Written by Jenny Troutner and adapted from Charis Connect

Walking into the prayer room at the Charis Fellowship Conference might have made you stop, turn around, and check to see if you were in the right place. To your left: a LEGO station; in the corner: a large wooden cross and backpack full of rocks; straight ahead: an elegant table set with candles, bread, and juice. And, wait…is that a boat?

Yes, yes that’s a boat. These items were intentionally placed in this Interactive Prayer Room to facilitate and call forth purposeful prayer. Mary Ann Barlow, an Encompass Missions Mobilizer, began pursuing the idea of the prayer room several months ago. When asked for her reasoning behind the interactive approach, Mary Ann referred to having seen churches in England who use similar methods to pray for revival and said, “The activities pull you into a deeper reflection on prayer and scripture.”

The theme was “asking God to raise up new leaders for our fellowship and mission,” which was evident in several stations. The LEGO Leadership station was the eighth station, and you started by picking up a LEGO brick and counting the number of studs it had. If there were eight studs, you then imagined eight specific traits of leadership needed by the church of Jesus Christ. Finally, you prayed that God would use the Momentum Youth Conference to form those very traits in future leaders. Before leaving the station, you added the brick to a foundation plate that had Jesus as its cornerstone.

Station number seven was also focused on future leaders with a list of the names of every person registered at the conference next to a basin of water and a container of pebbles. You were encouraged to drop a pebble in the basin of water while praying that God would use the next person on the list’s ministry for His kingdom. Just as the pebble caused ripples in the water, you prayed that their ministry would ripple throughout the body of Christ inspiring and encouraging others.

As someone who has a heart for the nations, Mary Ann included a station recognizing the least of these—those throughout the world who are lonely, poor in heart, marginalized, oppressed, and those without a gospel witness. At station six, you sat at the lovely table before the bread and cup, and contemplated Matthew 22 where Jesus talked about inviting as many as you can find to the wedding feast. The station included cards with real people groups representing the categories listed. The prompt was to pray that people in these groups would know that they are welcome at His table.

Several earlier stations had an interactive and reflective aspect that turned your heart to the Lord. Even these stations, without stating it, were about leadership. Mary Ann said that she “chose activities that were introspective on what was keeping us from inspiring leadership in others.” Whether it was placing your burdens at the foot of a literal cross or looking at artwork that reminded you about the lightness that forgiveness brings in your life, these stations inspired the participant to speak to the Lord.

Station one was such an experience. On the table was a bag of garden soil that was sliced open to reveal a “field.” Next to it were grains of wheat and the verse from John 12:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (NASB). Gary shared his experience at this station, “I’ve read the verse many times and heard it used in messages many times as well. But walking into the prayer room, sitting down in front of a field of real dirt, picking up a grain of wheat and asking God what needed to die in me or my ministry in order to bear fruit, brought the image to life. Meditating on that question, then planting my seed in the earth was a profound experience.”

More than one family went through the prayer room together with parents amazed that their kids were attentive as they completed every station. It is hard to imagine sending kids into a quiet but empty room and having them pray purposefully for any length of time. Providing a guide and an interactive experience kept both children and adults engaged.

You may still be wondering about the boat. At station five, you climbed into the small round boat called a coracle, and contemplated Brendan, a fifth century Christian in Ireland. It is recorded that his followers would fast and pray, then set off in a boat with Brendan saying, “Is not the Lord our captain and helmsman? Then leave it to Him to direct us where He wills.” It was surprisingly challenging to sit in that boat and, with full abandon, tell God you were willing to let Him direct your life where He wills. Jennifer found encouragement at this station, sharing, “While sitting in the coracle my heart was impressed with the truth that Jesus is beside me through every situation.”

The experience of drawing away from the busy conference full of people to pray intentionally was a moving experience. Many took pictures of the various stations with plans to create an experience like it for their churches. Although prayer is about spending time with the Lord, our time there left some of us almost surprised that we met with God that day. May we each come to prayer each day with creativity and expectation, planning to meet in communion with the Lord.