written a new book and it comes out TODAY and you can get it FREE for two days on Amazon. You can download it for free on your Kindle app on September 7 and 8, 2021. Hardcopies can be ordered, but this can get you started.

“Prayer: Simply Breathe” is a compilation of 52 Breath Prayer Devotions including a short, closing section on how to create your own prayers. “A breath prayer is intended to ‘drill’ down to the cry of our heart. It is not so easy to discern what the cry of our hearts might be though.” (pg 112) 

The book is framed around praying Scripture as you breathe. A short sentence or phrase prayed as you breathe. Repeated over time as a holy habit. Short…holy habits…prayer…scripture…it’s the perfect model for teaching and practicing prayer with little people. 

“Prayer is the act of turning our mind, our emotions, our body, and our spirit to God.” (pg 5)

Ken writes in short, simple sentences introducing each breath prayer with a short ‘something to think about’ as you prepare to practice each breath prayer:

Sometimes, your week gets out of hand.
There is no shortage of news related to those in power.
I have spent a lot of time out in the woods hiking and camping.
You have had it happen, no doubt, when things did not go as planned in your life.
It hurts when people lie to us.
There seems to be no end to the evil that human beings will do to one another.
Our lives are meant to show out what God is doing.

There is scripture all over. There are people quoted all over from all walks of life. Ken is deeply knowledgeable about sacred practices of following Jesus to help the people of God of all stages and all ages. He is one of my teachers. 

Ken led a workshop on prayer at a retreat for 5th graders. When Ken led the prayer workshop, the boys hung on every word he had to say.  I remember a conversation Ken and I had on our way to the dining hall. I asked him about boys and prayer. He spoke of the importance of physicality, short words and phrases, and prayer postures. I heard his words again on page 116, “It is my hope and prayer that if nothing else, you leave here with a prayer you are not bored to pray.”

Order your free Kindle edition on September 7 and 8 here.  Check it out and let me know what you think. I’d like to chat with you about how you might use this resource to teach your littles and their bigs to practice the holy habit of prayer. 

“Faith is fun.” Rev. Ken L. Hagler, Jedi Pastor Ken, Prayer: Simply Breathe, pg 116.

Brooke McGlothlin is a co-founder of Million Praying Moms. Million Praying Moms is a community equipping parents to make prayer their first and best response to the challenges of parenting. Brooke has authored several books and resources and is known as a prayer mentor.

I was thrilled to be included on her launch team for Praying Mom because it was not about your typical book launch strategies, but rather prayer. Each day we were invited to specifically pray with a prompt through social media. After reading her other books and being involved in this prayer community I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her book. 

This book is gold.

Praying Mom is filled with multiple testimonies of parents on their knees, some on their faces, before the Lord who hears His own. The community of prayer warriors willing to share their challenges, their hopes, their disappointments, their holy habits, their tips, their vocabulary speaks to parents today. I say today because it wasn’t long ago we in the trenches needed to give testimony to God being real. Today, we need to give testimony to God being good. We know He is good in our heads, but sometimes we need to speak it regularly, repeatedly in prayer for our hearts to hear it, for our lives to live it. You can download a free chapter of Praying Mom at www.millionprayingmoms.com. 

Praying Mom is separated into two parts. Part one addresses seven challenges for the praying mom including “I have small children. I can’t even think, much less pray!” with a gentle breath prayer prompt in the Table of Contents, “Lord, teach me to pray in the moments of my day.” Part two offers scripture-inspired prayers for today’s Christian Mom which include specific scriptures followed by prayers to pray those scriptures right back to the Lord. Short succinct prayers for…
when you need hope
when your child needs help
when you need more joy
when you’re angry
when you’re worn-out and weary
when you’re afraid
when you need God to move
when  you need strength to make it
when you’re sad
when you need peace.

