FACE 2 FAITH - Prayer Ideas

Prayer Ideas

Build a Prayer Cairn

People are given a palm sized pebble to hold during a service of prayer.  At the end of the service all the pebbles (and prayers) can be gathered together to form a cairn.  Cairns are traditionally built as memorials or waymarkers. You could build a Prayer Cairn outside their building as a permanent reminder of the need for peace in the world.

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Fast and Active

FAST

One traditional approach to prayer is to spend time fasting. This is normally a period without food, in which the time spent not eating is spent in prayer. Fasting is about adopting a less 'cluttered' approach to life, when time to think about where God's call is leading us becomes our focus. Lent is a time when some Christians choose to fast, not always giving up food - but finding special ways to spend more time consciously in God's presence. What about giving up watching television for a week and using the time to pray?

ACTIVE

Organise a prayer walk or pilgrimage. Identify points along the way where particular prayers can be said. This could be in an urban or rural setting. Encourage people to talk along the way, but have a silent section - perhaps the last leg of the walk - to allow quiet contemplation and create space to listen to God's prompting as well as talk.

Variations on this theme could include a narrow boat journey, a horse ride, a bike ride, or for those less energetic, a walk around a local park.

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Use a booklet specially prepared for Face 2 Faith, which offers a reading, prayer or thought for each day of February, from a range of faiths.  Click here to download your copy.

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More ideas

There are many ways of using resources and modern technology to pray in new ways. Here are just a few:

• Text prayer groups . People commit themselves to pray at a particular time and text each other as a reminder; or one of the group texts the others with a prayer or Bible text for reflection.
  
  
• Set up an e-mail group and send each other prayer ideas and requests.
  
  
• Use images to stimulate prayer, e.g. postcards, or images from magazines can be scattered around a room and people can choose one that inspires or moves them. Have a time of quiet to pray about issues that the images bring up and then invite those who feel able to talk about the experience.
  
  
• Create presentations using PowerPoint or OHPs to combine music and images that might lead people into prayer. This is a great way of offering intercessions in worship. Use images that reflect the news and the world around us.
  
  
• Set up a Prayer Board at church, low enough for children to reach. Encourage people to pin prayers onto the board. Shape your note paper to reflect your theme, e.g. hand shapes reaching out to each other to illustrate good Inter Faith relations. Have plenty of pens and pencils available for people to use.