Praying for Our Youth

Converge Heartland Students

Summers often revolve around the activities of our youth. Before we know it, our calendars fill up with things like Vacation Bible School, church camp, sports or music camps, grandparent camp, sporting events, camping trips, family vacations, and more! In the midst of this summer’s activities, I invite you to join me in praying intentionally for the youth in our families, churches, communities, and district. These prompts will help you pray with understanding for our youth.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

First and foremost, pray for the youth and young adults in your life to have an active relationship with God. 

• Pray for them to grow in their love for and commitment to God’s word and Christ’s church.

• Pray for them to remove any relational or material idol in their life and replace it with a sincere hunger for God.

• Pray for their faith in Christ to grow strong so that they might readily recognize and resist the enticements of ungodly philosophies, theories, and practices that permeate our modern culture.   

RELATIONAL HEALTH

Pray for the youth and young adults in your life to pursue and enjoy healthy relationships.

• Though they will increasingly interact with a myriad of people, pray for them to pursue friendships among faith-sharpening and faith-affirming peers.

• With endless extracurricular opportunities, pray for them to independently prioritize and enjoy their relationship with their local church family and youth group. 

• Pray for their purity, especially as it pertains to dating relationships and the use of technology. Pray for them to pursue boundaries and accountability in these areas.

PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT

Pray for parents to remain actively and spiritually engaged with their growing kids.

• Pray for parents to embrace their responsibility and calling to spiritually raise their children. The church strongly supports them, but this is their responsibility, not the church’s. 

• Pray for parents to establish healthy relational, extracurricular, and technological boundaries in their children’s lives. In other words, pray that they would encourage their children towards faith-affirming relationships, prioritize their church family gatherings over other extra-curricular options, and help keep their household safe from the dark side of internet-connected devices.

• Pray for parents to model a spiritual life for their children through personal and family devotional times, seasons of prayer together, and deeper conversations about God.

OUTREACH ORIENTATION

Pray for youth and young adults to consciously orient their lives towards advancing the Gospel and the work of Christ.

• Pray for them to have an outreach orientation by helping non-Christians meet, know, and follow God through faith in Jesus Christ. Pray for this to begin now in their schools and relational networks.

• Pray for them to have clarity on their Christian identity, life/career direction, and participation in the Great Commission.

• Pray for God to show mercy to the nations by calling forth laborers to his harvest from among our youth and young adults. More specifically, pray that they would recognize God’s clear leading to serve in ministry and among unreached regions.

• Pray for parents and churches to openly invite, encourage, and celebrate this ministry direction in the life of their youth.