8 Creative Ways to Pray For Your Mission Trip

Praying for your mission trip doesn’t need to mean sitting silently in a circle with your students. Capture your teenagers’ attention and harness their imagination by using these 8 creative ways to get your youth, parents and church praying for your mission trip.

1. Google Maps Prayer Walk

 Pull up a map of the community you are traveling to on Google Maps. Find key locations in the community you’re headed to (schools, city hall, historical buildings, parks, etc.). Using a projector, go to the “street view” option and “walk” around the community with your students. At key locations, pause to introduce a new prayer topic (e.g. “This is city hall; let’s spend a few minutes praying for the leaders of this community.) As students pray, “walk” them to a new location. Once you arrive in the community, you might take time to visit these places.

2. Prayer Stations

Create stations for each of your prayer requests. If you have been to the community before, use pictures from past trips to hang up at each station, so the team can have a visual of who/what they are praying for. If you haven’t been to the community, find pictures of the community online or get objects/pictures that represent each station’s focus (e.g. a van seat represents safety, a team photo represents unity, a granola bar represents energy). This is a great activity to involve parents or other church members in. You might scatter your prayer stations around a room, around the church with taped arrows on the floor or in a big circle around the parking lot.

3. Prayer Board

For this one you will need butcher paper (or maybe a large whiteboard). Help each student come up with 2–4 prayer requests for the mission trip, including both team and individual requests. Students will trace their hands on the butcher paper and write one request inside each handprint. Hang the prayer requests in a public space at your church. Also, hang multicolor markers nearby and the following directions: “Pray for our mission trip! Please trace your hand over the request(s) you pray for.” Make an announcement directing people toward this prayer exercise.

4. Prayer Partners

Assign prayer partners in your mission team. You can pick or let your team pick who their partner will be. Allow time and space at each meeting for prayer partners to connect, share requests and pray for one another. You can also continue these partnerships during your mission trip.

5. Prayer Bracelets

Use color beads, letter beads or charms to represent certain aspects of the mission trip. Set aside time at your meeting to create bracelets and let your team know what each bead/charm represents as you take time to pray for each aspect. Invite students to wear these bracelets as a reminder to pray often for the mission trip. You might also invite parents to make bracelets as a reminder to pray.

6. Post-it Prayer

For this activity you will need a Post-it note and pen for each person in your group. Have students write down a prayer request on their Post-it at the beginning of your meeting. They can be anonymous if students wish.  Then have the students stick the Post-its to the wall. At the end of the meeting have each student grab a Post-it. Encourage them to pray for that prayer request over the next week/month until your next meeting.

7. Prayer Pail

Have a pail with many different items in it. Each item represents a different focus of your mission trip (e.g. a jump rope in the pail represents the children you are going to work with). Start each meeting by pulling one item out of the pail and taking time to pray for that focus of the mission trip. OR pass around the pail and have everyone remove an item. Go around the circle telling them what each item represents and how that thing will play a part in the mission trip. You might even create a question to ask about each object (e.g. “What do you hope our ministry to children will do for them? What about for our team?”). After discussion, pray for the prayer focus the item represents.

 8. Chalk Prayers

Have your team gather at church an hour before worship starts on Sunday and hand everyone a piece of chalk. Fill the sidewalks and parking lot with simple one- or two-word aspects of your trip that your congregation can pray for. (You can discuss what these things are in your prior meeting.) Encourage congregants to pray for these things as they walk in and out of church that day. You might have students stand in the lots handing people cards inviting them to pray as they walk in.

 

Preparation, paperwork, packing, pre-trip processing… all these things are important, but prayer is vital. However you do it, take time to lift up prayer for your trip.

 

In high school Kryn was a student on many different YouthWorks trips and served as summer staff starting in 2008, when she spent her first summer in Booneville. Kryn has been working in the YouthWorks office since 2011, and currently helps manage YouthWorks’ social media and marketing campaigns. When she isn’t at the office you can usually find her at a coffee shop with a friend or at home with her cat Cupcake.