5 Fantastic Prayer Resources for Families

In our Children and Families Ministry we are passionate about equipping young people and their parents, guardians and families with tools to develop their relationship with God prayerfully and spiritually.

Our pastoral team and team leaders are regularly asked how best to bring prayer and worship, God’s love and Jesus’ teaching from church on Sundays into everyday life.

This is what the Orange philosophy is all about; bringing the church and the home together (If you’re brand new to the Orange philosophy, click here to read about what it is, why we have adopted it and what it means for you and our young people!).

To run alongside our latest talk series ‘Deeper’, I’ve put together some incredible resources for you and your family to use to connect with God at home.

101 Ways to Start a Conversation with God

Via Parenting for Faith

One of the ways we encourage our young people to develop their relationship with God in our Kids ministry is through Chat and Catch.

Not sure what Chat and Catch is? Read our article on it here!

There are endless things you can talk to God about in our lives, but sometimes this amount of choice can make it difficult to start the conversation!

Parenting for Faith has put together some great ideas of topics for young people to talk to God about, to catch and to receive. These ideas are great for prayerful conversations over breakfast, in the car or anywhere you might want to spend some time talking to God.

Read 101 Ways to Start a Conversation with God here

Creative Ways to Pray with your Kids

Via 24-7 Prayer

As anyone who has or has worked with children will tell you, no two kids are the same.

This rule applies to praying with our kids too!

If you want your kids to develop in their relationship with God, finding ways to pray that best suit their interests, skills and personalities is a great way to start.

I think this creative prayer article from 24-7 Prayer is a really good guide for this. It’s got some great things to think about around engaging kids in prayer, and how you can incorporate prayer into your day-to-day life in a way they can connect with. 

Read Creative Ways to Pray with your Kids here

Engaging Kids in Worship

At Sutton Vineyard we aim to create a space for Kids of all ages to feel welcome, safe and to grow in their understanding of faith and their relationship with God.

We want our Kids to feel the power of worshipping God and enjoy developing in their faith alongside friends and leaders. Engaging Kids in church can sometimes be challenging, and worship can be one of the greatest hurdles for us to navigate as leaders and parents.

To equip us to help our young people connect with God I put together an article discussing some of the challenges in engaging Kids in worship and how we can encourage participation.

Read our article on Engaging Kids in Worship here

Devotional Dippers Prayer Sticks

Making prayer fun is a really good way of encouraging our kids to connect with God, and I personally find products like these devotional prayer sticks really useful.

Prayer sticks like these normally include a theme, a verse, a question to discuss and a prayer point to encourage our young people to speak with God.

Find a time that works for you to pick a short devotional with your family. It could take as little as 5 minutes and helps you to turn your focus to God as a family.

If you’d like to give these prayer sticks a go but the cost would be a barrier, please send me an email at kids@suttonvineyard.org and we would be glad to buy a set for your family!

Devotional Dippers Prayer sticks are available here

Help! My Kid Won’t Pray!

Via Raising Prayerful Kids

Our kids might not always want to pray at the time or in the way we would like. 

It’s normal for our children to resist if they’re asked to do something they don’t feel like doing. 

This article from Raising Prayerful Kids gives some ideas of things to try if prayer feels like a struggle in your house including encouragement, perseverance and making prayer fun!

Read Help! My Kid won’t Pray! here

There are plenty of fantastic resources for families to encourage our young people in developing their relationship with God prayerfully. 

If you want to chat about any of these resources, or are keen to learn more about equipping your young people, please feel free to drop me an email at kids@suttonvineyard.org!

S.O.A.P: A Simple Way To Meditate On Scripture

Meditation is such a popular topic these days, but did you know it is also ancient and Biblical!?

In the Psalms, King David wrote, 'I meditate on your words day and night.'

Meditation, at its core, is a simple yet powerful practice. It involves focusing your thoughts and directing your concentration. And, it's a practice that anyone can engage in.

Meditating on scripture can be as simple as 4-20 minutes (or though feel free to make it longer) of intentional thought using a structure like SOAP to help you reflect and pray. SOAP stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. If you are familiar with the practice, it's like a condensed version of a Lectio.

