When is ‘asking for prayer’ the same as ‘prayer’?

One of the most fundamental things we can do with our young people is to help them develop a prayer language. And, as with any language, learning to listen for where that language is already developing on its own is essential for this to work.

My first word, so I’m told by my parents, was ‘no!’ Go figure. My brother’s first word was ‘brew!’ And if I know him, it was probably his last word too. These first words, however, were not necessarily our first pieces of language. To find our first language, we have to listen for something without a frame off reference. I might have pointed to a dog and made some kind of grunt for instance – which I then repeated with the same consistent tone and inflection every time I saw a dog. That would be recognisable language, even if not connected directly with the conventional word for ‘dog’.

Listening for where young people are starting to communicate with God is incredibly important. If instead we just wait for them to pray out loud in a narrow, conventional way then we might miss the early roots of their relationships with God. Recognisable form is rarely the first step in language.

Often, one of the first signs we see of prayer language is when a young person asks for prayer from others.

By asking for prayer, they are making an implicit admission that prayer is really a thing; that there is some value in having a person who knows God to speak to Him on their behalf; that God is available to hear and might even listen to their requests; and that God is powerful enough to potentially change or grow something in their life. Even if this comes from a place of opportunistic wishful thinking from a young person, it still includes whispers of these ingredients.

Then there is the distinct possibility that they are even praying themselves too or will do so now that they have verbalised a need for it. Asking for anything opens up vulnerability centres and has an implicit sense of humility too.

All of these elements are significant to a developing prayer language.

So, when a young person asks you to pray for them – great. Make sure that you do! But also hear that as an important step in their faith development and begin to look for natural ways to help them grow that into a more verbal relationship with God.

A young person who prays is a young person who grows – and we need more growing young people in our youth work!

All the best.

Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash