The opportunity for this type of prayer is very seasonal and geographically limited, but maybe more special for it.

When having some fun in the snow, why not add in some prayer? Get everyone to to write, draw or make a snow model of something they’d like to say sorry to God for doing, something they regret saying or doing, or something they’d like to ‘leave behind’ and have a fresh start from.

As the snow melts enjoy remembering how God forgives us – when we say sorry to Him, the wrong things we’ve done are wiped away just like a snow model when the snow melts.

This activity is one of 52 creative prayer ideas in Prayer GodVenture 52

Pinata prayer

If you took part in the ‘Creative prayer at church, home and school’ workshop, thank you for your participation – we hope you had fun and were inspired to try out some new creative prayer ideas. It would be great to hear what you try and how it goes, especially if you try some of the 52 ideas in Prayer GodVenture 52.

If you weren’t and would like a taster, Creative prayer workshop handout, but for now here’s the principles of creative prayer:

Let’s make it:

Natural – going with the flow of our service, group session, school curriculum or home life

Optional – we can’t make anyone pray or force people to engage with God in a particular way

Intentional - what the leader intends is vitally important, especially in schools

Simple – this makes it all much easier

Experiential – hands on, joining in, adults praying with children, not for them or just listening to them

Enjoyable!

Flexible – being prepared to adapt what we’ve planned is important, especially at home

Accessible – big key is to ask: Who is this activity for? What might hinder them from engaging from God? What can I do to remove potential hinderances?

Replicable – trying to do prayer activities which can start in a children’s group and be used in a church service or at home

Trust God - He’s big enough!

Educational – allow activities also to be opportunities to learn more about prayer, and this is of course the focus when doing prayer in schools

Ritual – use ideas that work lots of times

There may also be an audio version of the workshop available later this month, although we really needed video to capture the passionate bashing of the pinatas!

Brand new for 2012, Prayer GodVenture 52 is a pack of children’s playing cards with 52 creative prayer ideas.

Families wanting ideas to thank God, say sorry to God, ask God to act (please) or simply chat with God will be delighted with the variety of ideas in this pack.

More here

52 creative prayer ideas

Looking for creative prayer ideas?

Here’s a pack of playing cards with 52 different ideas for ways that families can pray together at home.

Get yours here

The cards are designed so that you can play children’s card games like Snap or Collect Four with them, with 13 suits and 4 numbers (1-4). Each number has a certain type of prayers, so

1 Thanks
2 Sorry
3 Please
4 Chat with God

The cards are available at the Hand in Hand conference this weekend in Eastbourne and then from this website. Many of the ideas will also be available to try out at the conference so come along to the Creative Area and have some fun.

Easter remembering

Be creative, and remember it doesn’t have to be a long thing – just a moment to pause and thank Jesus for dying for us so we could be friends with God, and that His new life means we can have new life too.

If you like this activity, you might like to look at the family Shabbat meal idea onthis page.

The challenge is to try reading the whole of the Easter story before Easter. You could read it from a children’s Bible such as The Big Bible Storybook or from one gospel in a family-friendly Bible version such as the Contemporary English Version. Click here for links to the whole story from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John from the Contemporary English Bible at Biblegateway.com
(These may look like whole sections of the Bible, but remember it’s all one story, and you can read over 40 days, splitting the verses up into daily or weekly chunks.

You could print out or photocopy the text you want to read then use highlighter pens to assign different parts to different people in your family. You could have some people read what certain characters say, while others read the narrator.

For more creative ideas for re-telling Bible stories, get a set of Bible GodVenture52 cards.

Easter geographical re-telling

For example:

Re-tell the story of Jesus eating Passover with his friends (Matthew 26:17-30) over a meal.

Re-tell the story of Jesus’ arrest (John 18:1-11) in a garden or park or outside area.

Re-tell the Peter denying Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75) in a courtyard or patio area, or near some chickens or other birds.

Re-tell the story of Jesus’ burial and resurrection (Matthew 27:57-66; 28:1-10) in a grave yard or near some caves.

Re-tell the story of Jesus appearing to his friends on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) on a walk or a journey on a train or in the car.

Re-tell the story of Jesus appearing to his friends by lake Tiberias (John 21:1-14) by a lake or stream or pond, or when eating fish (and chips)!

For more creative ideas for re-telling Bible stories, get a set of Bible GodVenture52 cards.

A pack of children’s playing cards features 52 ideas to help families meet God as they explore the Bible together.

A brand new resource for 2012, Prayer GodVenture52 is a pack of children’s playing cards with a creative prayer idea on each card – perfect for families to use to have fun praying together.

The activities are aimed at families to use together at home, but many could easily be used in children’s groups or All-Age services.

The cards are all numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 plus a picture, so you can play all the usual children’s card games with them, but you can also use the simple, fun creative, fun prayer ideas on each card.

The cards will be launched at the Hand in Hand Children and Families Ministry conference in Eastbourne on 3rd February.

Pinata prayer?

Rachel (from Orison) and I are running a workshop on Creative Prayer at the Hand in Hand Children and Family Ministry conference in Eastbourne. In fact, the full title is something along the snappy lines of Creative Prayer at home, church and school.

If you know either of us, you know it’ll be hands on, doing stuff. Here’s a quick peep of what we might do, in case you need any more of a reason to come:

Open in prayer – a simple creative prayer

India – Rach is going to share about her time in India with Grassroots (this week)

Prayer – praying in four different ways for the situations in India Rach has described, including pinata prayer (yes, there should be a wiggly over the first a – not sure how to do this in WordPress!)

Evaluate – Which did you like? Which worked best? Which might you use?

Principles for creative prayer in

homes
churches – adults services, all age services and children’s groups
schools

Questions?

Close with creative prayer part deux

Sound good? Come along see it live!