"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful."
Colossians 4:2

At St Alban's, prayer is at the heart of every classroom. To help our children grow in confidence and take ownership of their prayer life, each class is split into Prayer Teams. Throughout the year, every team has the opportunity to plan and lead a prayer service for their class.

Our children use the Gather, Listen, Respond and Mission format to help them prepare:

• Gather – the team welcomes their class and creates a calm, prayerful space, often with a focus such as a candle, cross, picture or special object.
• Listen – the children choose and share a reading from Scripture, listening carefully to what God is saying to us.
• Respond – the class responds to the Word of God through reflection, prayer, song, actions or quiet stillness.
• Mission – the service ends by sending everyone out with a simple way to live out God's Word in their daily lives.

Our children absolutely love leading their prayer services. They are inventive and fun, using music, drama, art, symbols and actions to bring their chosen theme to life. It is wonderful to see them working together, sharing ideas and thinking carefully about how to help their classmates draw closer to God.

Prayer Teams help our children to understand that prayer is not something that is only done for them, but something they can lead and shape themselves. Through this, they grow in faith, confidence and leadership, and learn that everyone has a part to play in the prayer life of our school.