2. When I was first getting into ministry a mentor
of mine told me that the chief responsibility of
any minister was first and foremost to teach
people how to pray.
3. At the time I
thought that was
odd. I had always
assumed that
ministry was more
about the more
public elements:
preaching sermons,
organizing worship,
meeting with people
in need, and
studying the Bible.
4. As time has gone on I have realized more and
more that there was a lot of truth in that
statement. As people learn to pray they are able
to encounter God in profoundly personal ways.
5. One who prays does not only know God through
the words of the preacher, or the lessons of the
teacher, they know God through their own
encounters with Him.
6. Prayer is a central part of the Christian life and
helping people to learn how to pray is a ministry
that all baptized people are called to participate
in.
7. In teaching people
how to pray we are
joining in the
ministry of Christ,
who taught his
disciples to pray by
giving them the "Our
Father.”
9. There is no single method that works. No two
people are alike. My two year old prays quite a
bit differently then the High School students I
used to teach about prayer, and I pray
differently then both.
10. People pray differently at different points in
their lives and at different stages of
development. Not only that but there are
hundreds of methods, and none of
them work well with everyone. I know in my own
life my prayer methods have changed many
many times.
11. I have picked up a few tricks here and there.
Here are 10 tips that I have picked up over the
years.
12. One of the most important things to do when teaching
others to pray is to pray yourself. If you aren't doing it, it will
be hard to make others believe that they should too. Having
a regular prayer life can help keep the conversation honest
and open. Prayer also allows you to invite God into the
process.
13. The best lessons I have ever learned in prayer were not
learned in classrooms, but in the lived experience of praying
regularly with my mentors. If you have a regular prayer time,
adoration slot, liturgy of the hours practice, or rosary group
(as well as any other prayer group or time you might be a
part of) invite people to join you. When you are with the
person you are helping teach to pray, pray regularly. Pray,
pray and then pray some more.
14. I think about this idea nearly every
day. There have been times in my life
I have wanted to be a spiritual
athlete, trying to pray every form of
prayer .... it doesn't work. No one can
do it all. Encourage students to set
realistic goals in their prayer life and
help them connect to the forms of
prayer that have particular
resonance with the student.
15. I love to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, but after teaching it to
scores of people, I have found that many have not found it
to be as life giving as I have. It is important not just to be
able to introduce people to the kind of prayer that
you personally find effective, but to help them navigate to
other forms of prayer that might be meaningful for them in
other ways. Many times people
ask for help with their prayer
when what they know no longer
seems to work. Giving people
new prayer tools can rejuvenate
a prayer life that has stalled out.
16. Where you are teaching
an individual or a group
about prayer, try to keep it
interesting. Prayer is
something that is living
and active. Tell stories
about prayer and talk
about your own personal
experiences with it. If
there are illustrations or
demonstrations that
might bring home a point
use them!
17. For a long time in my life prayer was a duty, not a
privilege. I thought God would get mad at me if I
didn't pray and I would beat myself up when I got
bored, sleepy, or distracted. This changed for me
when someone told me that each time I got
distracted from the prayer to
count it as a blessing because
it gave me the opportunity to
return to God in love. Like a
parent teaching a child to walk,
God finds all our steps a joy, no
matter how shaky.
18. Sometimes prayer can be exciting, refreshing, and bring
new life. At other times, however, prayer can seem dead and
lifeless. This is normal. Many of the great saints throughout
history have experienced times of dryness and difficulty in
their prayer life. The consensus among the fathers of the
church is that this is normal and even
healthy. Just because God seems
distant does not mean that God is
distant. Let students know that
these times will come, and that
they don't mean something has
gone wrong, but that God is
working in them in a new way.
19. Prayer is a habit hard to form and easy to lose. I have heard
it said that prayer is like a wild bird. Forming a prayer habit
is like putting the bird in a cage... it takes a long time to do,
and if the door is open even for a moment the bird will fly
out again. As difficult as maintaining a prayer habit might
be, it should be encouraged.
Prayer's power often is felt
over months and years of
regular practice rather then
in the individual prayer times
themselves. The longer I have
prayer the more I have learned
this to be true.
20. Like anything that requires a lot of discipline, a prayer habit
can be more easily formed with others. Having another
person or group to pray with is very helpful. Help students
find a group that they can pray with, and find a certain
degree of responsibility in. It
might be with you, or it might
be with others, but helping
someone feel like they are
responsible to others for their
prayer life can be a great boon.
21. A rule of life is a contract that a person makes with
themselves. In it they lay out a plan for how often they will do
the things they hope to do. They may want to pray the rosary
every day, attend mass once a week, meet with a spiritual
director one a month, and have a retreat once a year. A Rule
of Life can be anything.
Encourage them to keep it
manageable and to stick with it.
If they find it to difficult
have them go back and change
it to something they can do, but
encourage them to hold to
the standards they set for
themselves.
22. So there you have it... 10 tips.
These are certainly not the only tips
on teaching people how to pray, but
they're a start. Not every setting will
be conducive for all 10 of them.
If a few of them don't work in a
particular setting don't worry to much
about it, you can always adapt these
to fit your own needs. You may also
add or subtract from the list.
