Prayer Archives - Kids Ministry

January 18, 2017

Developing a Kids Ministry Prayer Team

I’ve probably never met another Kids Minister who said he did not believe in prayer. But, do we really? Do we truly practice biblical praying when it comes to our kids ministries? I must confess that as a kids minister I often rushed into action exerting my own efforts and then prayed, “Dear God, bless this mess!”

Lately, God has spoken to me and made me aware that every Kids Ministry should have a Prayer Team. It occurred to me that our churches will always have folks who do not feel led to teach kids on a weekly basis. But, they would agree to be part of a Kids Ministry Prayer Team. My vision would be to enlist a team of folks to your Kids Ministry Prayer Team. The goals of the group would be to:

Pray for you on a regular basis. Pray for your health, your wisdom, and your protection from the evil one. Receive from you “personal” prayer requests.
Pray for kids leaders on a rotating basis. Part of this assignment would also be to write notes of encouragement to leaders letting them know that they had been prayed for.
Participate in “prayer walks” throughout your kids ministry areas … asking God to reach boys and girls and for protection against evil in your ministry area. Some might be willing to prayer walk through your ministry area while teaching is occurring.
Pray for a dedicated classroom and leaders regularly.
Pray for leadership needs in the Kids Ministry area.
Pray specifically for physical and spiritual needs of the kids and families in your Kids Ministry.

I believe there are many folks who would be willing to be a part of your Kids Ministry Prayer Team. Why don’t you take this possibility to the Lord in “prayer” and see what develops?

Jerry Vogel is an Editorial Ministry Specialist in LifeWay Kids. He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University and has served over 40 years in Kids Ministry at the local church level as well as at LifeWay. Jerry currently teaches four-year-olds at his church.

Bible Study, Devotional, Kids Ministry, Parenting, Prayer, Preschool, Preteen, Resources, Spiritual Disciplines

October 2, 2015

Teaching Kids to Pray

By Kids Ministry 101

by Mary Wiley

No matter if a child is learning to deal with his parents’ divorce or is just sad because he has to wait his turn to play on the swing, kids face battles both big and small. As parents and those who serve kids in the church, you can equip kids to fight those battles wisely through prayer. Teaching kids the spiritual discipline of prayer can feel daunting, and for many parents, they don’t feel capable of teaching their kids something that they also find to be a struggle. We want to equip you in the way you equip kids and parents to strengthen their prayer lives through three resources tied to the movie WAR ROOM.

Below are 5 tips and 3 resources to help you equip kids and parents in their journey toward healthy prayer lives. Let us know what you would add in the comments!

Tip #1: Model prayer daily.

When kids see that you view prayer as important, they will realize that it is also important in their own lives.

Tip #2: Pray for God to do big things.

Remind kids that God is big enough to do all things. He can heal the sickest of the sick and help the most helpless. Praise God for His power and also rely on Him to work.

Tip #3: Pray for God to do small things, too.

Being afraid of the dark or not being able to find a favorite toy might seem big to some kids, but we know in the grand scheme of things it’s a small thing. Make sure to pray for the small things. Never tell a kid their prayer request isn’t worth praying for. All things are worth taking to the Lord, and the Bible says that He cares for all of our concerns.

Tip #4: Talk about what it means to pray without ceasing.

This is a verse we like to throw around sometimes without a lot of explanation, but for a kid’s concrete mind, this sounds like never opening our eyes and having a really bad crick in our necks from bowing our heads for so long. Help kids understand that God wants us to talk to Him like we would a good friend – throughout the day.

Tip #5: Start now!

Don’t feel defeated if you haven’t been praying with your children each day. Each day is new and there’s no better day to start than today! Don’t worry about teaching your children perfectly. Ask God to help you and your children better understand prayer. He is faithful!

3 Resources for Kids:

Peter’s Perfect Prayer Place

This story for ages 4-8 follows Peter as he tries to find the perfect place to pray to God. Peter learns that God hears his prayers, no matter where he is, so the perfect place to pray is anywhere that you are!

Prayer Works

This training guide will equip your 8-12 year olds to develop a strategic, growing prayer life. It is filled with activities, illustrations, and journaling prompts for kids to experience to help them think through why they should pray, why their prayers matter, and if God will answer their prayers.

This Means War

Isn’t being a teenager a war in itself? Grab this book for those 13 and up to encourage them in their prayer life. This book includes journaling space and also short chapters that answer questions that teens have about prayer. There is no better skill to teach your children than to teach them to pray. As you seek to equip parents and children’s ministry leaders, consider offering up these resources developed alongside the movie WAR ROOM. Our children are walking into battle everyday. Let’s teach them the right way to fight.

