6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
The following prayer stations are from an Advent Worship Experience we hosted a few years ago. They are meant to be self-directed and allow students to move from one station to the next in no parti…
The last week before school let out for Christmas we decided to deviate from our usual worship and small groups. Instead we set up Advent Prayer stations for our youth to participate in. It took us about 3 hours to set up all of the stations in our youth center. That evening we had the...
For Christians, Advent is a season of preparation and waiting. Advent prayer stations are a great way to keep kids focused on the real meaning of the Christmas season.
Last Sunday, my youth had time to play and pray. We divided into two groups. Each group spent half an hour playing minute to win it games and half an hour engaging in these prayer stations. All of …
The last week before school let out for Christmas we decided to deviate from our usual worship and small groups. Instead we set up Advent Prayer stations for our youth to participate in. It took us about 3 hours to set up all of the stations in our youth center. That evening we had the...
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
Coming Novemebr 2018: Prepare Him Room: An Advent Prayer Guide - As we prepare our homes to celebrate Christmas, let us join together to prepare our hearts.
Last Sunday, my youth had time to play and pray. We divided into two groups. Each group spent half an hour playing minute to win it games and half an hour engaging in these prayer stations. All of …
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
For Christians, Advent is a season of preparation and waiting. Advent prayer stations are a great way to keep kids focused on the real meaning of the Christmas season.
The last week before school let out for Christmas we decided to deviate from our usual worship and small groups. Instead we set up Advent Prayer stations for our youth to participate in. It took us about 3 hours to set up all of the stations in our youth center. That evening we had the...
Last Sunday, my youth had time to play and pray. We divided into two groups. Each group spent half an hour playing minute to win it games and half an hour engaging in these prayer stations. All of …
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
The Advent Activity Pack comes with lesson plans, activities, over 20 worksheets and graphic organizers, informational videos, and Advent prayer ideas.
Visit the post for more.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. (Luke 1.31) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, an…
The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on this period of expectation, waiting, and preparation for the birth of Chri…
One of the themes that runs through accounts of the birth of Jesus is that of 'journey'. Mary, Joseph, the wise men and the shepherds, all make their own journey towards Jesus and his birth. This 'colour-in' reflection on the journey theme takes children through a labyrinth maze to the nativity star at the centre. While they are thinking about the journeys the various characters take, children might also be able to explore their own journeys towards finding out more about Jesus. Click here to print the page. Talk about: Why do we go on journeys? What is it like to go on a journey? How might these people have felt as they travelled? What does it feel like to reach the end of your journey? Which 'journey' character do you think you are? Pray: As you trace the path, pray for people who are on a journey, far from their homes. Pray that they will get to their destination safely. Pray for all those who are on a journey, trying to find out about Jesus.
An Advent prayer for love. In this prayer for the fourth week of Advent, pray for God’s love to permeate this world and fill your heart.
Games, contemplation, reflection, creativity, Bible study, connection, fun…it isn’t easy to create a youth group event that includes all these elements. But, sometimes it clicks! When i…
The last week before school let out for Christmas we decided to deviate from our usual worship and small groups. Instead we set up Advent Prayer stations for our youth to participate in. It took us about 3 hours to set up all of the stations in our youth center. That evening we had the...
a celtic southerner ...on a pilgrimage of discovery and creativity
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
I've been thinking about ways of helping children to use the Nativity story in prayer and this is what I've come up with! Each Nativity story character leads to a different prayer... Print out the sheet, laminate the cards (or stick the paper onto a sheet of card) and then let children choose a character and pray the prayer that goes with it. If you have a Nativity set, the children might like to hold the characters as they pray :-) Click here to print out the sheet.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
An Advent prayer for joy. In this prayer for the third week of Advent, pray for joy in the Lord, to rejoice and be glad forever in God’s creation.
Prayer Stations provide the opportunity for students to encounter God in a new and different way. Through different experiences and prompts they are encouraged to think, to pray and to respond. Prayer Stations are for your group, but they do not only have to be done at your onsite location. With a little planning and...
