Midweek Ministry: Curating Prayer Space: Final Post
1) The Space
Once the space is open, you can have either a host or allow it to be independent. Either way, moderate the room by checking in on the space. Sometimes people will have breakthroughs or might be in need of someone to speak with based on what is discovered.
Checking periodically can also help to refresh the room after multiple usage. For example, one of my prayer rooms featured water for people to use on their hands as they entered. Since this room was a multiple day, at the end of every night, the water was changed out so as to be fresh for the next group.
2) Breaking Down
Similar to setting up, breaking down should begin with prayer. Clean out each station and wrap the items up, packing them away carefully. If there is a station for people to write prayers or petitions, discard of them properly (prayers are typically burned unless it is stated that they will be used for another reason). For the LIT Conference, we had a station where people could write their calling either on a dry erase board on tie it to a window pane. The messages were then compiled into a book and sent to the conference planner as a memory of the prayer room.
Pour out any water and bless the room once everything is done to acknowledge the sacred space has now finished its duties.
3) Interactive Elements.
I’m a big fan of making the space hypersensory, interactive and available for all. Things are set up on tables of many levels, and all the elements are both recorded and able to be read for multiple abilities.
Again, anything that’s interactive should be kept simple. The focus on the room is the prayer of the participant.
Resources
This only scratches the prayer room surface. Here are other resources for prayer rooms:
https://www.buildfaith.org/creating-a-prayer-space-at-home
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508610903146316
https://womensministrytoolbox.com/prayer-room-for-your-retreat/
https://womensministrytoolbox.com/prayer-station-ideas-for-your-retreat/
My next prayer room will be at the CYAM RESET Retreat in San Antonio, TX. The Prayer Room’s theme is “The Blessing of an Answered Prayer”. I’ll post pictures in a later post about the details!