Youth Alpha

When I first became a Christian I learnt that Jesus didn’t just say wonderful things, he also demonstrated wonderful things: he taught the good news and he lived the good news. I learnt that part of what he did was to set people free by praying for them in various ways. Jesus’ ministry of healing people and setting them free didn’t end when he died and rose from the dead: he gave that ministry to his church, to his people.

Praying for others is something we can all do. It’s not about people who think they are spiritual and holy or those who stand on platforms. This is a ministry for the whole body of Christ, for the whole church – for everybody. The people God loves to use the most seem to be the people that know that they can’t do it on their own. They know that if God doesn’t show up, they’re in trouble.

One of the things I love about Youth Alpha is that it gives people on the course the chance to be prayed for. This first happens on the Youth Alpha Weekend or Day, and later in the course, during the session on healing. In our groups, we want to model how to pray for each other in a simple way that is easily replicable. This will show people that they, too, can begin to pray for others. While there may be 300 different ways to pray for someone, there is a really simple model that all of us can use, regardless of experience; check it out in the Youth Alpha Leaders’ Guide.