Candle Light Prayers

This is an idea that I found on another youth ministry page and it definitely worked out really well for my group.

All you need is tea candles, a lighter, and something to put all the candles on just to be safe. If your youth are like mine were, they liked to put the hot wax on their fingers after we were done.  

Each night to close out youth group meetings this is a nice way to end everything. We’d turn out the lights just enough to have the first person light their candles. Having it almost pitch black is the best way to do it. You can crack a door if you need to do so.

Any one can start. The way we ended up doing it is that each person has 3 tea candles. Each candle represents a different prayer to them. The only thing that was ever asked was that they share one thing that they were praying for that week. If they wanted to share more than one, then they were more than welcome to do so, but if not, one prayer was offered up as they are lighting their candles. They don’t have to share a lot. Just simply saying, “I’m praying for _________” or “This is for __________” is enough. After everyone is finished let everyone blow out the candles together. 

As time went on, my youth didn’t want to go home until we had our candle light prayers. They always knew that youth was officially over for the night when we did this. Also, they started sharing more and more with each other of what their concerns were with either friends or family. Some nights we’d here to pray for teachers, classmates, soccer games, band events, up coming exams, family members, our group, youth events, and so forth.

It was really amazing seeing the kids open up like that with each other with such a simple idea.  

By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:7-9