Prayer Manual
Table of Contents
IntroductionLeaders and Prayer
Intercessors
District Co-ordinators
Coaches
Leaders and Prayer
Children and Prayer
Prayer Ideas for Children
Ideas for Groups
Ideas for Individuals
Ideas for Families
Ideas for Children to Pray
The Church and Prayer
5 Colour Strategy
Introduction
Why Pray?
Some people say that NOTHING will HAPPEN WITHOUT PRAYER!
BUT ………………….... PUT a bunch of ENTHUSIASTIC PEOPLE (like KidsGames Volunteers) with a BUNCH OF CHILDREN and THINGS WILL HAPPEN….. we will HAVE FUN….. we will MAKE FRIENDS!
THINGS will definitely happen….. but the GOD BIT …. That will NOT happen….!
PRAYER is the awesome thing that connects us all to the GOD FACTOR.
PRAYER keeps us within the boundaries of HIS LOVE.
IT keeps us in tune with GOD’S HEART beat for the lost.
It is how we communicate, grow and walk with Jesus!
Walking with Jesus….. and walking with a child.
Connecting that child to Jesus and the child walking with Jesus!
The Ethos of KidsGames and Prayer
Prayer is one of the Core Values of the KidsGames movement.
● Prayer an Imperative
-We acknowledge our dependence on God and seek direction, help and blessing from Him at all times. (Mt 7:7)
- We encourage churches to pray for KidsGames.
● Equipping of Leaders
-We recognise the many gifts of those involved in leadership and aim to empower them for service through training, mentoring and resourcing. (Eph 4:12)
Leaders and Prayer
● Prayer Networks
Prayer networks are formed to cover Brisbane KidsGames in prayer. It is any cluster of people who regularly pray together, form a link and strengthen the Net that is being created to cover all aspects of KidsGames before and during the program.
● Prayer Coach
A prayer coach finds two or three friends who will pray with them for their team in the lead up to KidsGames. As each team has their own unique needs they will need to be in contact with the Team manager as to what those needs are. A prayer coach recruits people within their church to support KidsGames in prayer.
During KidsGames week a Prayer Coach is responsible for gathering the team together for prayer, before and after the program. They are also responsible for introducing the concept of prayer to the children and encouraging them to pray creatively.
● District Prayer Coach
A District Prayer coach finds two or three friends who will pray with them for their district in the lead up to KidsGames. Feedback from the ‘Prayer Coach’ of each team provides information as to what the prayer needs are. They also prayerfully support and encourage each Prayer Coach in their role. They give feedback to the Prayer Co-Ordinator as to how their district is going.
During KidsGames week a District Prayer Coach is the prayer HOT LINE for their district, gathering information as to the needs of leaders and children daily. For all emergencies contact the ‘Emergency Hot Line’ for Prayer.
For further information, please contact the Prayer Co-ordinator, Judy Wharton on – 3388 3690 (home), or 0405 245 876 (mobile); or alternatively, via e-mail –
Children and Prayer
● Prayer Kids!
The KidsGames vision is catching on, now is the time to inspire the children to get excited and motivated to own it for themselves. One of the ways they can do this, is to PRAY! Children are good at praying because children are good at asking for things! They are even better at ‘persistently’ asking for things!
● Prayer – Kids love it!
When children pray, it gives them a sense of being able to do something of value, to bring about a change for the good, in their sphere of influence – family, friends and school.
Be aware of some things that can hold children back, and help them to overcome these things.
- Shyness: Speaking out loud within a group is new for some children.
- Embarrassment: Feeling very vulnerable with others.
- Insecure: Not knowing many other children in the group.
- Fear: Fear of doing new things.
- Low Self-worth: Lack of confidence, identity, self-respect.
- Rebellion: Pulling back from participating, usually a result of low self-esteem.
Note: Prayer may be a new experience for some children, encourage everyone to have a go!
● Prayer Fun!
Children are visual thinkers and ‘feely-touchy’ people.
- Have paper and coloured pencils for them to draw pictures of things to pray for.
- Let them write their prayers with colour and creativity.
- Let them hug a soccer ball, hold a Bible, look at a map.
- Put loads of cushions on the floor for a relaxed ‘Chat-n-Pray’ time.
- Have background worship music playing. Children like the multi-sensory input.
- Sing as you pray. Dance or march around the room, as you pray.
● Ways to Pray!
Asking – Listening – Praising – Talking – Declaring – Dancing – Marching – Waving a banner.
Prayer Ideas for Children in Groups
● Benefits
- Personal encouragement and growth for individuals.
- Develops interactive and relational skills.
- Builds Trust and Respect within the group.
- Strengthens the bonds of the Group Dynamics.
- When - Leaders and Children have a prayer time during the children’s session at church.
- Tip – Leaders model prayer, helping children to form prayers of their own.
- Keep it simple!
● Pass-the-Ball Prayer (needs one Soccer Ball)
The group sit in a circle, pass the ball around the circle. Whoever has it prays. Encourage everyone to Have-A-Go!
Begin simple – pick a topic and everyone pray for the one thing, it doesn’t matter if the same prayer is spoken by a few children, the important thing is that everyone has a go!
This builds personal confidence and helps the children who are shy, not to be so anxious about finding their own words. As the confidence level builds up, the children will begin to form their own prayers.
Variations: Throw the ball around the group allowing some randomness in who prays when.