There are two appendices: The Wake-Up Prayer and The Way To Salvation. If it’s been a bit since you’ve shared with someone the way to salvation in Jesus, and you need a refresher, those three pages are worth the price of the book alone.

The prayers are all about praying scripture: declare the trust over your heart and mind, then ruthlessly apply it. “This means you might have to choose to believe God’s truth over what you can see, hear, taste, or touch over and over again until you believe it.” (pg 75) 

At the end of each short chapter is a call to action she calls Pray It Forward offering several things to remember and several cautions to overcome: Remind yourself that feelings aren’t facts. (pg 39)  Then the gold: Scripture Prayers. The scripture is first, followed by the prayer vocabulary to pray it back to the Lord. 

“There is an intimate link between God’s Word and prayer. We need both in order to be adequately prepared to face the world.”

Brooke McGlothlin, Praying Mom, pg 45

I have always had a limited vocabulary. Regularly meeting with prayer partners have helped me grow in the holy habit of prayer. There are two other well-worn, go-to books which have coached me into a deeper and more faithful prayer habit for my family and the families I serve: Stormie Omartian’s Power of a Praying Parent and A Diary of Private Prayer: John Baillie, updated and revised by Susanna Wright. I heard about the John Baillie classic from Priscilla Schirer about four years ago and is never far from my Bible.

My copy of Praying Mom is already written all over, pages folded, and been handled/wrestled. Praying Mom is a resource for today’s Christian parents written by a prayer warrior. Don’t we all need more prayer warriors to model and tell the stories of God’s goodness?

“So my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.” Isaiah 55:11

The Rock Solid 5th Grade Retreat offers developmentally appropriate teaching and practice for students completing elementary school to build a rock solid faith through the holy habits of worship, prayer, study, and play as they prepare to move into middle and high school. I was a co-leader for the prayer station. My partner used yoga mats and body prayers. I offered self-directed stations with a short debrief at the conclusion.

Introductory teaching: Prayer is communicating with God. The best way for God to communicate with us is through the Bible. The way we best communicate with God is through prayer. God gave us five gifts to help us experience the world He created and to keep us safe. These were the stations using those five gifts based on Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Sight – Glow stick bracelets

Say a blessing prayer for someone by name, then give them a bracelet. Be willing to receive prayer from someone else only responding, “Thank you.”

Jesus asked his friends, “Watch and pray.” Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 21:36

Smell – Silence/deep breaths

Just be with God, light an LED candle, sit on (or near) the towel, and stay until you are tapped on the shoulder to move on.

I added  a healthy sprinkle of peppermint essential oils to the towel often to have the scent as part of the space.

God’s favorite smell is our prayers. Psalm 141:2 “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”   

Touch – Ask forgiveness for your wrongs, your hurts, your expectations, your words.

Recite the CONFESSION AND PARDON.

Merciful God,
I confess that I have not loved you with my whole heart.
I have failed to be an obedient church.
I have not done your will,
I have broken your law,
I have rebelled against your love,
I have not loved my neighbors,
and I have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive me, I pray.
Free me for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Tie a ribbon onto the frame as a remembrance that Jesus took the punishment for our sins. If you confess (agree with God) your sins, God is faithful and just (fair) and will forgive you.

God does not remember our repented sins, but we do so that we repent/turn away from them to love God with our whole heart for our whole lives.

“If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just (fair) and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Hear – Pray the 23^rd Psalm from bookmark  aloud while walking a track around 2 orange cones

“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Think beyond the moment, but the future. God and you can use anything and everything you face to help someone else.

Don’t despair. Ex: Judas…if he’d just waited one more day! Pray aloud even when you don’t feel it….it’ll remind you until you do.

In the debrief I share they will hear this scripture at various remarkable moments of Christian lives like funerals, births, prayer nights, help, etc. The bookmark I found was a King James Version so I shared that it was the first Bible financed by King James in the year 1611 to be mass produced through the printing press and explained the old English words which were appropriate at that time.

