Every month we bring you concrete tips and ideas around a particular outreach theme.
April’s Outreach Thought:
It feels awkward to pray with someone
We know that prayer is powerful, and that it’s an expedient way of helping someone glimpse God’s kingdom. But many of us feel that it is strange or awkward to ask someone “can I pray with you?” Why is that? Very bluntly, I think the only reason it feels awkward is because we have been trained, by culture or some other force, to think it’s that way. Here is the reality: In hundreds of times that I have asked that question, only one person has ever told me no. It’s not awkward, it’s welcomed.
You can do this, and you can do it with the confidence that the person you’re asking will appreciate it. Here are three thoughts that might help:
- Pray a simple prayer. You don’t have to have eloquent language, and it’s actually better if you don’t. If you pray a complex prayer full of all sorts of religious language, the person will benefit from it but will have trouble repeating it on their own. If you pray with simple language and ideas, they will be able to grow even more from that experience because they can follow that model more easily to talk with God on their own.
- Just keep doing it. Praying with people is sort of like a muscle: It’s weak at first and exercising it doesn’t feel good. But as you do it, it will get stronger. You will get more confident and feel less awkward. I’m sure of this.
- Habit is your friend. Every improvisational musician has riffs—certain strings of notes that they fall back on and build from. You can do this with prayer! Don’t be afraid to build up a toolbox of standard lines or ideas that you can build on. That way you don’t have to come up with new ideas from scratch every time.