Regardless of whether you are new to this or not, it has served me well as a way of helping me concentrate my thoughts and prayers in devotional time with the Lord, and it may help you, too.

Here is a quick guide to help you get started:

Scripture: 1-5 mins

Sit down in a quiet place, invite the Lord to speak to you as you settle yourself, being mindful of our ever- present Heavenly Father. Ask Him to quiet your heart and speak to you through His Holy Spirit. Plant your feet firmly on the ground, open your Bible, and read through your selected passage of scripture once very slowly. Breathe slowly while allowing yourself to linger over the words. Take your time with this process. Don't try to interpret the words; just read them and take them at face value.

Observation: 1-5 mins

Read the passage again, but this time, allow yourself to stick to a few words. Perhaps a few words will seem more important as you read. Trust the Holy Spirit to help you see deeper beyond the surface reading. What are you observing as you read? Pay attention to the words that stick out to you and take a moment to reflect on them further.

Application: 1-5 mins

Ask the Holy Spirit to help shape what you have observed in your reading into action. What have you observed that you need to put into practice? Is it a new line of thought? Is it something you need to do to live out the scripture? Is it something that you need to be mindful of throughout your day?

Prayer: 1-5 mins

Finally, turn what you have read and observed and what you need to apply and turn it into a prayer. Ask the Lord to help you enact what you have read. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you as you walk deeper with Him. Ask Him for the things upon your heart and for His help to be mindful of the time spent with in His presence.

You may wish to keep a journal as you reflect. It's amazing what God can begin to reveal during these times, and it's important to try to capture these moments, even with a little note reminding you of anything significant that you have read.

As you practice some simple meditation on scripture, may you know Him deeper, and may you walk closer to Jesus.

Much love,

Julian

Deeper - Words Revealed in Prayer

Every term, three times a year, we invite the church together for a 'whole church' prayer meeting. Each time is like coming for air as we ask God to breathe life into the plans laid on our hearts. We usually take time to sit and listen. Without fail, it seems like the Lord is ready to speak, nudge and prompt us as we stumble our way forward into His plans and purposes for our lives and the church.

In this new academic year, we sense the Lord calling us deeper—deeper as a church, deeper in relationship and connection, and deeper in community. This journey is not one we take alone, but one where each of us plays a vital role, prodding around in some uncomfortable ways as we allow ourselves to walk tightly in step with the Holy Spirit. It's impossible to have a lasting impact if we don't have depth in our faith, and your role in this is crucial.

And so, many people began to pray and share what God was showing them; here is a snapshot of those words and pictures from our time in prayer together. We ask that you continue to bring these things before the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to help you put words into action as we go deeper.

Follow

Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men; closeness to Jesus comes first. As we follow Jesus, He will make us into something. Let us walk closer and go deeper.

Ice cream

A chain of people bringing hope and joy to the borough. I see an ice cream van and a chain of hundreds of people who are the church, and they are passing the ice cream down the chain of people to those who have nothing.

Fortune cookie

The excitement and accessibility of the faith that comes with knowing that God is not a fortune cookie. Unlike a fortune cookie, it’s not a guess but something that will come to pass. What has God said? What do we need to remind ourselves of?

Aslan

Stop, think, give, Aslan. Make giving accessible. Make it easy to give as we support them. If we all sacrificed a cup of coffee and offered that in support, it would amount. How can we offer deeper support?

Lion

Boldness and purpose, no-nonsense, true and deep, stand out like a lion. We are called to be a lion, fierce, beautiful and bold.

Keep it real

God doesn’t want us to pretend to be happy all the time. He wants honesty and realness. Be honest in our relationship with Him.

Colossians 3:2

Set your mind on things above, be like Jesus and do His work - Be: Jesus, he reveals his character and heart as gentle. Do: Seek and save the lost, and remember what it is really about.

Relationship

Deepening relationships with the Father so that we can deepen with others and with those we serve.

Creativity

There is ingenuity within us - how we outwork things is creative in many ways and God wants to use this.

Dig

Digging wells deeper from those who have gone before. The deeper we dig the fresher the water.

Eagle

A picture of an eagle flying back to the nest feeding the young - bring lost souls back to the nest to feed.

