This article was transcribed from portions of the Preparing the Way for Easter: Ideas for Posturing Your Heart and Ministry Toward Jesus. You can watch the full webinar here.
Easter is my absolute favorite. And I think it’s because it’s had the most impact on my spiritual walk—from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday.
And what I have found to be the most important way of posturing myself to help kids talk to and listen to God is to experience something. Spiritual practices or disciplines help believers to be intentional in their time with God.
Lord, we come before You humbled to be able to spend this time with You. Lord, we know Your Spirit is among us, and we invite Your Spirit to speak to us right now. Lord, may we lay down before You any anxiety we bring, any frustration, any worry, any joy, any excitement. Whatever we are feeling or holding right now, Lord, we lay before Your feet so that we are completely open to what You have for us right now. Holy Spirit, speak for we are listening. Amen.
What are spiritual practices?
When you hear the words ‘spiritual practices,’ what do you think of? In Adel Calhoun’s book, The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, she describes spiritual practices as, “A place where we begin to notice God and respond to His word to us simply to keep company with God.”
Spiritual practice, simply put, is time spent with God. It’s time spent with God in an intentional, yet Spirit-led way. It’s not a program, it’s a practice. It’s something you’re invited in to. We’re simply meant to set the table for kids to keep company with God.
How are we making space for kids?
The word contemplation or contemplative comes up quickly when thinking about spiritual practices. But instead of thinking kids simply are quiet, it means they are having a prolonged thought.
I like to remind myself that it’s more about slowing down, not about complete silence. It’s all about helping kids notice God and providing space so they can. That means physical space and space of time to slow down.
Why are these practices or disciplines important?
Well, a dear friend of mine told me about metaphor that her spiritual director used to help explain the importance of intentional spiritual practices. And this is what she said. “So, the Christian life is like being on a boat in a river. When we choose to walk with Jesus and accept Him as a leader in our lives, we step into the boat. So we’re in the boat and because of the Holy Spirit in us, and while God’s amazing grace, the river’s current carries the boat down the river. So we’re moving, but we can do more than passively ride the current. We can put up the sail and the Spirit’s wind will carry us farther and more swiftly. Engaging in spiritual practices is like putting up the sail.”
When we participate in spiritual practices, we keep company with Jesus through intentional habits and practices, and we submit to the Holy Spirit to power our journey.
Spiritual practices are a way for us to slowdown so we can join God how and where and when and why He wants us to journey.
What does it look like to make space for spiritual practices or disciplines?
Physical Space and Time
Making physical space and time leads to slowing down. In this space and time, we’re going to engage wonder and curiosity by allowing kids to use their creativity—their imaginations. We aren’t going to tell them what they must do—we’re going to ask questions that invite them to explore for themselves.
We believe there is no junior Holy Spirit. God can speak to our children here and now where they are.
Set the atmosphere that allows them to listen for God.
Plan, But Program Minimally
Make a simple plan. You might want to include Scripture, images, music (whatever you’re using to engage their imaginations), and questions. Give space for kids to answer and explore and follow where the Lord leads.
We’re in the season of Lent, when we set aside time to pray, fast, and give. It’s the time leading up to Easter where we prepare our hearts for what Jesus has done. That is what the posture part of this is. How are we preparing ourselves? What might the season look like for the ministry you lead? It’s about setting aside time to be with God. How will you intentionally set aside time for kids to be with God?
Invitations to Respond
I’m following a Creative Companion for Lent. One of the quotes from yesterday hit me. “Lent is a time to acknowledge those things that take our attention away from God.”
Now, I’ve heard that before. That wasn’t something brand new to me, but it took on new meaning yesterday when I was reading that and thinking, “What are the things taking my attention away?” And so I thought about that, and I prayed about that and I said, “God, what is it that I need to fast from? What are the things that are taking me away from you?”
It’s an invitation to respond.
What is taking your attention away? And what could you replace it with? Maybe something from today will be something that you can try over the season of Lent for yourself or for the kids in your ministry. Maybe you’re in a church that doesn’t observe lent in a traditional fashion. That doesn’t mean we can’t all be preparing our hearts for Easter, right? We’re preparing to celebrate the resurrection.
I want you to also remember that it’s not about what is being produced, it is about the space that you’re providing for response.
The invitation to respond is the time we provide our kids is to spend time in God’s presence. That’s what it’s about.
How do I do this?
Help kids know God and respond to Him. That’s the focus. That is your benchmark. But how?
Choose things that kids already connect with. The kids in my ministry love talking about Legos, Minecraft, and Fortnite. And I will engage with them using those ideas and ask them to draw what they would hope God would see about their character. Would you create what you would look like as a character from _______ and tell me what God would see in you?
They then create these characters, and they tell me about them.
I would want God to see how much I care for people.
We have also used Legos to create prayer walls. We build our wall, and then we write on the Legos with dry erase markers so we can reuse the Legos. You could draw on them and write prayers.
Making spaces for kids to connect with God takes some trial and error. Okay? What works well for one child, doesn’t always work for another. Some other ideas you can try include the following:
(Watch the webinar for how-tos and ideas for each of these things.)
- Silence
- Reading Scripture
- Drawing Prayer
- Playdough Creations
- Breath Prayers (Breathing in and breathing out God’s truth, God’s Word)
- Movement Prayer/Prayer Stations
- Journaling
- Wondering Time
- Art Reflections
- Sensory Prayer Bins
- Poetry
- Sacred Play
Let’s proclaim to the world that children are followers of Jesus.
One Sunday we did paper airplane prayers. Everybody all ages wrote prayers. Then they folded their prayers into paper airplanes and launched them into our gathering space. After the prayer planes flew, each person went and got someone else’s paper airplane and took it home with them to pray that week for the prayer that was on that paper airplane.
Was it chaotic? Yeah. Was it worth it? 100% because we engaged in godly play in a new way.
So, if you have kids who make paper airplanes every week, turn it into a prayer practice. It’s so fun, and it’ll change your perspective.
There are so many things we can do like this that invite kids in through things they enjoy as they experience God.
How might you start? What ideas from today could be the beginning for you to incorporate spiritual practices in your children’s ministry? What could be something to help prepare the hearts of your kids and your volunteers for Easter?
For more Easter ideas, check out this article!
The Easter Storybook Coloring Pages
The Easter Storybook Coloring Pages
