Teach US to Pray Session 3: Teaching Others to Pray · • Teach prayer as central part of confirmation and membership classes– by doing it together! • Consistently teach the

© 2015 General Board of Discipleship. Permission is given for use in United Methodist congregations, districts, annual conferences, and camp settings. © 2016 The General Board of Discipleship. Permission is given for use in United Methodist congregations, districts, annual conferences,

and camp settings. This resource may not be posted on any website not under the General Board of Discipleship.

Teach US to Pray

Session 3: Teaching Others to Pray

The Rev. Dr. Mark W. Stamm Hosted by Taylor W. Burton-Edwards

Director of Worship Resources



Thanks to Generous Givers

This webinar is provided as a

service of Discipleship Ministries

and is funded through generous

World Service apportionment giving

by local United Methodist

congregations.

© 2017 The General Board of Discipleship of The United

Methodist Church. All rights reserved. Permission is granted

for use by church leaders in ministry settings and in local

churches so long as it is not sold for profit or placed on a

website not owned or operated by The General Board of

Discipleship.



A little bit

about us…

3

Rev. Dr. Mark W. Stamm Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards


and camp settings. This resource may not be posted on any website not under the General Board of Discipleship. © 2017 The General Board of Discipleship. Permission is given for use in United Methodist congregations, districts, annual conferences,




Teach US to Pray

• Session Three: “Teaching Others to Pray”

September 26, 2017

• Previous two sessions in the webinar

archive: www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/teach-us-

to-pray-webinar-series



Another Reminder of Living Water, An

Invitation to Join God’s Work



Salem Heights, Ohio

Sisters of the Precious Blood

Baptismal Space

Here decorated for

Lent.



Their worship space: pulpit, altar, and

windows …



An Order for Evening Praise and

Prayer (UMH, pp. 878-79) Proclamation of the Light

Evening Hymn

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Scripture

Silence

Song of Praise

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

Blessing

The Peace



We’re all learning how to pray … So

then, show up and get started

“… but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of

the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for

adoption, the redemption of our bodies … Likewise

the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not

know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit

intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And

God, who searches the heart, knows what is the

mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for

the saints according to the will of God” (emphasis

added, Romans 8:23b, 26-27, NRSV).



Catechumenate

From the Greek word, akouw, “hear”

Catechumenate = Formation for baptism,

therefore …

Catechumenate = Preparation for

intercessory vocation



Justin Martyr on Pre-baptismal

Preparation (ca. 150)

“As many as are persuaded and believe

that what we teach and say is true, and

undertake to be able to live accordingly, are

instructed to pray and to entreat God with

fasting for the remission of their sins that

are past, we praying and fasting with them.” First Apology, Chapter 61, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 1, 1867.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.ii.lxi.html Accessed 09/20/2107.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.ii.lxi.html

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.ii.lxi.html



Egeria’s description of late 4th century

enrollment practices in Jerusalem

“Then one by one those seeking baptism are brought up . . .

The bishop asks their neighbors questions about them: ‘Is

this person leading a good life?’ Does he respect his

parents? Is he a drunkard or a boaster?’ He asks about all

the serious human vices. And if his inquiries show him that

someone has not committed any of these misdeeds, he

himself puts down his name; but if someone is guilty, he is

told to go away, and the bishop tells him that he is to

amend his ways before he may come to the font.” (John

Wilkinson, translator and editor, Egeria’s Travels to the Holy

Land. Jerusalem: Ariel Publishing House, 1981. Paragraph

45:1-4, pp.143-44).



“The Nature, Design, and General Rules of our

United Societies”—John Wesley, 1739

“It is expected of those who continue (in the societies) that

they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation,

First : By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind,

especially that which is most generally practiced, such as

…

Secondly: By doing good; by being in every kind merciful

after their power …

Thirdly: By attending upon all the ordinances of God

[including] family and private prayer… (The Book of

Discipline, 2016, pp. 77-80).



Prayer Is (not?) Optional

• So the early church and early Methodists

thought it was essential to take time to teach

people basic practices (including prayer)

before they became members.

• However, in one study (Dan Dick, 2007), only

1/3 of UMs report praying except in church,

and only 16% indicated their church had a

process to teach people how to pray.

https://doroteos2.com/research-focus/






Prayer Is NOT Optional

• What processes do you have in place in

your church to teach people of all ages

how to pray?

• If you don’t have any, what will you do and

when will you start?



Ways to Teach Prayer

• Start a morning or an evening prayer service.

• Include the office as part of meetings.

• Teach prayer as central part of baptism preparation,

confirmation, and membership classes– by doing it together!

• Teach prayer as central part of confirmation and

membership classes– by doing it together!

• Consistently teach the why of prayer: It’s about relationship

more than results. Relationship takes time and practice.

• Teach the form of the collect as a structure for basic

prayers: BOW 447.



Witness from the post-baptismal teaching of

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. (circa 390 CE)

“Yesterday we discoursed on the font, whose appearance

is somewhat like that of a tomb in shape; into which,

believing in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, we

are received and plunged, and emerge, that is, we are

raised up …”

St. Ambrose “On the Sacraments” and “On the Mysteries”

and the Treatise “on the Sacraments” Translated by T.

