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Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child's Spiritual Formation
How do we help our kids connect with God?
Most parents want their kids to learn to love God. But most of us struggle to facilitate real spiritual experiences. It's hard enough to have a meaningful conversation with our kids about spiritual things, let alone help them experience true transformation in the presence of God.
Jared Patrick Boyd discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. When we lead our children through guided times of imaginative prayer, they can experience a connection with God that transcends mere Bible knowledge or doctrinal content. This unique resource provides six units of weekly guided imaginative prayer, themed around core topics: God's love, loving others, forgiveness, God as king, the good news of God, and the mission of God. Each unit has six sessions, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation for children ages five to thirteen.
Through imaginative prayer, you can help your child connect with God. As you do so, you may find yourself connecting more closely with your child, and your own formation as a parent will deepen into greater awareness of God's work in your lives.
Most parents want their kids to learn to love God. But most of us struggle to facilitate real spiritual experiences. It's hard enough to have a meaningful conversation with our kids about spiritual things, let alone help them experience true transformation in the presence of God.
Jared Patrick Boyd discovered that children's spiritual formation is rooted in the imagination. When we lead our children through guided times of imaginative prayer, they can experience a connection with God that transcends mere Bible knowledge or doctrinal content. This unique resource provides six units of weekly guided imaginative prayer, themed around core topics: God's love, loving others, forgiveness, God as king, the good news of God, and the mission of God. Each unit has six sessions, providing a yearlong experience of spiritual formation for children ages five to thirteen.
Through imaginative prayer, you can help your child connect with God. As you do so, you may find yourself connecting more closely with your child, and your own formation as a parent will deepen into greater awareness of God's work in your lives.
304 pages, Paperback
Published July 11, 2017
67 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 27, 2017
Jared Boyd’s book, Imaginative Prayer: a Yearlong Guide for your Child’s Spiritual Formation is an invitation for parents and teachers to encourage children to use their imaginations to help “take away the veil that covers the presence of God.” His guide offers step-by-step sessions for ushering kids into imaginative experiences that can move them from “Sunday school” ideas about Jesus to knowing Jesus intimately. Boyd’s encouraging voice offers both rationale and structure to introduce children to scenarios that allow them to put themselves inside Gospel stories with “imagine that you are…” prompts that lead to intimate discussion and prayer. Boyd’s inclusion of his own personal experiences with contemplative prayer and prayer experiences with his 4 daughters allow the reader to understand that imaginative prayer can be highly personal, organic and even a bit messy. But Boyd reassures that imagining life in Christ first can make a path for following Him in later in life.
Even if the reader does not tuck a child into bed each night, the instruction sections and the scripts that follow are vivid and spirit-filled, encouraging adults to begin to think differently about Jesus. “What does it feel like to be loved, invited, looked for, found?” Children or adults who experience this book can learn to slow down, enter silences, and allow their imaginations to connect them to the person of Christ through quiet contemplation of scripture. Heaven becomes a beautiful forest of tree houses, loving others becomes an ever-filling bucket of water to carry to those in need, forgiveness becomes a giant jar of disappearing tokens, and discipleship a personal invitation from the hands of Jesus to a child’s hands in an envelope that says, “Follow me.” Some complicated theology is made simple enough for a child to taste and consider. Boyd gently introduces difficult subjects like desolation, separateness, disappointment and death through playful but dangerous symbols like dragons. The sessions invite adults to model vulnerability and to tell their stories. I can’t think of a warmer thread to tie children to their parents or caretakers and to God. As a grandparent, Boyd’s book has already changed the conversations I am having with my grandchildren!
Anyone who loves a child – has (with the help of Jared Boyd and Imaginative Prayer) the potential to witness the critical formation of the soul of a child.
Even if the reader does not tuck a child into bed each night, the instruction sections and the scripts that follow are vivid and spirit-filled, encouraging adults to begin to think differently about Jesus. “What does it feel like to be loved, invited, looked for, found?” Children or adults who experience this book can learn to slow down, enter silences, and allow their imaginations to connect them to the person of Christ through quiet contemplation of scripture. Heaven becomes a beautiful forest of tree houses, loving others becomes an ever-filling bucket of water to carry to those in need, forgiveness becomes a giant jar of disappearing tokens, and discipleship a personal invitation from the hands of Jesus to a child’s hands in an envelope that says, “Follow me.” Some complicated theology is made simple enough for a child to taste and consider. Boyd gently introduces difficult subjects like desolation, separateness, disappointment and death through playful but dangerous symbols like dragons. The sessions invite adults to model vulnerability and to tell their stories. I can’t think of a warmer thread to tie children to their parents or caretakers and to God. As a grandparent, Boyd’s book has already changed the conversations I am having with my grandchildren!
Anyone who loves a child – has (with the help of Jared Boyd and Imaginative Prayer) the potential to witness the critical formation of the soul of a child.
July 7, 2021
One of the biggest struggles for me in my personal faith journey is a disconnect between head and heart. Growing up in the church, I gained a lot of head knowledge about who God is and was well-versed in Bible stories; I was taught the importance of carrying my faith into the world through action. But as I continued to grow up and grow in faith the phrase “relationship with Christ” became something I heard frequently but didn’t really understand in my heart.
As my husband and I began to consider beginning a habit of family devotions with our son, we looked for something that would be really meaningful i establishing those relational aspects of faith, and we stumbled across this book (through a friend who had it on her shelf). Over the past year, we have explored it together, and it has been enriching for all three of us. Boyd’s focus on introducing children to the character and mission of God through their imaginations gets to the heart of a relational faith and to the process of spiritual formation.