Taste – Dumdum lollipop

Read a proverb each day for the day of the month. Today is the 17^th, so read Proverbs 17 from your own Bible.

Proverbs are wise sayings, not truths, but can help you along your way…will help you live like Jesus growing “in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

In debrief, I shared testimony of students who read a proverb every night before they go to bed or each when they rise each morning while in middle school/high school.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34:8

Debrief

• God has equipped you with 5 senses: tools to stay safe & enjoy the world He created. When we don’t know what or how to pray/communicate with Him, we can use our five senses.
• Go with what you know and not with how you feel. This is what you know: YOU are a beloved child of God, created by God, for Jesus, to bring good into the world.
• Sing an echo benediction: “Do not be afraid, God is with you, Everywhere you go, God is there.” (Thank you, Mark Burrows). Do not be afraid/fear not …. 366 times…one for every day of the year.

We are hooked to our cell phones. Our cell phones are hooked to us. It’s replaced the GPS, camera, calculator, flashlight, the news, letter-writing, a calendar, and the home phone. It’s changed the way we do life. Good, bad or indifferent, it’s here to stay and we can admit we like it.

The latest research reports that an average person spends 2 hours and 51 minutes per day on their mobile device. 22% check their phones every few minutes and 51% look at it a few times per hour. Just take that in.

When our kids were little, before I was on a local church staff, I made Sunday morning the best day of the week. Nobody woke up to alarms, but rather breakfast in bed. The house smelled like muffins (thank you, Jiffy muffin mix) and each was accompanied by a favorite, morning, tasty beverage: coffee, tea, milk, hot chocolate. Every other day of the week could start by alarm, rushing, searching, running, on the move. But not Sunday.  I thought of it as ‘pouring out a drink offering as unto the Lord.’ This tradition continued when I went on church staff, because…well, Sundays are game day and it’s the day we prioritized to be dedicated to our family’s faith formation in partnership with the local church.

Mr. Bob and I decided early on, before I was on staff, to live out Hebrews 10:25 and had to constantly attend to guarding Sunday mornings for church. We still would participate in all sorts of non-church activities, but we knew we could not raise adults who would love the Lord with their whole hearts for their whole lives without the help of what the local church had to offer: relationships, values, teaching, practicing, and experiences in developmentally appropriate ways with other Jesus guys and gals. Today, that investment has paid off with both making attendance and involvement in their local churches a priority in each of their families.

When the pandemic hit last spring, I imagined what we could offer as an easy win for high impact effectiveness and would cover the greatest amount of territory (Prayer of Jabez). With the desire that our families not become accustomed to doing life without their local church, the cell phone was a good place and platform to love people to Jesus systematically, personally, and creatively.

For almost a year, if I received a text from someone, they’ve gotten a text from me on Sunday mornings. Not through a database, but by sitting down each Sunday morning in my quiet chair (which is not always quiet) and taking the time to reach out to them all on my cell phone. All of them.

I choose a meme, image, or scripture on Saturday evening so it’s at the top of my photo file and send a text to each person in my phone. I last counted in January for a total of 162.

I send the text. I pray for him/her. Once my phone reads, “Delivered” I send the next. Not everyone replies, but many do. I Sunday morning text with no expectation. But for those who I have not seen in over a year, it’s been a weekly check-in and the ongoing text conversations have been personal and precious.

I’m sharing this because it’s easy. It’s in your hand. Yes, it takes time, but everyone is worth the time and we know how special it makes us feel when someone texts us ‘just because.’ We are family! If I’ve gotten a text or sent a text in the last week, which builds the list, they hear from me on Sunday mornings. Just a quick reminder that, “I’m in this with you, Brother,” “I’m in this with you, Sister.”

Who’s in your hand? How are you checking in with them systematically, personally, and creatively?

Everyone in my community is affected and having to make major decisions about what school will look like this fall. The 2020 Pandemic has instilled more angst in more ways than many of my families have ever had to endure. We need prayer. The very morning of our scheduled service, the local school board decided to go 100% virtual and our community was reeling. I can’t even imagine the conversations our kids overheard that day. 

Superhero Prayer Service – For all those who wear a cape for kids and education. 
Thursday, June 16 8:30pm-9pm (immediately following the 8pm drive-in service)

Say: This is what I know about you. (me)
1. You want to make the best decision for you, your kids, your family. Yes?
2. The decisions you are being asked to make are not those you expected, yet here we are. Yes?
3. You are asking, “What is the wisest decision I can make for this season?” It’s just a season. Does that help? It’s just a season.

Say: This is what I know about prayer. (me)
1. Prayer is a gift given to us by our Creator to speak directly to our Creator.
2. “Where two or three come together in my name (in the name of Jesus), there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
3. God answers prayer: Yes, No, Not now.
4. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5 (Jesus’ brother)

How do we know it is God’s will? (me)
1. Is this congruent with God’s character as revealed in the scriptures? (Whatever my decision, will it harm my relationship with God or my kids?)
2. Have I received reconfirmation? Am I clearly understanding my choices?
3. Have I received sound counsel? Am I listening to others who share my values and am I confident they are people who practice holy habits, not the church of social media/church of the loudest in the room/church of comparison/church of the unwise/church of the angry? If you are in God’s word, He will speak to you there. This communication is what sets our great God apart from any other god….He speaks to us!

Breathing (offered by a middle schooler/aged-up Ambassador)
Say: Take a long, deep breath and exhale it slowly while saying the name “Jesus” silently. Close your eyes. Let yourself take ten natural, easy breaths.
“Deep breathing increases the supply of oxygen to your brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes a state of calmness. Breathing techniques help you feel connected to your body—it brings your awareness away from the worries in your head and quiets your mind.” From the American Institute of Stress

Repeat after me prayers (offered by different parents, public school teachers, home-school parents)
Each reader reads slowly in sections/sentences so others can repeat the prayers or has time to prayerfully process.

Confidence Prayer: Father, I need wisdom that only your Spirit can give me. Help me to not lean solely on my own opinions, thoughts, or dreams — or what my society, culture, and circle have to say. I need godly — not earthly — wisdom, Lord. Please supply me in knowledge and truth as I battle these tough decisions and uncertainty. Father, open my eyes to the barriers holding me back from spiritual progress and help me to walk confidently as I discern the next steps I need to take. Amen.

Humility Prayer: Heavenly Father, I admit that in my sinfulness and brokenness, too often I desire my will above yours. Lord, forgive me for my selfishness and unbelief as I react to this unclear season of life. Jesus, as you yourself desired not your own will but the Father’s will (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42), so let me echo this prayer in boldness and humility. Equip me to truly believe that you are good, you are sovereign, and are a Father who desires only the best blessings for me — but that what you see as a blessing may not be mirrored in how I perceive it. Lord, by praying “your will be done,” I surrender in trust and obedience. Amen

Wisdom Prayer: Father God, your word says that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask, and you will give them generously. I am about to make a huge decision in my life, but I don’t know how to go about it, Father God. I come to you today to ask you for wisdom. Lead me in the way that I should go that I may be able to bring glory to your holy name. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Overcoming Fear and Anxiety Prayer: Dear Lord, my heart is full of anxiety. I don’t know how to go about school this year. The decision I make is going to affect my family and friends. I am scared of failing my loved ones. But your word says that you have not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and sound mind. Let your word come alive in me. Let me be filled with love and power so that I can make this decision boldly, then follow it with joy, and not second guess. Let me be content in whatever decision I make and express it with great joy with my kids and family. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Your Will, Not Mine Prayer: Loving Father, only you know my end from the beginning. Nothing I do or say catches you by surprise. You know what is in my heart, good or bad. Everyone around me is choosing to do things their way, and it is very tempting for me to do so too. But Father God, I want your will to be done in my life. If it is not your will for me to take this path, then Father, give me divine strength to accept and to follow your lead. May every decision I make be pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, I believe and pray. Amen.