Thompson, B.D. Edited with Introduction and Notes by

J.H. Stawley, D. D. (London: SPCK, 1950), 70



“Thou camest up out of the font. What followed? The high

priest … was girt up and washed thy feet. What is this

sacrament? Doubtless thou hast heard that when the Lord

had washed the feet of the other disciples, He cometh to

Peter; and Peter saith to him, ‘Dost thou wash my feet?’ …

See all righteousness, see the humility, see the grace, see

the sanctification: ‘Unless I wash thy feet’, he saith, ‘thou

wilt have no part with me.’

We are not ignorant that the Roman Church has not this

custom. Her type and form we follow in all things; however

she has not this custom of washing the feet …”

St. Ambrose “On the Mysteries” Translated by T.

Thompson, B.D. , 72-3



Foot washing, ancient & contemporary: What

does it suggest about learning to pray?



Introductory Rubric for “A Service of Worship

for Holy Thursday Evening” (BOW, p. 351)

“Footwashing is a powerful symbolic

response to the Word, dramatizing the

servanthood of Jesus, both on the night

before his death and in his continuing

presence in our midst. The alternative title

for this day, Maundy Thursday, recalls the

new commandment (mandatum novum in

Latin) in John 13:34.”



PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE

(BOW, 353)

GOSPEL LESSON John 13: 1-17, 31-35

SERMON

RESPONSES TO THE WORD See 24

[FOOTWASHING] See introduction

During the footwashing, the following in UMH may be

sung:

432 Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us With Your Love

549 Where Charity and Love Prevail

CONCERNS AND PRAYERS

See 24-25 and Holy Thursday (UMH 283)



Footwashing, ancient & contemporary: Ask mission

partners how we can pray for/with them.



“Walk and Roll Prayer Service”&

Noticing the Neighborhood

Video courtesy of Perkins School of

Theology/SMU

http://www.smu.edu/-

/media/Site/Perkins/PDF/PublicAffairs/2013/002.ashx?la=en

http://www.smu.edu/-/media/Site/Perkins/PDF/PublicAffairs/2013/002.ashx?la=en





SMU Police Department to the “Walk

and Roll” Planners

“Aren’t you going to come to the station

and pray for us?”

Devoting Ourselves to the Prayers, p.

138



Those who showed up for prayers at Perkins

Chapel, July 8, 2016



Your Experiences?

If you have similar stories to tell, please

include them in the chat, or email them to

Mark at [email protected] or Taylor at [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Chapter Seven, Devoting

Ourselves to the Prayers

Intercession and the Discernment of the

Christian Community:

“Why don’t we pray for …?”



Why don’t we pray for . . .

• High school teachers?

• Coaches of children’s and youth sports teams?

• Scholars, especially those under tenure review?

• Sanitation workers, electricians, plumbers?

• Veterinarians and others who care for animals?

• Commuters, especially those who sit in traffic jams?

• Parents, especially those raising children with special

needs?

• Autistic children and others who may seem odd or different,

that they be protected from violence and other oppression?



And these… Why don’t we pray for … • Those about to undergo mastectomies?

• Victims of domestic abuse?

• People awaiting execution, their families, and their victims?

• Refugees?

• People who must work outside in extreme heat or cold?

• People who are tired and fatigued, perhaps from chronic

overwork?

• Other local congregations, naming them specifically?

(From “Why Don’t We Pray For . . . ?” list, Chapter 7 of Devoting

Ourselves to the Prayers by Mark Stamm © copyright 2014,

Discipleship Resources)



And why not even this …?

Auto stopped highway, by Osvaldo Gago. Used by permission. CC BY-SA 2.5.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auto_stoped_highway.JPG

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en





And why not even this …? • For patience, for the will to take this seemingly wasted time for

prayer.

• For those who are inconvenienced by our not showing up on

time, for a blessing on their life and work.

• For those caused pain by accidents, for their safety and well-

being.

• For emergency personnel, ambulance and tow truck drivers, fire

fighters and police officers.

• For all who travel on the highways, including truck drivers and

delivery personnel.

• For patience for my fellow drivers, that they not displace their

anger or impatience on others.

(Mark Stamm, Devoting Ourselves to the Prayers, p. 149)



“Our Callings in the World” website

Dr. Eileen Crowley, Associate Professor of Liturgy and

Worship Arts, Catholic Theological Union of Chicago

www.ourcallingsintheworld.net/

http://www.ourcallingsintheworld.net/



Spider on Web, Lake Tawakoni State

Park, Texas (photo by Margaret Stamm)



Road sign, Fossil Rim Wildlife

Center, Glen Rose, TX



Massacre Site, El Mozote,

El Salvador



Visual Biddings: “Let us pray for creation

and all creatures and created things…”



Visual Biddings: “Let us pray for the concerns

of this local community …” (UMH 877)



Visual Biddings: “Let us pray for those who

suffer and those in trouble” (UMH 877)



• We can and should teach others

to pray.

• We have models for this in the

catechumenate, in early

Methodism, in the daily office,

and in current use.

• We teach the practices–

including praying itself and

noticing– and with and

alongside other practices and

people (mission partners).



Questions?

Comments? Your question here… Type your question here



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Teach US to Pray Session 3: Teaching Others to Pray · • Teach prayer as central part of confirmation and membership classes– by doing it together! • Consistently teach the