Young Children: Pass a cuddly toy around to hug and squeeze when it is their turn to pray. This helps to ease shyness and embarrassment.
● Street Mapping
Photocopy your area from a Street Directory. (Make a few copies that can be shared around)
- Highlight the streets your children live in, and pray for the streets and the people who live there.
- Highlight the schools, and pray for the children in the schools.
Pray for the people who will go to the schools and talk about KidsGames.
● Popcorn Prayers
Begin by going around the group and each one praying in turn. As the children get confidence they will ask for another turn, then the whole group seems to go POP! POP! All over the place.
● Prayer Get-Togethers
Saturday get-togethers – midweek ‘after-school’ prayer fun – Prayer sleep-overs.
Prayer Ideas for Individuals
● Benefits
- Develops personal relationship with Jesus.
- Builds personal faith and confidence in God.
- Gives a sense of Value, Belonging and Self-Worth.
- When – during the week, at home.
- Tip – Discuss together as a group, some of the things that the children can pray for.
● What to do
- Make a list of things to pray for.
- Write one thing only on a piece of paper – One prayer assignment for each child.
- The paper needs to be attractive to look at, colourful and important, so the children can be proud to take it home and have a sense of self-worth that they have been entrusted with it. E.g. make into scrolls, use fancy paper, secret service assignments, etc.
- Children choose one to take home or pick randomly out of a hat.
- Take the paper home, pray about it, bring it back next week and swap them around.
Prayer Ideas for Families
● Benefits
- Builds unity of faith and confidence in God.
- Strengthens the family bonds.
- Reinforces a Godly value system.
- When – during the week, at home.
- Tip – discuss as a family how you will organise your prayer time.
● Things you can do
Pray together for some of the requests that come home. Put the scroll on the fridge where everyone can see it, encourage children to also pray by themselves, in their own quiet time.
Pray for the street you live in. Go for a walk together and pray as you go for the people who live in the houses. Find out if children live in a house, ask God to give you courage, boldness and creativity to make friends with them. Tell the family about KidsGames and encourage them to go.
Draw pictures of children having fun at KidsGames, playing sport, making a craft, listening to stories, or singing. Put the drawings on the floor/table, family members lay hands on the drawings and pray for God to impact the lives of the children who will be there.
● Extra Ideas for Everyone
- Children take their drawings to group time and put with others for everyone to pray about.
Encourage children to keep a Journal of needs and answers. Also encourage them to write down any Bible verses they found interesting, important, challenging. This is one way God talks to us!
Some Things for Children to Pray
● Friends
- Ask God for courage and boldness to speak to friends about KidsGames and invite them to join in the fun. Also, pray that their parents will agree to let them come.
● For Children who do not know Jesus
- Ask God to soften the hearts and minds of these children so they can get excited about coming to KidsGames and hearing about Jesus. Help them to understand what Jesus did for them.
● Families
- Pray that parents, families, will connect to a church, that will support and strengthen them.
- Pray for families to be secure and safe, making strong communities for children to grow up in.
● The Opening Ceremony in your District
- Pray for the team that is working together to organise this event, for all the details that have to be worked out, so that the day will run smoothly and nothing go wrong.
- Pray for the different teams to be friendly and respect each other, so that KidsGames will be a wonderful time of fun and friendship for all the children and all the adults.
- For everyone to travel safely to and from the venue, and for protection during the day.
● The Week of KidsGames Activities
- For lots of children to come, especially children who have never heard about Jesus.
- Pray for God to impact the lives – do something really special – of each child.
- For children who already know Jesus – to love him more, understand more about his love for them and be confident that God has a ‘good’ plan for their lives.
- For children who not know Jesus – for them to discover and experience a life-changing moment of connecting to God through the transforming love and life of Jesus.
- For some really great/cool/enthusiastic adults, with ‘heaps of energy’ to run KidsGames week.
- Pray for everyone to have fun, make new friends, learn a lot about Jesus, and be safe all week!
The Church and Prayer
● Prayer Strategy for Churches
Prayer has been divided into five themes using the five colours of the KidsGames logo.
This is a fun, creative way of using the people's unique passions and skills to cover the different aspects of KidsGames in prayer.
For example find an Accountant to pray for BLUE-money, they understand money and can pray with that knowledge. Find the medical people to pray for RED protection, health, wellness.
Colourise your people and get them excited about praying for KidsGames.
Some Ideas to get you started.
a. Set up five colour 'Prayer Stations' identify each one with its colour.
Using the page of "Colourised Prayer Points" write the 'prayer points' of each colour on a large piece of card.
Make it child friendly; use appropriate pictures and props to create a visual representation of the prayer focus. People choose a colour to go and pray with others, or they may choose to move around and pray at any number.
b. Divide the people into five groups; give each one a colour to pray about for 5-10 minutes.
c. Colour is everywhere, be creative! Use beads to make 'Logo Bracelets' for a quick reminder anywhere, anytime of the day. Use ribbons to make 'Logo Praise sticks' for praise and worship.
d. Photocopy the "Colourised Prayer Points" a number of times, cut each one out and glue onto coloured card. Put all the cards in a basket at the back of the church, encourage people take one home to pray on during the week. Keep a constant supply in the basket so that people can take a different colour another time.Using the Logo colours, prayer has been divided into five themes. This helps to cover in prayer all the different aspects of KidsGames.