Getting to know God on a heart level involves talking with him, not just learning about him. Children talk naturally with their friends and family. How exciting if we could help them learn to talk to God just as easily!

First consider what you communicate in club about prayer. Work to help kids understand:

  • God is eager to listen to us! He wants to spend time with us because he loves us.
  • God will hear us anytime, anywhere. We don’t have to be sitting in club or church.
  • We can talk to God like we talk to people. We don’t need to learn any “church-y” language.
  • Anything is okay to talk to God about. Nothing is too big or small. God hears us when we’re sad, glad, or mad.

Pioneer Clubs’ curriculum provides you with a variety of prayer techniques to help club members get comfortable with prayer. With a little creativity, you can use just about any prayer technique with any topic you’re discussing, so feel free to mix and match. Here are a few ideas.

Fill in the Blank

Write a prayer sentence on the board, with a blank line in it. Club members take turns praying the sentence, filling in the blank with a phrase of their choice. Variation: The club leader prays aloud the first part of the prayer and then club members call out their endings. Another variation: Pray the sentence all together at the same time, with each person filling in his or her own ending.

Examples:

  • Lord, I praise you for ____________________.
  • Jesus, help me remember your love for me when I __________________________.

Litany

One person prays a variety of phrases and the rest answer with a set response. Pray as many phrases as you want, but stop before club members lose interest. Examples:

(Leader) For mountains and rivers…

(Club members) We thank you, God.

(Leader) For trees and flowers…

(Club members) We thank you, God.

(Leader) When we’re scared…

(Club members) Help us remember to pray.

(Leader) When we have a test…

(Club members) Help us remember to pray.

Pass the Prayer

Form a circle. The first person prays out loud and taps the person to the right when finished. This person may pray out loud or tap the next person right away if he or she doesn’t want to do so.

Person on the Right

Form a circle. Ask each club member to pray a set prayer for the person on the right, filling in the person’s name. For older club members who are familiar with prayer, you could give them the option of adding a prayer of their own for the person. Examples:

  • Thank you, God, for making (name) special.
  • Dear Jesus, help (name) stand up for what’s right this week with friends.

Note Prayers

Club members write their prayer on paper. After they pray, they fold up the note and take it home as a reminder. This works well for prayers about something club members want to practice or prayers thanking God for his attributes.

Request Box

Set up a shoebox with a slit in the lid, along with slips of paper and pencils. Club members write prayer requests whenever they want to and slip them in. During your prayer time, empty the box and hand out the requests for volunteers to pray for.

Best/Worst

Have a sharing time where kids may tell either the best thing that happened to them this week or the worst thing. After each, ask for a volunteer to either say a praise prayer or ask Jesus to help the person.