Youth Prayer Ideas
Debbie Foster

Prayer Crowd Breaker – Divide your group into teams.  Give each team a piece of paper and a pen. In five
minutes have each team write down as many prayer  requests that they can think of. (Ex. lost family
members, healings, church growth, pastor, etc.) At the  end of five minutes count the requests and award a prize  to the winning team. Then copy the prayer list and  distribute them to the team members and have them pray  over the list for the week.

Prayer Cards – Take three index cards and write down one  person’s name on each card. Next, go to each of the  people that you listed on a card and let them know that  you will be praying for them. Ask them to tell you the  desires of their heart and any immediate prayer  concerns. Then, write it down on their card so you can  partner with them in prayer. Pray for those three people  each day according to the information they provided on  the index cards. Pray consistently for a specified time  or until prayers are answered.

Bonfire Prayer – Each person selects a twig or small  piece of wood or a piece of paper with your request
written on it that is tossed into the fire with a silent  or spoken prayer symbolizing our prayers are given in
trust up to God.

Paper Towel Prayer -The prayer leader begins by  unrolling a roll of paper towels on the floor. Each
person is asked to write a person’s name or prayer  concern on each sheet. Re-roll. Each day or youth
service tear off one sheet and lift up prayers for that  particular concern or person.

Nail Prayer- Build a wooden cross (size depending on  size of group). Give each person is given one or more
post-it-notes or pieces of paper to write a prayer  concern on. Invite each person to nail that concern on
the cross.

Fastest Prayer – Divide your group into teams, Give each  team a piece of paper and a pen. In five minutes have  each team write down as many prayer requests that they  can think of. (Ex. lost family members, healings, church  growth, pastor, etc.) At the end of five minutes count  the requests and award a prize to the winning team. Then  copy the prayer list and distribute them to the team  members and have them pray over the list for the week.

Echo Prayer – Pray a short prayer phrase out loud. Pause  for the family or group to repeat out loud your word of  thanks, or confession, or praise, or petition. This  continues to reinforce that people can pray out loud.

Complete the Sentence Prayer – Ask a member of your  family or of the group to volunteer to think about one  of the five aspects of prayer. Start the prayer and the  volunteer for each type of prayer will finishes the
sentence. For example: “Lord, you are…(praise and  worship); “Lord, forgive me for…(confession of sin);
“Lord, thank you for…(thanking God); “Lord, please  help…(praying for others needs); “Lord, I need…(pray
for your needs).

Circle Prayer – There is definite power in being  connected via holding hands in a circle. This prayer can
begin and end with the same person. After opening in  prayer, the leader lightly squeezes the hand of the
person next to them indicating that he/she is finished  praying. That person can choose to pray or else lightly  squeeze the hand their neighbor. This continues until  everyone has had an opportunity to pray, at which time  the leader will end the prayer time.  Popcorn Prayer This metaphor for prayer is that of the
random popping of popcorn. Anyone is encouraged to jump  in with a brief prayer of thanksgiving or request.  Again, a leader can open this time of prayer and after a  healthy silence, close the prayer time, A word or phrase  is all that is encouraged to keep this prayer style  moving. It is a good introduction to group prayer. A  theme of what people are thankful for could be used  throughout this prayer.

Wall of Prayer – To encourage prayer requests make a  “Wall of Prayer.” Hang up a piece of newspaper (end
rolls from local papers may be free) or you can use  butcher block paper. Allow the children to write their
prayer requests on the paper after they have shared  their requests with the class. It is a faith building
visual reminder of the prayers and allows for great  follow-up on prayers when they get answered.

The above article, “Youth Prayer Ideas,” is written by  Debbie Foster. The article was excerpted from
www.wnop.org website, where it was published in October  of 2005.

The material is most likely copyrighted and should not  be reprinted under any other name or author. However,  this material may be freely used for personal study or  research purposes.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author,  but it contains many excellent principles and concepts  that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying  goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”