Journey Together with Prayer

Last week at our area-wide Youth Ministers Meeting, we were blessed to hear a few words from Robert Oglesby, Jr., the director of the Center of Youth and Family Ministry at Abilene Christian University.

What he shared with us youth ministers was nothing new. It was something of old, yet still something that unfortunately has been discarded and dismissed by many youth ministry programs.

It is the involvement of the teenagers’ parents, specifically parents and not simply adults.

I’m not talking about merely chaperoning. Rather, it’s inviting parents along in the faith journey their own children are on. It’s challenging parents to share their spiritual walk with their teens in the same way we challenge the teens to share. It’s nudging parents to stretch in the same way we nudge our teens to stretch. It’s emphasizing the “and” in “Youth and Family Ministry.” A revisit of Deuteronomy 6 reminds us that this isn’t new. It is God’s design that parents share God’s story with their children.

While we try to intentionally involve our teens’ parents within our youth ministry programming, one way parents can easily join and guide their children in faith in a simple yet astoundingly impactful way is by praying with them.

I know by heart the only prayer I have ever heard my dad say:

“Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee so much for this day, and we thank thee for this food. Please bless it to the nourishment and health of our bodies. And thank thee for sending Jesus Christ, Your Son, to die for the forgiveness of our sins. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

That prayer was said before every dinner we ate together at home. The very fact that I know it by heart makes me realize a couple things. First, my dad praying before every dinner obviously had a profound impact on my life if I remember that prayer word for word. Secondly, it makes me acutely aware of how much I wish there had been more.

“Prayer is needed for children. Whatever religion we are, we must pray together. Children need to learn to pray, and they need to have their parents pray with them. If we don’t do this, it will become difficult to become holy, to carry on, to strengthen ourselves in faith.”

-- Mother Teresa