80 Creative Prayer Ideas

Content

Prayer is a vital part of the Christian life but people often struggle with actually getting on and doing it. This book offers 80 imaginative and creative ideas for setting up 'prayer stations', practical ways of praying that involve the senses - touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, and hearing, rather than simply reflecting, as we bring our hopes, fears, dreams and doubts to God.

Developed from material tried and tested with small groups, the ideas here provide activities ranging from bubble prayers to clay pot prayers (via just about everything else in between), and have been designed to be used with grown-ups - of all ages!

Foreword

This is a book that is so needed in our word filled world! It is wonderfully creative, helping us to engage with all of our being in the whole business of listening to, walking with, waiting for and talking with God. It provides biblically based ideas to make prayer accessible to an individual, small group or church congregation in ways that are engaging, stimulating and fun!

So many people find getting down to pray and praying hard, whether they try on their own or with others in a small group or in a church setting. Often this is because we rely solely on using verbal tools to 'pray'. And while that does work for some of us, others need to engage more actively in the doing and so be able to connect with the Bible passage, themes or issues in more interactive ways which enable our praying to flow for ourselves and for others.

I hope this book will spur on leaders who want to include creative praying in church services and home groups as well as individuals who want to explore new ways of encountering God in the place of prayer. Jesus clearly showed us what our responsibilities are as his followers: to pray for his kingdom to come and for his will to be done in and for our families and our neighbours; in our communities , our nation and our world. Let's use these creative methods of prayer and see where God leads us as we sense our own prayer journey developing and reaching up to God and out to those he puts on our heart to pray for and about.

Jane Holloway, World Prayer Centre, Birmingham

• Teaching about prayer
• Worship
• Different approaches