Family Ministry Event: Got Prayer?

This family ministry event equips families to pray together, and it helps make parents aware of their call to weave prayer into the fabric of their family’s everyday life.

Time: About 3 hours

Details: You’ll need a large activity area, resources parents can take home, a comfortable area for discussion, breakfast for your attendees, and various materials for stations. You’ll also need several volunteers to help families experience the stations.

Family Ministry Event: Got Prayer?

We kick off this Saturday-morning event with a prayer of thanks led by our pastor and breakfast for everyone. Then we have kids move to one section of the room where they do crafts, activities, and games related to prayer.

While the kids are learning about why we pray, we have a pastor from another church talk with parents about how and why to pray for their children. The pastor leads parents in experiential activities to help them learn about prayer and about the difference it makes in our lives. We give parents a chance to ask questions and also to experience a variety of prayers.

Before the event, we collect prayer resources for parents, such as helpful articles (with reprint permission), samples of Christian parenting periodicals, our own tip sheet with appropriate Scriptures, and a booklet of ideas they can use. Parents are always interested and curious, and they willingly talk about their frustrations, fears, and joys when praying with their children.

For the second half of the event, we invite families to visit our developmentally appropriate prayer stations. Each station is for a specific age group and has instructions to guide the families’ prayer time. Here’s a sampling of our ideas.

Ages Birth to 2

We placed items on the floor toddlers could relate to, such as a large bandage, a photograph of a family, and a stuffed animal. We had parents use each item to prompt a prayer of thanks for things such as love, fixed boo-boos, family, and pets.

Ages 3 to 5

We created a “church” using cardboard boxes. Families crawled inside and wrote or drew their prayers on the walls of the cardboard box. Then the entire family discussed their prayers and closed by praying for each other.

Ages 6 to 9

We placed fire trucks and police cars on the floor. As kids played with the trucks, they said prayers for the special people who help protect us.

Ages 10 to 12

We set up a television playing nonstop news and placed newspapers on the floor. Kids and parents looked through the papers and chose a news item to pray about.

Overall, we had at least 10 stations. Families were welcome to visit as many as they liked.

This event has been a great success. It’s very moving to see moms, dads, and kids bowing together before God. Many parents tell us this event has helped ease their fears of praying with their children.

Leslie Roach
Lubbock, Texas

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