Explorers in Prayer
General Introduction
The Explorers in Prayer course is designed to function in a class format with someone leading the course. It is not essential that the person leading the course should be more knowledgeable on prayer than anyone else as all the notes, information and materials needed to lead it are available on this web page, and can be downloaded for free.One thing I have wanted to address in this course is the issue of personality traits and how they fit in to the development of our prayer lives. Most books on prayer and Christian spirituality are written by introverts for introverts. I have tried to create a course that can be accessible to both introverts and extroverts, with options on exercises so that, as much as is possible, both personality types are catered for.
See comments made by people who have already done the course – Recommendations.
Three further notes:
1) The Bible passages quoted in the lesson plans all come from the TNIV Bible.
2) Inevitably students will miss a class during the course so I have produced course notes for each class which the course leader can email them, showing them what has been taught, and the homework they need to do.
3) Whilst this course is entirely free to download and use, I would be very encouraged if you were to email me via the Contact Us page if you are planning to do the course, or have led it. I would also love to receive any comments you have on the course.
Promotional Word documents for the course:
Explorers in Prayer Course Overview
Explorers in Prayer Fact Sheet template
The course book is Richard Foster’s Prayer – Finding the heart’s true home. Not everyone finds this book easy to read and so there is no reason why that person should not use a different book and feed back to the class what they have learnt from it.
All the documents below are in PDF format. To open them you need to have Adobe software on your PC. To download this software for free go to the Adobe website.
Week One: The place of Attention and Listening in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 1
Select the following three illustrations: Boat 1, Boat 2 and Boat 3. Save the pictures to your PC and then print. They should each fit onto an A4 piece of paper.
Explorers in Prayer Communion Service Sheet
Week Two: The place of Praise and Thanksgiving in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 2
Week Three: The place of Repentance and Godliness in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 3
Week Four: The place of Scripture and Icons in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 4
Explorers in Prayer Lectio Divina document
Week Five: The place of Meditation in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 5
Week Six: The place of Contemplation in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 6
Week Seven: The place of Suffering and Fasting in prayer.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 7
Week Eight: The place of Intercession in prayer – praying in faith.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 8
Week Nine: The place of Intercession in prayer – praying out of a heart of love.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 9
Prayer Song words and music sheet
Prayer Song tune played on the piano
Week Ten: The place of Intercession in prayer – praying with grace.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 10
Explorers in Prayer Handout 10
Week Eleven: Becoming a friend of God.
Explorers in Prayer Lesson Plan 11
Explorers in Prayer Questionnaire
Note: Questionnaires are important for the development of the course, but you may find the questions on the above questionnaires are not those you would ask, so feel free to change them.
“If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying.” Thomas Merton