CONNECT WEEK
CONNECTING STUDENTS TO THEIR LOCAL CHURCH AND THEIR COMMUNITY
WELCOME
Foundation Scripture
“Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” ~Matthew 6:9-13
SAY: “Welcome to First Priority! This week is Connect Week where we talk about connecting to God, Christ, and the Community. This month, we have been discussing prayer and we want to dive further into how prayer strengthens our relationship with God and brings us closer to him.
Before we begin, let’s pray….”
OPENING PRAYER
DIG IN
SAY: “Let’s think for a second. How is your prayer life? It is a simple question, but it can be tough to answer. We may think we have to pray with fancy words, but prayer is simply talking to God. Throughout the day, God longs to hear our requests. For example: “Thank you for this breakfast, Lord.” – “God, help me to focus on my schoolwork.” – “Lord, help me love this person right now.” – “God, will you show me what to do?”
If you have any specific daily or re-occurring prayers of your own, feel free to add or mention them. It is important for students to see other students as a living example. Peers influence peers!
SAY:
“The best way to strengthen your relationship with God is through developing a prayer life. Just like with any relationship, you make a point to communicate daily to show that you love and care for them. With God, it is no different.
Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
We rejoice in the hope that God will take care of everything. Our patience shows others that we are different in how we handle trials, and we are faithful in prayer, knowing that God hears our requests.
So how can you be faithful in prayer? You CHOOSE to. That might seem so simple, but without choosing each day to spend time in conversation with God, we will find ourselves not praying at all. Next, you need to pick a time and place where you can be alone with God. Jesus gave us a glimpse of what that looks like in the following verse.
Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Jesus got up before everyone else to go spend time alone with God praying. What time works best for you? It could be in the morning before school, on the bus ride, or maybe in the evening before you go to bed. Whatever time you choose, let’s start today by setting aside time to talk to God.”
TOOL TIME
SAY: “Now that we have talked about how prayer can help us grow closer to God, let’s talk about a tool that can help us work on our prayer lives.
Today we are going to walk through what is called a Teaspoon Prayer or TSP prayer.
T is for Thank you: Take time to thank God for all He has done.
S is for Sorry: Ask God for forgiveness for things you have done wrong.
P is for Please: Ask God for what you need or for the needs of others.
As you develop your prayer life and grow closer to God, use this tool to help you get started and find consistency!
As a leader comes and passes out index cards, let’s take a moment to practice the Teaspoon Prayer by writing it out.
(small discussion after practicing the TSP prayer) How did this process feel?
Was this easier or harder than expected?
Are there similar ways you like to organize your prayer?”
Have index cards or paper ready to go and communicate with a Student Leader before hand to pass them out.
RESOURCES: TSP PRAYER RESOURCES
Say: “Getting to learn about prayer this month has been so fun. I hope each of you has learned at least one new thing about prayer, what it is, why we should pray, and how we should pray. Prayer may still seem like a scary thing to you, and that is okay. We encourage you to continue to build your relationship with God by practicing some of the prayer tools we talked about this month, especially the Teaspoon Prayer we did today. We hope you all will join us next week as we start a new month! We will be talking about Church and Spiritual Gifts!
Let’s pray…”
CLOSING PRAYER
Consider asking for a student volunteer to pray. This is a great opportunity to give students who aren’t leaders a chance to be more involved in club. You may want to talk to the volunteer about opportunities to continue to lead in club.