Parenting, Prayer

November 17, 2014

5 Steps to Start a Family Meeting Tradition

By Jana Magruder

Family meetings are not a new concept – and they are certainly not unique only to Christian families. They can be useful for a variety of reasons including calendaring, celebrating achievements, rewarding behavior, and doing family devotionals. Here are 5 practical steps to help families get started in this healthy rhythm of life, which, most importantly, should assist parents in being intentional with discipling their kids.

Step one: Declare a time and place – this can be after dinner while enjoying a healthy treat, outside on a quilt, in the living room sitting on pillows, etc. Try to stay consistent, building a tradition that your family will look forward to each week.

Step two: Share something from scripture. Depending on the ages of your children, this could be one verse or a whole chapter. Discuss what the Bible is teaching through the passage and what it means for your family. Consider using Bible content that kids learned about in church or find meaningful verses that you want your family to learn. An age-appropriate devotional can be a tool to use during this time, coupled with the Bible.

Step three: Allow time for each family member to share something. Establish the topic such as: prayer requests and praises or answering a question like, “Where did you see God today?” or “What did you learn?” If there are any sibling apologies that need to be made, provide a safe way for that to happen.

Step four: Discuss family business such as calendar events for the week, reminders about household chores, technology usage, etc. Keep this brief and focus on what you really need your family to take-away from this time. Don’t bring a laundry list of items, though laundry might be one of the items you discuss!

Step five: Close in prayer. Pray for any prayer concerns shared, family needs, and any missionaries your family supports. Above all, praise God for your family and ask Him to be glorified through all of you.

Jana Magruder serves as the Director of Kids Ministry Publishing. Jana brings a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and curriculum writing. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children attend Forest Hills Baptist Church where she teaches The Gospel Project to preteen girls.

Encouragement, Prayer

April 16, 2014

Devotional: Are You in a Slump?

By Cristy Whitlock

“God, I really need a hit this at bat. I’m in such a slump. Help me get a double?”

I remember having these conversations with The Lord during softball season. Maybe it sounds silly, but my belief in God’s sovereignty and His tailored pursuit for my love is enough to convince me that He cares about batting averages. After praying these things, I remember standing on second base, third base, or even back in the dugout after a homer and thanking God for helping me see the ball into the zone.

When you play a game often enough, slumps are inevitable. Over time, exhaustion, apathy, and a gradual decrease in attention to details can bring about disappointment. This can be true in kids ministry. Your kids ministry team might be doing extremely well this season. Maybe your numbers are growing, volunteers are overflowing, and you’re watching kids catch onto the beauty of the Gospel every Sunday. If this is the case with your church right now, praise God! Seasons of abundance are encouraging and strengthening to the rest of us!

For those in a slump, here’s one piece of advice:

Ask God for help.

While this seems obvious enough, sometimes we forget to make requests to The Lord. If God cared about the amount of hits I got in a season of softball, he most certainly cares about the details of your kids ministry. So today, tell God exactly how you feel. Are you tired? Are you out of ideas? Do you need encouragement? Ask.

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

Cristy Whitlock serves with the LifeWay Kids Marketing Team. A native Texan, her heart for ministry led her to Nashville in 2013. Her passions include loving on African children, playing sports, and serving in college ministry, which she does at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN.

Leadership, Missions, Prayer, Training

February 25, 2014

Missions: Are You a “Goer” or a Sender?

By Jana Magruder

The truth is there are “goers” and senders in the call to missions. “Goers” are those who actually go to the local or international destination to share the gospel. Senders are the ones who pray, help raise funds, support, and prepare missionaries to go! Both are necessary and we as followers of Jesus are called to one or the other or both. Teach this to your children.

I’ve been wrestling with something lately both as a mom and a KidMin leader. Are we teaching our children to have a heart for the Nations? Do we disciple them to love and champion and obey the Great Commission?

As church cultures are changing and family schedules are becoming busier, kids are going to church less and less. Therefore, we have to use every opportunity that we have to teach kids the gospel and then help foster an urgency for them to share their faith with others. This includes their community, their city, and unreached people groups in foreign nations.

KidMin leaders only see kids 1-2 hours per week at the most. Therefore, we need to make the most of our teaching hours on Sunday mornings and any other time during the week, always including stories of missionaries and those who have not heard the gospel. We need to equip parents to embrace the Great Commission at home, teaching their children what it means to “go make disciples.”

We must ask ourselves these questions: Who are the next goers and senders to the unreached? How are we preparing our children to say yes?

