So prayer may sound like something that is more focused on worship vs. discipleship or evangelism. And I really wouldn’t argue that point. It does make sense and prayer is definitely a way that we worship God assuming our prayers are interactive (2-way communication) instead of me posting my concerns to God and saying Amen. Prayer is vital to my worship of God.
Prayer is also a powerful tool when it comes to evangelism. I would go so far as to say that evangelism that is not fueled by prayer probably sets the stage for the most ineffective evangelism effort one could pursue. Essentially, you have stacked the cards against yourself. As you continue to push your teens to share their faith and reach their lost friends for Christ, be sure that their efforts are rooted in prayer.
Idea – have your teens start praying for a list of their friends who don’t know Christ. It may just be 1 friend, it could be many more than that. Simply have them start praying for those friends now.
- Pray for their salvation.
- Pray for insights into how they can relationally & relentlessly reach them with the Gospel.
- Pray for their campus and the school year (you don’t have to wait until See You at the Pole).
- Pray for their Youth Ministry.
Could you imagine how amazing our Youth Ministries would be and how effective our teens could be if they bathed this next school year, the Dare 2 Share Blaze conference tour, and their friends in prayer starting now?
Pray!
I appreciate how you mentioned it is a 2 way conversation. Some times we forget to “be still and know that he is God”. We need to teach our youth to also listen for the voice of God as well as speak to him.
http://blog.evangelizetheyouth.com/
So many times we forget to be still and know that he Is God. We also need to teach our youth to listen to the voice of God not just speak to him. I appreciate you mentioning that it is a 2 way conversation.
http://blog.evangelizetheyouth.com/
“You can’t handle the truth.” But what if we could? How would a reality of faith change our lives for starters?
one of the things I felt about prayer and our teens is that they need to learn to get quiet and have confidence that they DO hear from the Lord. They should be able to recognize when the Lord is leading them to act, pray for a friend, or guide them in a decision. During our time together, I have been assigning them a person to pray for ( sometimes someone in the class, or someone in the church but it is important that it not be a close friend). We have worship , get quiet, then begin to pray for that person, by asking God what HE would have us pray for them, We jot down what we hear or am led to pray for, and scripture if we can. Then we share it one on one with that person. The person prayed for can share with the group how the teen ministered to them, or not if it is more personal. It encourages the teens to listen more for the “Voice of Truth” and be led by the Holy Spirit as they pray.