The ideas of praying together as a family are no different than praying with each of your children individually. The only requirement is that it is manageable for each age represented!
When we pray together as a family we do it after dinner at the table. We have a set of prayer cards which have a photo and some simple prayers. Everyone gets a card and we pray going around the table twice in order from youngest to oldest. The first time around we pray from our cards, the second time around we thank God for something. We go from youngest to oldest so the youngest ones don’t have their prayer points already used up by the time it is their turn!
The cards have both written prayers and photos so that:
- the non-reader can pray a simple prayer by recognising the person in the photo
- the early reader can read out the prayers
- the confident reader can read out the prayer or change it
- Mum & Dad usually add extra things to their prayers
We have 6 categories of cards:
- God & Jesus
- Our family - the five of us
- Extended family
- Godparents and Compassion children
- Staff at church & ES (these are the colleagues, friends and co-workers that our children know)
- Missionaries / overseas workers
They all sit in a business card display box, you can see a photo below. We just grab whichever ones are on top for that night and put them at the back of the pile again when finished.
I have realised recently that I need to update them all – they were all copied from the ones we do for our kids individually, so they are all singular (I/me). I want to change them to be plural for the family (we/us).
If you like this idea here is how we did it: I bought business cards to print out, printed them in colour, laminated them as full sheets, then cut out the individual cards. They do last longer if laminated, but they generally need to be updated every 6-12 months, so it doesn’t really matter. The holder was from an office supply store. Again, just like the written prayers for readers (link) it takes some time the first time you do it, but after that, it is quick and easy to update.
What other ideas do you have for praying together as a family?
Love the idea! Going to try out this one. Where did you get the business card holder?
ReplyDeleteHi Chris, I got it from OfficeWorks, but my guess is any office /stationary store would have them.
ReplyDeleteHope you family enjoys using them.
Wendy
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteWould you consider sharing your written prayer points, esp the God/Jesus category ones? Looks like you've put a lot of thought into them.
We haven't quite created our prayer diaries yet, but I've at least made lists of people to go in them! Your continuing posts are an encouragement to actually get them done.
Petrina,
ReplyDeleteI am very happy to send you a copy of them (edited), but definitely including all the God/Jesus ones. Email me direct at musingsinadelaide@gmail.com and we can organise it!
Thanks, Wendy