If you’re familiar with church settings, you know spending time talking
about God is very different from spending time
with God. It’s why discussion groups are a great starting point, but aren’t all there is to spiritual growth. The same goes for journaling or Bible study — they are helpful ways to spend time with God, but what happens when you just can’t seem to connect to this way of doing things?
People practice their faith in many ways, but we believe there are four spiritual habits that are important for spiritual development — spending time with God being one of them. You might practice this spiritual habit if you want to:
- Develop a personal connection to God.
- Find comfort, direction, and guidance.
- Grow in your faith.
Developing the spiritual habit of spending time with God is something you can share with others. In fact, you may find lots of what you already do are ways to spend time with God!
What Are Some New Ways To Spend Time With God?
There are so many ways to spend time with God. You may find the best way to spend time with God is while you’re engaged in the things you enjoy doing. That’s because when we spend time doing what we enjoy, God is there! You might spend time with God while you:
- Hike a trail
- Write a new song
- Serve others
- Take a drive
- Cook a meal
All of these activities may seem like everyday hobbies, but with a different focus, they can be ways to explore your relationship with God. With an intention to think about a passage of Scripture or prayer, an ordinary hike or service project can be a transformative experience!
Spending Time With God As A Community
Spending time with God is typically a habit we imagine being done in solitude, but you can help introduce this as a way to build community at your church. Here are a few examples of how you can inspire the volunteers and families you lead to spend time with God:
- For kids.
- Memorizing Scripture is a tried and true spiritual habit for kids. The thing is, they may lose interest if it’s not engaging! Find new ways to encourage kids to memorize Scripture by providing a rewards system or competition.
- Worship nights can be refreshing for the whole family because kids enjoy opportunities to sing and move! A worship night that includes music for kids could be the foundation that begins their relationship with God.
- For teens.
- When teens go away for a Spring Retreat, it’s usually a time that allows them to connect with God. Spring Retreats allow teenagers to pause from their normal schedules, invest in their relationship God, and establish healthy habits to continue growing.
- Journal prompts can be so useful for teenagers. Try providing thought provoking questions and prompts to spark up the time they spend journaling and talking with God.
- For adult small groups.
- Encourage the small groups at your church to meet often — for any reason at all! When people spend time together at dinner parties, Bible studies, and concerts, they’re often inspired to go deeper in their relationships with God.
- Bible apps offer great resources like Scripture memorization tools and meditations to help
Each year, we develop Grow Curriculum to provide ministry leaders with fun ideas for developing the ministries they oversee. To give you an example of how we do this, check out these activities we designed for spending time with God:
ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS
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- Musical Memory Verse Challenge. This musical activity can be found in Volume 6 of Grow Kids. It’s perfect for helping kids engage with Scripture in a fun way that also inspires their personal relationships with God.
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- Pray Station. Families will love this activity that we developed for Volume 4 of Grow Kids. Together, they’ll journey through a prayer labyrinth designed to show the importance of talking to God.
If you’d like more activities like these, click here to see all that’s included in our Grow Kids Curriculum.
ACTIVITIES FOR TEENS
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- Focus Journal. The Focus Journal we included in Volume 6 of Grow Students is a great tool for your teenagers. This journal will give students daily readings and challenges to help them develop the spiritual habit of spending time with God.
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- The Break Trail Experience. In Volume 5 of Grow Students, we designed The Break Trail Experience. This activity will help you create a space that invites teenagers into a prayer journey. This activity will guide the way they spend time with God through Scripture.
You can find more more activities and resources for your teens here.
FOR ADULT SMALL GROUPS
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- Stations of the Cross. This event can be used anytime but is perfect for the weeks that lead up to Easter. Your small groups might be motivated to grow closer to God while focusing on the Scripture that aligns with the stations of the cross. This activity can be found in Volume 5 of our Grow Groups Curriculum.
You can click here to check out the other resources we designed specifically for the volunteers and families you lead.
Conclusion
The volunteers and families at your church may connect with God in different ways. Whether they’re new to the faith, or familiar with spiritual habits, it’s always a good idea to create opportunities to motivate them to spend time with God.
We created Grow Curriculum — because we know goals aren’t easy to set or achieve without some help. The Grow Curriculum and Annual Strategy (now available for kids, students, or adult small groups) is designed specifically to help you set and achieve your ministry goals and more by giving you all of the tools, teaching material, discipleship activities, volunteer training, family resources, and planning assistance that you need.