This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come (Matthew 24:14, HCSB).

Leadership, Missions, Prayer, Training

January 7, 2014

Service: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

By Jana Magruder

As the new year rolls in, what better way to discuss “resolutions” with kids than to talk about developing new habits and disciplines.

Continuing with our series on Spiritual Disciplines with kids, service is such an important part of modeling the most important commandments — “Love the Lord God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” Kids need to understand that once they become part of God’s family, they are part of the body of Christ. This means they get to be the hands and feet of Jesus by serving and helping others to know Him.

Here are three simple ways to incorporate the spiritual discipline of service into the daily life:

1. Action

The saying goes, “Wherever the need, is the call.” Therefore, teach children to be aware of those in need around them. This could mean physical work for a single mom, writing letters to someone who lost a loved one, playing with a lonely classmate or just carrying books for a classmate who is disabled.

2. Giving

A big part of serving is giving. Teach kids to give by teaching them to tithe to their church home, donating items and/or money to various causes that help those in need, or participating in fundraisers that contribute to the kingdom.

3. Praying

Remember to follow up acts of service by praying with kids. This is the next step that helps children continue to have a heart for those in need. Pray for those who are poor and hungry, for those who have experienced loss, for those who do not know Jesus and for the missionaries who are serving around the world.

Most importantly pray that the kids in your life would have a heart to serve and let that begin by us modeling and prioritizing the spiritual discipline of service in our own lives.

Read other posts in the Spiritual Disciplines series.

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Jana Magruder serves as the Director of Kids Ministry Publishing. Jana, her husband, and their three kids moved to Nashville from Austin, Texas where she served as the director of children’s ministry at the west campus of Austin Stone Community Church. Jana brings a wealth of experience and passion for kids, kids ministry, and the local church.

Bibles, Prayer, Training

January 3, 2014

5 Ways to Utilize Devotionals in Your Kids Ministry

By Jana Magruder

This article is a great reminder of the importance of encouraging kids to read the Bible and pray — even when it seems like it doesn’t make a difference. This ParentLife article by Debbie Dickerson shares five ways to maximize the use of devotionals by the kids we serve. Also, here are some excellent Kids Devotionals you’ll want to check out.
–Jana Magruder

I caught my son reading the Bible and spending time with God. Alone. Mid morning. Without being told. All his life, I had prayed that he would hunger for God wholeheartedly. Why did I unexpectedly find him seeking God now? I wonder how many times and how many ways I had encouraged him to read his Bible and have a quiet time with God. Then suddenly, it happened. Well, it shouldn’t have been unexpected and it really wasn’t sudden. Years of repetitious reminders and encouragement to spend time with God came from his family, Sunday School teachers, children’s minister, and pastor.

Don’t think that every time you tell the kids you teach, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God,” that you are wasting your time. Say it, time and time again. Find different ways to remind and encourage them. Here are 5 ways to use the kids devotionals to help your kids develop that hunger for God.

1. Take a pic.

My children’s minister says the kids devotionals are best tools to mentor children, but they have to make it past the floor of the mini-van. Get the devotionals inside the home by taking a photo of the kids in your group and attaching it to the front of each devotional. Kids love seeing pictures of themselves and parents value anything that has their kid’s photo on it. As you send them home, say, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God.”

2. Hide a note.

Peak the kids’ curiosity to look inside the devotionals by writing a personal note to each kid somewhere in his devotional. As he leaves your room, hand him his devotional and encourage him to look for the hidden note. Remind the kids, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God.”

3. Choose a day.

As part of your prayer time with the group, hand out the devotionals. Instruct each child to write the names of people in the group, friends, and family members on as many days as they can. Encourage the kids to take their devotionals home and remember to pray for the people they listed on the days they chose. As you tell kids goodbye, say, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God.”

4. Spread the Word.

Equip kids to be intentional about telling others about Jesus. Suggest they cut out some of their favorite verses, devotionals, facts, jokes, or games and leave them where a friend will find them. Remember to say, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God.”

5. Make a scrapbook.

Help kids develop a sense of missions. Each month, read the missions emphasis. Keep a scrapbook in the room and add the mission story each month. Don’t forget to say, “Be sure to read your Bible and talk with God.”

One day not so suddenly, expect to catch the kids reading the Bible and talking with God.

Debbie Dickerson is the production editor for More, Adventure, and Bible Express and a mom to two boys.

Use LifeWay Kids Devotionals with purpose and intention and watch how doing a devotion on a regular basis can actually lead to being devoted to Jesus.

