Top Tips for Prayer Walking with Kids
I’ve never been much of a walker but I grew with a youth leader who loved hiking! I’ve hiked up mountains, round reservoirs, through muddy peat bogs and even though it would take a HUGE amount of effort to get started, I always, always, always, felt amazing by the end. Inspired, Energized, God-connected. One day, our youth leader decided we should start prayer-walking round the streets of our home-town on a Friday evening. Great, I thought. Two of my least favourite things - walking and praying aloud. But something amazing happened on those prayer walks and I found my voice. I discovered I could pray in a way I’d never imagined. I prayed with passion, with conviction - in spirit and in truth. What was it that made the difference?
Getting Out The Front Door
Prayer walking itself is not hard. You walk, you pray (either in your head or out loud). The hardest bit is getting out the front door.
Once you’ve decided it’s a good thing to do then whatever it takes to motivate you to start, is a good motivation in my book. Be it the quality family time, staying healthy or just the promise of a coffee shop at the end… whatever gets you out the door is a good start.
Last Sunday, I was motivated to prayer-walk by my job. I’ve been asked to design a prayer-walking card to help kids pray and I had lots of ideas that needed to be tested.
This was my (very) rough draft to practice with…
Not too Much …
I quickly realised that if we spent the whole walk counting dogs and people and buildings then we might not do a lot of praying. It’s not a scavenger hunt after all. Visual, tangible items are so helpful for children but they are supposed to be prayer-prompts, not prayer replacements.
I actually found that my five year old is a better listener than I thought. She didn’t remember everything on my list but surprised me by spotting a tree stump and drawing a picture of a full grown tree with fruit and a bee hive (so many spiritual parallels here..!). Then a jogger ran past and she announced ‘That’s someone working hard!’. So we said a prayer of blessing for the jogger.
We also found some of the activities were better to do in the car ride home, as a way of reflecting on the walk, like the ‘Praising God for creation’. I think she drew a map of our walk but it’s hard to tell for sure - what do you think? (See Image below)
Not Too Little …
Depending on the age and temperament of your child(ren), you can adapt your prayer walk as you see fit. Are they naturally compassionate and notice when people are sad? Do they like to see the big picture and overlook whole aspects of the city? Will they be stimulated by busy shop areas or prefer the peace of a leafy suburb? Will they get distracted by places they know or will it inspire their prayers to be more specific? It might be worth researching some facts about the number of churches, schools, or food banks in your city, if you have a child who loves facts and details. Do your children like to have a fixed plan or are you more of a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go-along’ type of family? (Probably a mix, if you’re anything like my family).
Pix and Mix Ideas for your Prayer Walk with Kids
Here’s a few ideas from our Facebook Page for you to pick and choose for your own prayer walk:
when you see a post-box, pray for those awaiting news
when you see a grit-bin/sand-box, pray for the road workers well-being, safe travel or good weather conditions
if you have a Mr. Men or Little Miss book you could photocopy the back page and pray a blessing for as any different kinds of people you see on the way: someone happy, strong, tiny, tall, rushing, messy, grumpy, bumpy, contrary, chatterbox, twins or with long spaghetti arms!
if you are stuck for words to pray, look up a few blessings from the Bible: Numbers 6:24-26, Philippians 4:19 or Ephesians 3:20. Perhaps write words from these blessings on stones to hide in places others will find later
Look for those who might just need a blessing: someone sad, working hard or caring for someone else
If it’s not too invasive, you could carry grass seed to scatter in grassy areas, symbolic of the word of God being scattered far and wide.
You could walk one street in silence so that you listen, instead of talk. See if you can hear what is on God’s heart for that place.
Praise for Creation. Prayer walking isn’t just about asking God for things, you can also praise God for the good things you see. In an older blog, there is a very cute, loosely rhyming prayer to help connect your child to God through his nature
Finally,
All this started because a prayer-walking movement in my home city, called Arise Sheffield, already have prayer-cards for their prayer walking grown-ups but this year, want one tailor-made for kids too. To find out more about Arise Sheffield, visit their website and sign up to their prayer-walking app that will light up the streets of Sheffield every time someone logs a prayer walk.
Is your town doing anything similar?
Remember, prayer walking is not just about family time, getting fit or even the little coffee shop at the end. It is not another religious ritual to add to the never-ending to-do list that makes parents feel guilty just looking at.
It is simply a good thing to do.
Whether or not prayer walking is your thing, if you subscribe to our newsletter, every month we will send you free, printable, colouring-in (or coloring-in!) sheets that will help you pray and chat with your child about God, whether you’re walking, sitting or tucked up in bed.