Setting up a Prayer Room

What is a prayer room?

A prayer room is a room set aside for prayer by the church. It doesn't need to be very large, but it needs to be big enough for a group of people to be able to move around in it. A rough guide would be - bigger than the average vestry, but smaller than the main worship area.

This room needs to be accessible to all members of the congregation.

It can be used by members of the congregation to pray for inter faith relations and issues in today's society.

Setting up a prayer room

There are many different ways of setting up a prayer room, but below are details of how one example was set up, drawn from experience.

Materials needed:

Colorful materials( for example voile, or, if you live in a multi-cultural area, something from Asia, such as a sari )

In addition:

Candles
Cross
Stones
Bible
Other visual materials
Soft cushions
Small table
Verses from the Bible printed out and put on the walls
Images
CD player and music
If you have the technology, a corner where images or multimedia are projected.

Set up

Create a focal point with the small table covered with the different colored materials.

Put the cross at the centre, and put stones, Bible, lit candles etc around it...

Create other corners or areas around the room for people to be creative. Use the rest of the material to make this possible..

Examples include:

1. an area where people can write the names or places they are praying for
2. an area where the people can see images of inter faith relations or people of other faiths and this can aid them with their prayers

If you have enough space, you might consider putting up a gazebo and making that one of the stations.

Put some soft cushions around for people to sit and pray

Keep chairs next to the walls for people who aren't able to sit on the floor