Encouragement, Prayer, Training

January 2, 2014

Fasting: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

By Bill Emeott

Here are some practical ways to teach kids about fasting through experience with short and intentional opportunities.

Of all the disciplines, fasting is probably the one I have personally practiced the least. For those of you who know me, that doesn’t come as a surprise. Denying myself food doesn’t come easy to me. While many of us have bought into the idea that unless we’re having three large meals (and several snacks in between) everyday, we’re starving ourselves. The truth is that many of us could easily cut back and even find ourselves healthier. In Matthew 6:16 Jesus gives some instruction on fasting. Verse 16 starts with, “When you fast…” not “If you fast…” That would say to me that it’s something we are to do.

Scripture refers to fasting as abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. Normally fasting includes abstaining from all food, solid or liquid, but not water. Occasionally, we find what has been called an “absolute fast.” or an abstaining from both food and water. That appears to be for desperate measures to meet dire emergencies. For the purposes of this post (and when dealing with kids) I want us to consider a partial fast or a restriction of one’s diet but not a total abstention. Daniel talks a little about this in chapter 10.

Here are some practical ways to fast with kids:

Make different choices. For a period of time, choose healthy foods for snacking. Instead of cookies, choose carrots. Instead of soda choose water. Instead of fast food, choose nutritious meals.
Abstain from sweets. Lead kids to not eat sugar based foods (candy, cake, pastries) for a designated time.
A digital fast. As a family, decide to fast from technology. This could be as simply as not using the DVD player in the minivan to a complete abstinence for a week or month.
Grow from short to more intensive fasts. Don’t start with a 40 day, “no (fill in the blank)” fast that will be difficult to achieve. Start small and build on success.

Be intentional about helping kids understand why you’re fasting:

Fasting must center on God. If you fast for any reason other than to center on Him; His will and His desire, it will be in vain.
Fasting reminds us that God is our provider of every good and perfect gift. Help kids find this reality.
Fasting helps us focus. The point of a fast is to focus on a particular issue, need, concern, or desire. Determine the point and be very intentional to share and help kids understand.
Fasting is a discipline not a punishment. Don’t use the biblical discipline of fasting to ease your guilt or need to punish poor behavior.
Model biblical fasting. Kids learn more from what they see than what they simply hear. When teaching the discipline of fasting, know that you can’t lead kids to do something that you’re not willing to do yourself.
Don’t sell kids short. While the practice and understanding of biblical fasting will be best suited for older kids, teaching and allowing kids to participate in age-appropriate ways will lay foundations for deeper and more meaningful experiences in the future.

This inwardly expressed discipline (not publicly shared but a private matter between the individual and God) in its traditional sense should be approached with a lot of thought and care. For us to ignore this discipline would be a blatant disregard of Old and New Testament practice as well as Christ’s expectation shared in the Gospels.

Obviously, there are physical issues and limitations to consider and, quite frankly, fasting may not be for everyone — especially kids. You may want to check with a doctor before beginning a fast from food. But ultimately, I cannot think of a reason why we would ignore teaching about fasting and at some level help kids understand, through experience, short and intentional opportunities to practice what Jesus (and many Bible heroes) practiced.

What do you think?

We’ve been sharing ideas on how to teach kids spiritual disciplines over the past few weeks on this blog. I’ve become very challenged on this subject. While understanding the value of spiritual disciplines in my own life, I’ve really never purposefully considered helping kids develop and practice them. Please take a moment to go back and revisit some of the other posts on Spiritual Disciplines. I’ve found them very interesting and helpful.

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Since 2003 Bill Emeott has served as a Kids Ministry Specialist for LifeWay. His passions include childhood ministry leadership training and development, leading children’s Bible Study, and being an Uncle! Bill has been teaching children at First Baptist Nashville for ten years.

Encouragement, Prayer, Sunday School, Training

December 10, 2013

Prayer: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

By Jeff Land

Developing the discipline of prayer in kids is like trying to build muscle. It takes a lot of time and repeated practice. Each time you encourage your child to pray, he becomes more keenly aware of the ability that he has to talk with his Father.

“Thank you God for the birds. And thank you God for Mama and Daddy. And thank you God for my lovely bed. And thank you God for our “wunnerful” house. And help Will to not be in chaos. Amen.”

I love nightly prayers with my boys. Nash is a wonderful prayer already. I love his use of words like lovely, wonderful, and chaos that are not normally words you would hear from a 5-year-old. We have prayed with our boys since they were young. We pray at mealtimes and we pray at bedtime. We pray in the car on the way to school. Our boys know that prayer is an important tool that God gave us as a way to communicate directly with Him.

