The mission armed with prayer never fails. Prayer is the strongest weapon of AYC mission. AYC has a prayer meeting every Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Potters Place Mission to pray for Indigenous youth and our ministry.
Prayer is a really important one even during AYC camp. The prayer time after worship (Altar Call) is an important time for the indigenous youth. All small group leaders (volunteers) should assist Indigenous youth to come forward to God at this time.
An altar call is a moment during a service when individuals are invited to come forward to the front to publicly respond to a religious message or invitation. This practice is often associated with making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ or seeking spiritual guidance, forgiveness, or renewal.
Altar calls may also offer a space for Indigenous youth to seek healing, reconciliation, and a sense of belonging within both their Indigenous community and the Christian community. Furthermore, the altar call can play a role in addressing the challenges faced by Indigenous youth in Canada. Many Indigenous communities have experienced historical trauma, cultural disconnection, and systemic issues such as poverty and substance abuse. The altar call is an approach that combines spiritual, emotional, and cultural healing for indigenous youth. It can provide a platform for indigenous youth to express their struggles, seek support, and find strength and guidance in their faith.
There are reasons why prayers are important, especially for Indigenous youth. We should encourage them to come before God during this Altar call time.
Relationship with God: Prayer is a way for the youth to communicate with God and deepen their relationship with Him. Through prayer, they can express their struggles, fears, and concerns directly to God, knowing that He listens and cares for them.
Seeking Guidance: Prayer allows the youth to seek God's guidance and wisdom when faced with challenging decisions or circumstances. They can ask for discernment and clarity to make wise choices and navigate through difficult situations.
Strength and Comfort: Prayer provides youth with a source of strength and comfort in times of distress. They can find solace in knowing that they can cast their burdens upon God and rely on His grace and strength to sustain them.
Trusting God's Plan: Praying helps youth to surrender their circumstances to God and trust in His plan for their lives. It allows them to acknowledge that God is in control and has a purpose for their suffering, even if they may not fully understand it at the moment.
Community Support: It enables youth to come together and pray for one another, offering support, encouragement, and intercession during challenging times. This communal aspect can foster a sense of belonging and shared faith.
Spiritual Growth: Going through difficult circumstances can be an opportunity for Christian youth to grow spiritually. Prayer can facilitate reflection, self-examination, and a deepening of their faith as they seek God's presence and guidance amid their struggles.
Hope and Encouragement: Prayer provides youth with hope and encouragement. They can find inspiration from the promises and teachings of their faith, knowing that God is faithful and can bring about restoration, healing, and transformation in their lives.
Prayer has power. Those who go through many difficulties in their lives gain the strength to overcome them through prayer. Here are the benefits that Indigenous youth can earn through prayer.
Emotional Support: Prayer provides a means for youth to express their emotions, concerns, and struggles to a higher power. It can serve as a source of comfort and solace, allowing them to release their burdens and find emotional support in their faith
Connection to a Higher Power: Praying allows youth to establish a connection with a higher power, God, and seek guidance, strength, and hope. It can offer a sense of transcendence and the belief that there is something greater than oneself that can provide assistance and comfort during difficult times.
Sense of Belonging: Prayer provides youth with a sense of belonging and support from others who share their faith. This can help combat feelings of isolation and loneliness that often accompany suffering.
Coping Mechanism: Engaging in prayer can serve as a coping mechanism for youth who are suffering. It can offer a way to manage stress, anxiety, and negative emotions by redirecting their focus toward faith, and spirituality, and seeking guidance from a higher power.
Meaning and Purpose: Prayer can help youth find meaning and purpose in their suffering. It allows them to view their struggles as part of a larger plan or divine purpose, which can provide a sense of hope, resilience, and the belief that their suffering has meaning.
Inner Strength: Prayer can help youth cultivate inner strength and resilience. It encourages them to tap into their inner resources and rely on their faith to overcome challenges and find the strength to persevere.
Renewal and Healing: Prayer offers an opportunity for youth to seek healing, forgiveness, and renewal. It can provide a space for reflection, self-examination, and the possibility of finding spiritual and emotional healing.
Through this power of prayer, we must bring Indigenous youth closer to God. Lots of effort in small groups is required so Indigenous youth can decide during Altar Call time. We encourage volunteers to pray as follows to prepare for this moment during the mission.
1. Pray now!
While preparing for a mission, from now on, intercede for God to help the youth to prepare their heart to come before God during the camp. Since God is still at work, He visits their lives and moves their hearts through your prayers.
2. Keep praying like breathing!
Continue praying for small group members during camp. Don't just pray out loud with your hands together. Intercede for Indigenous youth to come before God as you talk to God in your heart every second during the camp. Just as you cannot stop breathing, you cannot stop praying. These 4 days are time for you to keep praying and breathing.
3. Do not give up!
It is difficult to expect Indigenous youth to focus on the worship and prayer time from beginning to end. So, throughout the day during the small group activities, we must encourage them to be desired to come to worship. Make a promise with them to spend time praying together in the evening after worship. We need skills to encourage them to come out to the place of worship and to lead them to the place of prayer.
And if they come forward to the front for the Altar call, please pray for them to the end. If they are not there, don't give up, find them and pray for them. Do not look around, wandering, and not knowing who to pray for. Do not pray briefly and look for others to pray for. Please find your small group members and pray for them.
After praying, do not leave immediately but stay with them. Give them some encouragement and share some bible verses. Congratulate them on their new start with Jesus.
While running a small group meeting, encourage the youth to share their prayer request and intercede each request together. It will be amazing to experience God’s work through prayer during the camp.
It is also important to properly educate them about prayer. We need to let them know that prayer is not an act of religious ritual or simply a tool to find peace of mind, but the most important time in a Christian's life. Also, we must let them know that prayer is not something to request others to pray for them but should be done on their own anywhere because God listens and answers their prayer anywhere.
AYC has promised them that we will gather weekly to pray for them after camp. So, the Saturday afternoon prayer meeting will never stop. We hope volunteers will also experience the power of prayer through this mission.