Peace of Mind Prayer: Lord Jesus, I am in despair. Everyone is looking at me to make the final decision. My heart is full of fear. But we walk by faith and not sight that is why today I am asking you to remove every doubt that is in my heart and replace it with peace. I refuse to let my heart be troubled or afraid. I know that you are with me till the end of time. Today I choose to walk in the same peace that Jesus has. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Gracious God, I am exhausted! Sometimes I feel like I’m failing every time I turn around.  I feel like I don’t have enough time. Money is tight. I am worried about people I love. So many things are out of my control. This is so hard. God, remind me that my feelings are normal. Remind me that by your grace there is a way through this pandemic. Help me to do one thing at a time. Help me to let go of perfection. Give me curiosity. Give me trusted colleagues and friends. Give me strength, give me patience, give me hope, to plan for the year ahead. (adapted from Sheltered at Home: Family Prayers for Living and Loving, by Christine Hides)

Silence
Say: The word SILENT has the same letters as LISTEN. God speaks to us in His Word, in the counsel of His godly servants, AND in the silence.
Tell story of how God wakes us in the middle of the night because it’s quiet.
Say: Prayer is a conversation. We’ve done the talking, let’s take some time to listen.
Set the timer for 3 minutes to sit in silence after a few deep breaths.

Closing:

GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
Write Jesus’ name in your hand. Rub it into your heart. 
Say: I don’t know how people are navigating this entire season without Jesus. We love you too much to let you drive off this lot and back to your home without telling you the good news of Jesus. (INVITATION TO MAKE JESUS LORD OF YOUR LIFE. Families pray together.)

Pray…“God, there are so many voices flooding my senses. Like the boy Samuel, help me hear YOUR voice calling out to me. Help me to discern the right course to take. Then let me walk into that decision like an adventurer with contentment because eyes are watching me and hearts are trusting me.”
(Write Jesus’ name in your hand. Rub it into your heart.)

Song prayer/Repeat after me (Thank you, Mark Burrows)
Do not be afraid….do not be afraid.
God is with you….God is with you.
Everywhere you go….everywhere you go.
God is there….God is there.
(repeat)

Take aways: Equal packets and slap bracelets as visual prayer prompters (logistically this didn’t work out since folks were driving onto the lot throughout the last drive-in service).
There is no one equal to God to lead you.
There is no one equal to pray to Him on behalf of your family.
There is no one equal to pray for your kids, your vocation, your friends, your kid’s friends than YOU.
Ask the Lord to let you be content in your decision and in offering contentment in the decisions made by other families making decisions for themselves. Be their prayer champion and be ready to honor the decisions they’ve made for their family. Pray for your friends. Then walk into your decision with great joy and a sense of adventure. You were made for such as time as this. You’ve got this. Trust yourself. It’s just a season. And we’re here with and for you. You are a superhero!

“Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” 2 Chronicles 6:40

Invited to prepare stations of prayer for fifth graders attending the North Georgia United Methodist Conference retreat at Camp Glisson, we set the following challenges to be met: (1) Stations must be interactive, (2) Stations must be easy to reproduce at home, (3) Stations must involve movement. My amazing friend and colleague Kate Morris and I shared the prayer time for the retreat of a total of almost 90 minutes. We split the large group into two smaller groups and rotated in 45-50 minutes. Kate Morris prepared physical prayers using yoga moves making the yoga mat a sacred space and involved lots of movement and in community. Some of her resources included Yoga For Children and Yoga Pretzels. I presented the individual prayer component using God’s gifts of our five senses.

