But what does that say to the young people and children we work with? If we don’t encourage our groups to pray – both together and individually – or demonstrate it ourselves, then it won’t seem important to them and their faith development will be severely hindered.
Now, not everyone connects with God in the same way, so it’s important that we provide lots of different ways to pray so that children and young people can find the best ways for them to chat with God. At this point, it might be good to read about the spiritual styles research done by Canadian theologian David Csinos. He lays out that there are four basic styles – word, emotion, action and symbol – and that people express their faith in a combination of these. Providing children and young people with different spiritual styles different activities to try will help prompt meaningful prayer, laying the foundations for a vibrant prayer life when they move on from our groups.
Here are some ideas to explore further:
