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Back to school prayer stations are a great way to incorporate people of all ages in your small church in praying for the new school year! It’s also a great way to encourage children to deepen and experience personal prayer and for them to participate with their families.
By inviting your entire small church family to participate, you are encouraging them to pray not only for the students but also for the teachers, aids, office workers, and those who may work as bus drivers, janitors, or cafeteria workers. All of these people have an impact on the lives of students!
So you see, even those who don’t have children in school can support and encourage others. Through this back to school event, they can make connections that can build lasting relationships.
Prayer stations don’t have to be fancy or time-consuming to set up. A prayer station is basically a hands-on area where guests are given a prayer prompt, whether it be a reading or an activity to do, and something tangible to take from that station to remind them of that prayer.
It’s wonderful for kids because it keeps things moving and interactive, but it provides practical reminders of what prayer is all about, simply talking with God.
Think of what an impact this could make on the children in your small church. If you’d like to impact the teachers of your local school, check out 33 Ideas to Partner With Local Schools and see the ways you could bless them.
How To Set Up
Whether you decide to have three or all ten prayer stations at your gathering, try to place them at different points in the building or even outside so participants can have privacy and not be distracted by other groups.
Have a small table or stand to place an Instructional paper on. An 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper printed and placed in a plexi frame from a discount store is an easy way to display it. Have any props or takeaway items on the table as well. If you have older participants, you may want to have a few chairs at each station.
To set this back to school event apart from normal church, put up prayer posters, bright colored tablecloths, and ‘school’ themed decorations on the wall.
Attractive signs outside each station to identify what it’s about are helpful and engaging. Giving everyone/or each family a simple ‘map’ (simple listing of the numbers of the prayer stations and where they’re located), is good to keep everyone on task, as well as an added fun element for the kids.
Before you begin, gather everyone in a central location to welcome them. Give instructions and the Prayer Station maps. Travel to prayer stations in small groups. Explain the stations do not need to be visited in any specific order, just make sure to visit them all. After guests have gone to all the stations, invite them back for a time of refreshments and fellowship.
If your church would like to go an extra step, hand out gift bags to each child with miscellaneous school supplies, some snacks, and a note of encouragement or even a ‘pocket hug’.
10 Back To School Themed Prayer Stations
1. Back To School Count Your Blessings
One of the best ways to start off your new school year is by being thankful for how God got you through the previous one and the summer!!
Activity: Have something available on the table for kids/adults to build a tower with, and for each block added you say something that you are thankful for.
Place a printout of a prayer of thanksgiving:
‘Dear Lord,
We thank you for the many blessings you have given us over the past year. We appreciate that you provide us with all that we need. Amen’
Try using some of these items for stackers:
- Legos, Mini Jenga type blocks, flat stones, plastic bottle caps, or going with a school theme, use flat erasers!
- Encourage participants to take a selfie with their tower before disassembling.
- Have printed bookmarks for each participant to take with them for a prayer reminder. For a budget-friendly option, print your own on cardstock. Use the following verse. 1 Chronicles 16:8 (ESV) “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!”
2. Uniquely You!
Make a sign with the verse Psalm 139:14 (ESV) “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Activity: Have some dye ink pads on the table with some blank index cards. Also, have hand wipes available for cleaning up.
Instruct participants to make an image of their fingerprint and to take note of how different each person’s print is.
Talk with others at your table or think about how God made each of us unique and with a plan and a purpose. God wants us to be just who He has designed us to be, not what someone else may try to tell us we should be.
Say a short prayer, thanking God for making us who we are and exactly who He has designed us to be. Ask Him to help us to be faithful followers and to find that special purpose in our lives.
3. Taste & See
The purpose of this station is to remind students that as they interact with others, like in the cafeteria at lunch, these can be great opportunities to share God’s love and kindness with those around them. God is so good, and He wants us to experience, or taste, all the wonderful things He has in store for us!!
Activity: Set up the table with lunch bags on it (1 per group). Instruct each group to open the bag, read the verse, and then taste the item inside to ‘see’ if it’s good!
Place a chalkboard in the room or use a roll of paper and place a large sheet of it on the wall. Provide markers to write with.
Discuss ideas of how to show kindness during lunchtime and write them on the board (or paper) so that other groups can read.
Psalm 34:8 (NIV) “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
4. Mirror-Mirror
Place a hand-held mirror on the table or hang a small one on the wall. Make a sign instructing the participants to take a good look in the mirror and describe what they see. Then open the envelope on the table and read the verse Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Discuss how we are a work of God’s hands, His design. Reflect on how special that is and thank God for creating us.
In one of the other stations, it talked about knowing God’s purpose for our lives. This verse answers part of that question. What does it say?
Leave some dry-erase markers on the table and a paper towel for erasing. Instruct participants to write on the mirror ways we can do good works for Jesus.
Pray. Ask God to help us to walk in the way that He has created for us. Ask for His help so that we can be faithful to do good works for Him at school and everywhere we go.
5. Can You Carry This Yourself?
Students will be shown that when we worry about things or are anxious, it’s as if we are carrying a heavy load on our backs. God does not want us to live like that, and He asks us to get rid of those heavy burdens by praying.
Fill a school backpack with heavy books. Ask participants to take turns trying to lift the bag. Discuss how worries and things we are nervous about are sometimes called burdens. Emotional burdens can be heavy to carry, just like the books in this book bag.
Each book in the backpack should have several pieces of blank paper in the front cover. Have participants remove the books from the bookbag and write down a burden of worry or something they are nervous about that they can bring to God in prayer. Put an envelope in the front of the backpack and have each group pull it out and read aloud, then return to the envelope and backpack for others to read.
Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV) “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
6. Squishy or Not Squishy
Participants are asked to feel a ‘squishy’ object on the table.
Have a sign at the table. “How many different ways can you make this ‘squishy’ bend?” Ask participants to open the pencil box, read the scripture inside, and discuss it.
Romans 12:2 (NLT) ”Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…“
Use the ‘Squishy’ toys that are popular right now. Have a basket of them on the table and a sign that says guests may take the squishable home with them.
Talk about peer pressure and not doing something just because others are doing it.
Pray and ask God to keep you strong and ‘transform’ your life.
7. Gone-Gone Away
God tells us that He will forgive us every time we ask. He forgets our mistakes, and the Bible says that He removes them from His memory! What a blessing.
Psalm 103:12 (NLT) says, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.”
God also tells us that since He forgives us, we need to show that same kind of forgiveness and mercy to other people.
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV) “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
This object lesson helps us be thankful for God’s forgiveness and to remember there is nothing we can do that God will not forgive us for.
Place a basket of large erasers on the table. Have a small sign that encourages everyone to take one home with them to remind them that God wipes away our sin, just like this eraser can wipe away mistakes on a page.
Print out this prayer and display it on the table. “Lord, help me to be thankful you are a God who forgives me. Please help me be kind to others and learn to forgive them.”
8. Back To School Rock of Ages
A simple stone can remind us that God is indeed our rock. His strength and the fact that He is always with us can help us to be strong, no matter what we are facing. Encourage participants to pick up a rock and come up with 3 words that describe God. Read the verse together and then pray to God our Rock, and ask Him to be your steady strength this school year.
Psalm 62:2 (NASB) “He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.”
Place a basket of stones on the table. You can easily find bags of stones at the craft store or discount store.
Have a few permanent markers available and place a sign on the rock basket instructing guests to write Jesus’ name on one side and their name on the other. Take it home as a reminder that He is our rock!
9. God’s Love
One of the most important things we can share with our students is that God loves them. God’s love is different than any love they will find on this earth. His love is constant, it never changes. It is dependable. He loves us in good times and bad, today, tomorrow, and forever. They can count on that no matter where they are.
Get some heart-shaped glass beads and place them in a bowl on the table.
Display the verse, Psalm 136:1 (NIV) “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.”
Hold the heart shape in your hand and take a moment to read the verse. Think about how big God’s love is for you!
Thank God for His love, and ask Him to help you see His love in new ways every day.
10. The Family Tree
Place a large picture of a tree shape on the wall. Put a title, The Family Tree, and the name of your church at the top of the picture. Guests will see how important it is for us to pray for each other in our families and in our church family.
Print out this verse and hang it near the tree: 1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT) ” I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. “
Get a roll of paper and make a large (4 ft. tall-3 ft. wide) tree shape, just trunk and branches.
Place leaf stickers on the table with permanent markers and ask each person to put their name on it and add it to the tree.
Have people pray for someone’s name on the tree and to pray for your church family.
Make a small printed image of a tree on a sheet and have them available for everyone to write in some names of people in their church family tree and in their own family tree as well. Take it home as a prayer reminder of who is surrounding you in prayer and who you should be lifting up in prayer!
Prayer Stations Can Make A Positive Impact
As each group finishes going through the prayer stations, remind them to come back to the fellowship area for refreshments and conversation. Give students a chance to talk about their prayer experience and ask if they have any questions.
Thank everyone for coming, and then invite everyone into a prayer circle to conclude the evening. Pray for all the students and anyone in your church who may be involved in the local school system. Pray for God’s blessings over the new year and for your small church to have a great impact on those you come in contact with.
Print out the blessing/prayer cards below for the different groups of people and hand them out as people are leaving. This is a nice reminder of the evening and a prayer prompt that they can continue on supporting your church family and students in prayer.
Prayer Prompts For The New School Year
Prayer Prompts can help students and congregation members start the new school year off on the right track. Prayer prompts are helpful because they can often shed light on prayer topics people may think about.
Prayer & Blessing For Parents
Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of our children. Thank You for the joy and the challenge that they bring to each day. As they go back to school this year, we ask that You would please keep our children safe from harm, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Help them to grow into the people You created them to be. Give them joy in the daily things, and give them strength when they are faced with hard things.
Help them be examples of Your love to others, and help us to be godly examples for our children. Give us Your peace when we feel anxious or overwhelmed. Most importantly, equip us to raise our children so they will know Your great love and follow You all the days of their lives. Amen.
Prayer & Blessing For Grandparents
Dear Lord, we are so thankful to see Your love extending to another generation and we are blessed by the gift of our grandchildren. We ask that You be with them throughout this school year. May they have clear minds to focus on their studies. Grant them the gift of friendships and joy. Please give them strength in Your Spirit to make the right choices and to stay true to how You have called us to live.
We ask You give our families unity, good relationships, and open lines of communication. Lord, please help them to seek You with their whole hearts and be a blessing to those whom they come in contact with at school. Thank You for the gift of family. Amen.
Prayer & Blessing For Students
Dear God, Please help me in my new school year. I pray that I discover many new things this year and put my best effort in all I do. When things are hard, help me to remember that I can call on You at any time and ask for help. May I find good friends who build me up and make good choices. Help me know what pleases You and what doesn’t, and help me to follow You at all times. Thank You for loving me, for my family, and for everything You have given me. Amen.
Prayer & Blessing For Church Family Members
Father in Heaven, We thank You for our church family. We ask that You be with anyone who is a part of our school system this year, whether it be as a student, teacher, worker, aid, bus driver, or parent. Lord, we want our family to shine the light of Jesus brightly so the world may see a difference in our lives and ask about the hope that lies within us.
We pray this school year will be one full of joy, of connections made with our community, and of lives being changed for You. Help us encourage the students in our church family. May we continue to pray for them and their families, to build them up when we see them, and to love them as You love. Thank You for allowing us to be the family of God. Amen.
Prayer Stations Can Encourage All Ages
Prayer Stations can make a significant impact on the students in your small church family. Seeing God’s love and care in action through prayer stations can be an encouragement to people of all ages. As students witness older members of their congregation taking an interest in their lives and see them demonstrating it through prayer, it can build their self-esteem.
As God works through these prayer times, we can see personal connections being built in the church family. Prayer is the strand that can bind a church together in God’s love. Then, that love can be poured out to others in your schools and in your community. So go ahead, celebrate your kids going back to school with prayer stations!
Read More:
Explore Prayer Stations For Your Small Church
