Aeroplane Prayers.

This is the first of three ideas which will follow in quick succession to assist my friends and others who lead all-age services. Each is designed to use a game as a basis for teaching that will be familiar to the children and also engage the adults as they look on. All three are tried and tested.

Aeroplane Prayers. (Participation from both young and old)

Invite the children to join you at the front of the worship area. Tell them that as part of the prayer time they are going to help by ‘playing planes’. Get them all to extend their arms, make an engine sound and do a couple of  swoop/ turns as practice. Then get them behind you (the leader) and extend your arms ready for ‘take off’.

Invite the congregation to call out a country or a state or community they would like to pray for. Invite the rest of the congregation to call out how many hours flight it would be to that country. (It doesn’t matter much whether the times are right or not). Settle on a flight time then take 1 pace into the congregational area for every hour. Invite the children to follow you with appropriate flying gestures and noises. When you ‘land’ after, (say) 4 paces for 4 hours. Hold up your arms and pray a very simple prayer for the country called out. (If you're likely to be praying for a series of far distant places make it 1 pace for every 2hours flying)

Repeat for 3 or 4 destinations taking off each time from where you last landed – so in three or four prayers you will travel most of the distance of a church aisle and perhaps have turned and be on the way back.

Comments: Has worked very well with a group of 9 children in a congregation of 50 with both adults and children participating enthusiastically.

The only time I’ve ever been asked by a nine-year-old boy if we can ‘have some more prayers’!

Make choosing the prayer locations an adults only task: a bright child will quickly latch on to suggesting Argentina or Australia (from the UK)!

More All-age ideas can be found at All-Age ideas index