Smell
Psalm 141:2 May my prayer be set before you (O God) like incense; may the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Citrus smells bring joy, particularly lemon, orange and grapefruit can help reduce stress and nervous tension. Research, conducted by Brazilian scientists in 2013, found that people who smelled citrus scents before a stressful test or stressful situation reported lower anxiety levels.
Smelling is the one scent which never decreases as we get older which is why you will be able to recall a memorable scent from childhood into your old age.

Repeat Psalm 141:2 ten times.
Write down ten things that bring you joy. One on each piece of paper. Fold paper in half, then place the ten pieces of paper into the bowl.

Application: A simple smell can change how you feel. Recording joys on paper can change how you feel like counting your blessings. Inviting God into your feelings can change how you feel.

I diffused a good bit of orange essential oil in a smaller room throughout the day. The overflowing bowl of joys were used as a visual element of the worship tablescape on Sunday morning in our worship space.

Taste
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge (safety and security) in Him.

Choose a lollipop. Unwrap and toss your wrapper in the trashcan. Find Psalm 34 in your Bible. Find a place to sit and just read. No biting, chewing, or crunching your lollipop, but read Psalm 34 over and over until you’ve eaten your lollipop until you are to the stick. Throw your stick away in the trashcan.

Application: Quick reads of the Bible are helpful, but long reads help us to enjoy reading the Bible and hearing God’s voice. Reading the Bible regularly help us to know God’s voice among the other voices in our world.

The smallest dumdums possible will still provide a lengthy time of reading Psalm 34 and plenty of selection for kids to make a personal choice.

Touch
2 Timothy 1:6 Let me remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Sit in a chair. Don’t get up, no matter how long it takes.
Wait for someone to come behind you, lay a hand on your shoulder and speak one of the blessings tied to the back of the chair.
After you’ve received a blessing, go to another who is sitting in a chair. Lay a hand on their shoulder and speak one of the blessings tied to the back of the chair.

Application: The hunger for genuine acceptance is common. A blessing provides that much-needed sense of personal acceptance. Jacob in the Bible waited until the Lord blessed Him. Wait for the blessing. Then speak a blessing over someone else.

Various prayers from the Psalms and Aaron’s blessing from Numbers 6 were printed on cards and hung to the back of each chair for the ‘blesser’ to choose. The waiting to be blessed and the voice of someone speaking over someone required patience and indeed ended in delight.

Sound
2 Timothy 3:14-17 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Pick up a copy of the scripture.
Carry it to the stairwell.
Read the personalized scripture aloud as you walk up and down the stairs 3 times…slowly.

Lord, But as for me, I will continue in what I have learned and have become convinced of, because I know those from whom I learned it., and how from infancy I have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make me wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, SO THAT the servant of God (I) may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Application: Prayer is a way to serve God (Luke 2:36-38). Through prayer, we have the opportunity to glorify and praise Him for all He is, all He has done, and all He is doing (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Praying scripture helps us grow to become overcomers.

The echo of the children as they spoke the scripture aloud was to help us focus when our mind tends to wander. And it sounded awesome!

Sight
Psalm 101:3 Don’t put any vile thing before your eyes.
Vile = extremely unpleasant; morally bad; wicked; of little worth or value.

Which of these images are you drawn to?
How might you enter into this picture?
How might God enter into this picture for you?
Once you have chosen an image, take the card to the station leader for a picture of you with the image.

Pick up a hand-mirror and find a place to stand/sit. Pray through your face.
Lord, about my eyes….
Lord, about my mouth….
Lord, about my ….

Application: Visual images can prompt us to pray, to think, to feel something, and to respond. Can you choose what you set before your eyes?

Using images from the children’s pack of the The Visual Faith Project was the perfect resource.

Debrief: Ask, “Did you sense a theme with the prayer stations?” Our great God has generously given us all the gifts we need to follow Him and reset our hearts and minds to do and even feel what will please Him which will please us. What was your favorite station? Fingers pointed to all five stations.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Mathew 26:41