Prayer Bulletin Board. Decorate a bulletin board with a Heavenly background featuring an outline drawing of a castle or an angel and the heading: "God Answers Prayer." At one corner of the bulletin board, staple several sheets of lined paper [like a booklet] to record the class's prayer requests each day. Each time the class's prayers are answered, color in one section of the bulletin board drawing. You might want to label the colored sections "Jason's Mom Home From Hospital!" , "Mrs. Brown's New Job!", etc. Before long, the whole picture will be colored in as a daily reminder that God does answer prayers!
Prayer Journals: Photocopy chapters of Max Lucado's book Just Like Jesus [or some other inspirational book divided into chapters with excercises to do at the end] . Make enough copies for each desk. Have the students read the copied chapter [either in class or at home] and select three of the activities at the end of the chapter to write about in a notebook "Prayer Journal."
NOTE: When I used this activity in class, the students read for the first 10 minutes of class time each day. They had 4 days to read and to write the entry. If a student was absent, he could take the copies home.
The other entries for the week [teacher determines the number of entries] can be recorded prayers, notes from a sermon, or a lesson learned from Sunday school, etc. Let students know that the purpose of the exercise is to draw close to God in prayer and that you don't expect them to "have all the answers" or to be perfect. Reassure the students that you are looking for growth and progress in the entries.
When I used this project in class, I gave an "all or nothing" grade of 10 points per entry [3 per week] as a daily grade. It seemed kind of wrong to grade someone's prayers and spiritual reflections on content! I did mark the misspelled words and grammatical or punctuation mistakes with proofreader's symols and had the students correct their mistakes on the back of each page, writing misspelled words 5 times each.
Just Like Jesus at Amazon.com audio cassette $13.59, hardcover $13.99, paperback $11.99
This activity is a fun way to draw a discordant or clique-ish class together that can also be used in a secular setting under the name "Secret Friends." Spending time thinking of someone else's needs and feelings can draw us closer. Praying for someone or writing kind letters and words of encouragement has the "miraculous" benefit of softening our hearts toward the other person.
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