Skyscrapers

They require deep foundations and are tall, seen landmarks. As we go deeper, it is in preparation to build skyscrapers of faith.

Excavator

Large industrial excavator coming towards us - God says he’s got some serious digging to do!

Cavern

A deep cavern full of people singing with a beautiful echo. Sometimes, there are cracks from the surface down to a cave, and through these cracks, the music in this deep place is seeping out, and people are noticing.

Consistency

The deep walk towards Jesus is like weight training- don’t give up too soon, keep going and maintain the course.

Bite

A bite out of an apple, God's goodness is plentiful fruit. The community work is also like a plentiful fruit, God has so many good things for our community.

Viking Ship

On the side of a Viking ship, the timber overlaps and connects and is watertight. We need tight connections with each other. Deeper connections will keep the sheep watertight.

Spread

An image of ice spreading and connecting, Holy Spirit spread through our church.

Partner

Partnership - working together with each other, the community, etc. learning from and with one another.

Connect

A deeper connection is to the Lord's Church, of which we are a part. It’s not just us, it's all of us together!

Courage

As the community develops, we will need the courage to fight for fairness and justice.

Forward

The picture of the hole left behind encourages us to move forward. We cannot go back. The past is past. Let us move forward.

Sunset

There is a sunset below a dark cloud over Sutton. There is often so much more than we can see. Hope is on the horizon, and below that cloud, light is breaking through.

These are some of the words the Lord began to stir in people's hearts. Let me encourage you to pick one or two and begin bringing them to God regularly in prayer. Ask him to reveal more to you and show you how to put these things into action as we look to go deeper as a church.

What would happen if we all began exploring the depths of these words? 

I can't wait to see what God does in and through your life!

Much love,

Julian.

An Invitation to Vision, Prayer & Faith

We hope you had a wonderful time celebrating Easter. It was our joy to spend our first Easter with the Sutton Vineyard family, sharing in the most significant celebration of the year for those of us who follow Jesus.

One thing we have been finding helpful is how we live our lives in rhythms. There is a rhythm to the year's seasons, the cycles of the day and the ebbs and flows of life. There were rhythms in Jesus' day, too. In the New Testament, we see Jesus attending regular feasts, doing Passover and holding various customs.

Similarly, we have a rhythm in our church throughout the year. Alongside key celebrations like Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, we plan our church calendar alongside academic terms. There are three terms to a year and we are about to head into the summer term after the Easter holidays.

At the start of each term, we will hold a Vision Sunday where we will reflect on what the Lord is saying to us as a church and share the direction of His leading. Our Vision Sunday this term will be on Sunday 14th April and we would love you to join us to hear what the Lord is saying to us. 

We then invite you to join us to gather in prayer at one of our Prayer Gatherings. In these gatherings, we will seek the Lord together, thank Him for all He has done and pray for all He has in store for us. These gatherings will take place on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th April, as well as our Family Prayer Trail on Friday 19th April. 

We will also gather at the start of each term for an evening of worship where we lay our hearts before the Lord. This will be on Saturday 27th April. 

Throughout the term, our women's and men's ministries put on various events for us to meet, be encouraged and go deeper spiritually. There are also a number of vibrant ministries that help you deepen your faith, such as our monthly Discovery prayer nights, Prophecy sessions, Powerful Conversations and SOZO.

Additionally we've introduced Development Days once a term where we look at different topics to help sharpen the gift and call of God in your life. This term's development day will be on Saturday 6th July where we have Mark Iles visiting to do some Prophetic Training. Watch out for more details coming soon! 

It's not always possible or practical to attend everything we do at Sutton Vineyard, so please don't feel the pressure to fit everything in your diary. Look at engaging in the things that will help you thrive in your faith, wherever you are on the journey with Jesus.

You can always find details on all our events on our 'Whats On' page on our website - www.suttonvineyard.org/whats-on 

We would love to encourage everyone to try and attend regularly in person on a Sunday morning and join one of our Small Groups. If you are unable to attend on a Sunday you can catch up online with all our services and talks on YouTube. 

Praying God's best for you in the next season,

Much love,

Julian and Libby.

What is Chat and Catch?