Resources for planning and leading worship
Pt. 2 "MY FIRST WEDNESDAY NIGHT" Tonight was my first night with the youth group at Hermitage UMC. It actually went really well. On Monday I met with our Christian Ed. Director, Linda, who told me that she was planning on doing an Advent program for tonight that was going to be intergenerational. She wanted it to be based around the music of Advent. So I told her that I would be in charge of shaping it into a more experiential alt. style worship time. Linda was excited because she said that many of the people at Hermitage had not experienced something like this before and that it would be really new for them. Well that may have made her excited, but I was nervous. We called the experience THE WALK OF THE MAGI based around the idea that the magi must have travelled a really long time following the star before they made it to the house of the Christ child. They really had no idea where they were going, they just simply followed the star. We had A LOT of youth there and a great mix of adults, as well. So we began with Linda talking about what Advent is. Then I invited them to the first prayer room: EXPERIENCE 1: “THE TIME IS NEAR” 1. First two stanzas of “People, Look East” UMH 202 is sung 2. Reading: Isaiah 40: 1-11 3. Experiental Meditation 4. Last 2 stanzas of “The Time is Near” is sung 5. As people exit they take a glow in the dark star EXPERIENCE 1: “THE TIME IS NEAR” PRAYER STATION Items needed: roll of newsprint, markers, plastic glow in the dark stars Invite participants to make a list of all the things they have to “get done” between now and Christmas… they should write directly onto the newsprint anywhere they want. Once they have finished that list they should then make a new list- one that lists things that they might do to prepare for Christ’s arrival- prayer, fasting, serving the poor, etc… etc… As they leave the experience invite them to take a plastic glow in the dark star as a symbol throughout Advent that God has called them to follow the star. NEXT WE MOVED TO THE SECOND PRAYER ROOM: EXPERIENCE 2: “SEND YOUR WORD, O LORD” 1. First two stanzas of “Send Your Word” UMH 195 is sung 2. Reading: Psalm 85: 1-2, 8-13 3. Experiential Meditation 4. Last 2 stanzas of Send Your Word sung. 5. Magi leads everyone out of experience and to continue following the star EXPERIENCE 2: “SEND YOUR WORD, O LORD” PRAYER STATION Items needed: sharpy markers and plastic glow in the dark stars from first station. At this station the practice of Lectio Divina will the central activity. Allow the participants a few minutes to center in, and then 1. read the scripture passage slowly once and invite the participants to listen for a word or phrase that jumps out at them. Ask them to then simply to “hang out with that word or phrase”. 2. Read the passage again and this time ask them to imagine a life experience where that word or phrase is involved- what do they see, hear, feel, taste, smell? 3. Read the passage again and ask them to simply ask God to give them insight on how they might live out this word or phrase during Advent. 4. Invite them to write their word or phrase on their star and to take it with them. THEN WE MOVED BACK INTO THE YOUTH AREA FOR OUR FINAL PRAYER EXPERIENCE: EXPERIENCE 3: “O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL 1. First two verses of “O come, O come, Emmanuel” UMH 211 sung 2. Reading: 2 Peter 3: 8- 15 3. Experiential Meditation 4. Sharing of experience along with joys and concerns 5. Closing Benediction EXPERIENCE 3: “O COME, O COME, EMMANUEL PRAYER STATION Items needed: playdough Invite participants to imagine what they hope the world to be like one day. Using clay invite them to create a symbol of their hope for the world. It ended up going very well and I was really impressed at how receptive the youth were to the contemplative aspect of what we did. I ended by relating the magi journey to our journey together- that none of us knows quite where God is going to lead us but that we're all on this journey together and that's part of the fun (and anxiety) of being where we are in this. I'm really looking foward to Sunday night and getting to know them all a bit more. shalom jonathon
This year I have seen a variety of lovely ideas online for helping children and families to get involved with the Advent season. Drawing on some of the ideas I've seen, I've come up with a little bag of things to give out (along with prayer ideas for each item) which will take people through some of the main Advent themes. Putting the bags together doesn't take all that long when you have everything you need and it's quite therapeutic to paint a whole load of Baby Jesus stones! If you want to find out a bit more about the baby Jesus stones, click here. For each bag you will need: A prayer sheet (click here to print), A felt or paper star, a felt or paper heart, a pipe cleaner, a baby Jesus stone, a tea light candle, an organza drawstring bag (I used purple bags to reflect the liturgical season. First paint your baby Jesus stones. I used white and brown paint and a black paint marker (but a sharpie would probably work too). I also covered the finished painting with glossy mod podge. Varnish would work too, but this part isn't strictly necessary! Next, fill your bags with one of each item and give them out! Keep in touch with your families if you can and see how the bags are working out :-) The contents of the prayer sheet are below: Advent Prayer Bags Prepare for Christmas with some special Advent prayers. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. Isaiah 9:2 Hope What do you hope for? Light the candle and ask God to bring His light and hope to people who are finding life hard. Love Who do you love? Hold the heart and say thank you to God for all the people you love and who love you. Joy What brings you joy? Bend the pipe cleaner into a symbol for something that makes you happy. Ask God to help those who are sad to feel His joy. Peace The wise men followed the star to search for Jesus. Hold the star and pray for all those who are searching for peace in a troubled world. Christmas Day Make a special bed for your baby Jesus stone to lie in and light your candle again. Thank God for sending Jesus to be a light in the darkness and trouble of the world. Pray that you will be a light in the darkness too.
A woman wrapped in silence and the waitOf silence was her heart that heardThese words are from a classic narrative poem by John Lynch. "Wrapped
Resources for planning and leading worship
How do you help kids to pray more than rote words or “God bless my puppy”? Prayer Stations are helpful to show kids ways to pray and to keep them focused.
6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. (Luke 2.6) The first Sunday of Advent, my church has interactive prayer stations, an opportunity to engage, reflect, and meditate on…
During the last three Advent seasons, I have led a “Blue Christmas” service. Also called “The Longest Night” service, it is a contemplative, reflective service meant to brin…
For Christians, Advent is a season of preparation and waiting. Advent prayer stations are a great way to keep kids focused on the real meaning of the Christmas season.