As a Sunday School teacher, it bothers me when kids are too shy to pray because they don’t know what to say. I pray that I am teaching my boys that they can talk to God and tell Him anything. God already knows how their days are going, who the bullies are, and how badly they want their pet fish to be healed, but He never gets tired of hearing from them. As adults we must pattern a life of talking with God about the small things and the big things.

A few weeks ago, I had the honor and blessing of leading my oldest son, Reed, in praying the most important prayer he will ever pray. Reed is a timid child in many ways, but when it came to accepting Christ, he wanted in all the way. He gladly prayed a prayer asking Jesus to forgive him and be his Savior.

Here are five ways to help kids practice their prayer muscle:

1. Have them pray Bible verses.

Encourage kids to choose a favorite Psalm and pray it as a praise to God. This helps them feel comfortable about not knowing the “right” thing to say.

2. Ask kids to say sentence prayers.

Allowing kids the opportunity to pray simple one sentence prayers in groups helps them to become comfortable with prayers in public.

3. Listen to songs about prayer.

Recently, I heard about recording artist Mandisa’s song “Dear John” in which she recorded prayers for her brother’s salvation under the track of her singing the song. Last week as my wife drove down the highway with our son’s in tow, Reed blurted out “Nash, I need you to pray the special prayer so one day you will live with me in Heaven.” Dear John just happened to be playing on the radio. God hears the prayers of His children.

4. Create a prayer board at home.

Place a poster board or sheet of paper on a wall or your fridge. Write down your families prayer request and pray for them daily. Mark times when God has answered those prayers.

5. Pray often and pray with your kids.

Priscilla Shirer wrote that she prayers over her sons that they will be men of honor, integrity, and character. Each morning we pray the same prayer over our boys. Kids notice when you pray for certain aspects. They ask questions and learn about the way you feel about prayer. If it is important to you, your kids will notice.

Read these other posts:

Read other posts in the Spiritual Disciplines series.

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Jeff Land loves Life! That’s pretty great, because his job here at LifeWay is the Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff loves his life which is so blessed by his amazing wife, Abbey, and their four sons, Reed, Nash, Will, and Tuck. A natural encourager and fun-lover, look for Jeff’s posts about teacher appreciation and game ideas. When not serving at work, Jeff serves 2nd graders at his church, First Baptist Church, Joelton, TN.

Christmas, Encouragement, Evangelism, Prayer

December 2, 2013

3 Ways for Families to be Missional during Christmas

By Jana Magruder

Christmas is approaching and churches, in keeping with tradition, will roll-out the red carpet, plan an amazing service and make certain the gospel is presented. Why? Because we as the Church know that people, believers or not, try to make it to a Christmas service, which gives church members a way to invite friends and family and know that they will hear about Christ.

Christmas services are an obvious way for us to encourage the families we serve to be missional during Christmas — invite a friend to church!

What about the not-so-obvious? I want to give you three practical ideas for encouraging those in your ministry to be mission-minded during the Christmas season.

1. Open your home.

Invite neighbors, families from your children’s schools, people you work with — really anyone who needs to be around a family that lives the gospel. Intentionally pray over these invitations to your home and involve your children in your hospitality efforts, such as decorating, baking, and preparing meals. Model how to show others the love of Jesus. Your children are watching!

2. Serve the poor and needy.

Find opportunities to serve as a family in environments that allow your hearts for Christ to shine. This could be a soup kitchen, a nursing home, a shelter — anywhere there is need. Make this not only a tradition during the holidays, but a regular rhythm in your lives.

3. Pray for opportunities.

As 2013 is closing and the start of a new year is looming around the corner, pray as a family that God would open the door for many opportunities to share the gospel with those who do not know Him. Actively pray for people you know and for those you do not know yet. Engage your children in these prayers and before you know it, God will ignite in them a heart for the lost, poor and needy.

Please share other ideas you may have for encouraging families to be missional during Christmas!

Jana Magruder serves as the Director of Kids Ministry Publishing. Jana, her husband, and their three kids moved to Nashville from Austin, Texas where she served as the director of children’s ministry at the west campus of Austin Stone Community Church. Jana brings a wealth of experience and passion for kids, kids ministry, and the local church.

Developing a Kids Ministry Prayer Team

Teaching Kids to Pray

5 Steps to Start a Family Meeting Tradition

Devotional: Are You in a Slump?

Missions: Are You a “Goer” or a Sender?

Service: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

5 Ways to Utilize Devotionals in Your Kids Ministry

Fasting: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

Prayer: Teaching Kids Spiritual Disciplines

3 Ways for Families to be Missional during Christmas

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