In church everyone should get to play. Everyone should have a relationship with Jesus. We all want our kids to develop in their relationship, but sometimes helping our kids to hear Jesus can feel less supported and more instructed. We want to help our kids hear from God for themselves, as well as inviting them into prayer together.

You might hear this instruction if you asked kids how to pray. They might describe the stereotypical actions of praying; hands together, say “Dear God”, finish with “Amen”, kneel… Instead of feeling like they are praying at God, we want our kids to have conversations with Him.

So how can we do that? Here at Sutton Vineyard Church we are using Chat and Catch to invite our kids to talk to God, understand their experience and develop in their relationship with Jesus.

What is chat and catch?

Chat and Catch is a prayer technique which helps kids develop their conversations with God, what God is telling them and how it makes them feel.

It was created by Rachel Turner of Parenting for Faith.

The concept is simple. Chat and catch resembles everyday conversations. You talk, chat, and you listen, catch.

Just like in everyday life, people can tell you things in different ways; words, emotions, body language, actions…

And you can hear things in different ways too; hearing, feelings, sensations…

When we chat to God, we encourage our kids to speak to Him as they would to their friends and family. This means not telling them what to say or how to say it, but to say how they feel in a way that suits them.

When we catch from God, we are supporting them in recognizing and responding to God’s voice in whatever form that takes. This helps to turn their prayer from a monologue into a dialogue, from an individual experience into a conversation with God.

How can we help kids know when God is talking to them?

As adults we know God can talk to us in different ways at any time. For kids who are still learning about themselves and their relationship with the world around them, recognizing these different ways can be difficult.

In chat and catch we support them to understand what and when God is talking to them through what they see, think and feel.

Sometimes we can physically feel God is in the room with us or really close, or feel His touch as he speaks to us. We may see images and pictures in our mind as we read something or hear someone speak. God may talk to us in our dreams, or make us feel as if He is speaking to us. We may become overwhelmingly joyful, loved, or peaceful. God may even appear to us, so we can see or hear Him.

We want to help our kids to recognize and learn that we can hear from and feel God in lots of different ways, and that is no ‘absolutely correct’ way to pray or talk to Him.

It’s also important for us to teach them that sometimes it can be difficult to hear from God, understand what He is saying or if He is even speaking at all. We encourage the kids to share what they think they have heard from God with a trusted grown up. We can then encourage them that good, kind messages which are in line with what the Bible tells us about God may be something they have caught from God. We also can gently remind them that God is a good, loving Father and anything that is unkind, hurtful or worrying is most likely not coming from God.

What can kids chat to God about?

Chat and catch isn’t about getting our kids to pray about anything in particular. We want them to feel encouraged to continue their conversations with God, speaking AND listening, and to develop their relationship with Him.

You can encourage kids to chat about lots of different topics, for example:

• How was your day? What went well? What didn’t go so well?

• What makes you feel worried and why?

• What is something that makes you proud?

• What are you thankful for?

• What is something or someone that makes you feel loved?

• Who are your friends? What are they like?

• What are your favourite things and why?

• What makes you feel safe?

• What’s a part of the Bible you really like? What’s a part of the Bible you don’t like?

The list is endless! The important thing is encouraging them to start and continue their conversation with God.

How can kids ask to hear from God?

Just like chatting to God, asking God to hear from Him helps kids to understand that their relationship with Him goes both ways.

You can help kids to hear from God by suggesting questions like:

• God, if you were going to play a game with me today, what game would you play? Why?

• Is there anyone you think I should be praying for today?

• Is there anything I should be thankful for today?

• What makes you happy, God? What makes you sad?

• Is there anything you would like me to help change? How can I help?

• Is there anyone I should be especially kind to today?

Asking God these kinds of questions means kids can become more invested in their conversations with Him, and to better understand how and when He is talking to them.

Chat and Catch is an amazing tool for us to use in supporting our kids’ relationship with God. It helps us to teach them about how God can talk to them, how it makes them feel, what they can talk to Him about, and how conversations of every kind help them to know more about themselves and their place in the world. 

If you have any questions about chat and catch, please feel free to drop me an email at kids@suttonvineyard.org!

Lily Broadbent,

Children & Families Pastor