Our son was perhaps a little on the young side for this book (he turned six a little after we started with it). I think it is probably best for children 7-10, and our family will probably come back to it and use it again when he is about nine to reinforce the truths and concepts presented. But I might come back to it myself sooner. Boyd has provided not just prayers for children to experience with their parents as guides, but reflective questions for parents to consider themselves. Those startled me into deeper awareness of aspects of my own spiritual formation (or lack thereof) that are worth revisiting.
It’s hard to find family devotionals or books that truly serve the whole family and that also go beyond basic good character matched with Bible stories. This is does both those things, and I highly recommend it.
As my husband and I began to consider beginning a habit of family devotions with our son, we looked for something that would be really meaningful i establishing those relational aspects of faith, and we stumbled across this book (through a friend who had it on her shelf). Over the past year, we have explored it together, and it has been enriching for all three of us. Boyd’s focus on introducing children to the character and mission of God through their imaginations gets to the heart of a relational faith and to the process of spiritual formation.
Our son was perhaps a little on the young side for this book (he turned six a little after we started with it). I think it is probably best for children 7-10, and our family will probably come back to it and use it again when he is about nine to reinforce the truths and concepts presented. But I might come back to it myself sooner. Boyd has provided not just prayers for children to experience with their parents as guides, but reflective questions for parents to consider themselves. Those startled me into deeper awareness of aspects of my own spiritual formation (or lack thereof) that are worth revisiting.
It’s hard to find family devotionals or books that truly serve the whole family and that also go beyond basic good character matched with Bible stories. This is does both those things, and I highly recommend it.
June 9, 2024
The title of this book (and artwork - sorry publisher!) doesn’t do its content justice. This book is a guide for spiritual formation for your kids (heck, it helped me understand spiritual direction better too!). And when I say guide, I don’t mean someone just cheering you on with inspiration. It gives you 42 (one per week, with breaks assumed) scripts of imaginative prayers you can use with your children that help them experience who God is.
If you’re wanting to engage your children in faith practices, but don’t just want to dump information on them…if you’ve done your own work to untangle your need for certainty/rigidity in your relationship with God and are wondering how to pass that along…if you want to foster contemplation in your kids… you need this book.
If you’re wanting to engage your children in faith practices, but don’t just want to dump information on them…if you’ve done your own work to untangle your need for certainty/rigidity in your relationship with God and are wondering how to pass that along…if you want to foster contemplation in your kids… you need this book.
August 19, 2017
I’ve long held a personal axiom — never judge a book by its cover; judge it by its table of contents. Let this be true especially for Jared Boyd’s Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation, with a caveat: the table of contents is more than a table of contents. It’s a poem — literally — a “credal poem” that your child is invited not only to memorize with you but to experience through playful and grace-filled encounters with Gød. This, for me, is so much of the genius of the work, beyond being in all respects an extraordinarily practical and in many ways revolutionary resource for parents.
Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation delivers exactly what the title and subtitle pairing promises — a week-by-week, step-by-step guide to help create (roughly) a year’s worth of formative, instructive prayer experiences that use the imagination’s power to bring our full array of senses into the scene of prayer, to transform the scene of prayer into a memorable experience, to listen for Jesus’ voice and watch for Gød’s expressiveness, to bring us into the story of the Scriptures so that we can join Gød’s story in our lives — rather than merely read about or be told about it, in ways that remain impersonal and fail to teach the deepest parts of ourselves.
Notice I say, “us” and “we” instead of “our children.” This is for two reasons. First, because each week of the Imaginative Prayer journey contains a section “For the Parent or Mentor” to tie in the prayer and its focus to the adult life or the life of one caring for the child going through the book. The important point being, by design, it’s not only the child that’s meant to be formed through Imaginative Prayer’s itinerary. Relatedly, I say “we” because I absolutely include myself as a childless adult. And here’s what I meant when I cautioned against judging the book by its cover — or its title page. With very little translation required, Imaginative Prayer on its own is an excellent resource for adult imaginative prayer and could very well be adapted to form the lion’s share of an adult catechism.
More at: https://recoveringpastor.com/2017/08/...
Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation delivers exactly what the title and subtitle pairing promises — a week-by-week, step-by-step guide to help create (roughly) a year’s worth of formative, instructive prayer experiences that use the imagination’s power to bring our full array of senses into the scene of prayer, to transform the scene of prayer into a memorable experience, to listen for Jesus’ voice and watch for Gød’s expressiveness, to bring us into the story of the Scriptures so that we can join Gød’s story in our lives — rather than merely read about or be told about it, in ways that remain impersonal and fail to teach the deepest parts of ourselves.
Notice I say, “us” and “we” instead of “our children.” This is for two reasons. First, because each week of the Imaginative Prayer journey contains a section “For the Parent or Mentor” to tie in the prayer and its focus to the adult life or the life of one caring for the child going through the book. The important point being, by design, it’s not only the child that’s meant to be formed through Imaginative Prayer’s itinerary. Relatedly, I say “we” because I absolutely include myself as a childless adult. And here’s what I meant when I cautioned against judging the book by its cover — or its title page. With very little translation required, Imaginative Prayer on its own is an excellent resource for adult imaginative prayer and could very well be adapted to form the lion’s share of an adult catechism.
More at: https://recoveringpastor.com/2017/08/...
April 24, 2021
I am very left-brained. I think in lists and logic; I'm afraid I also pray that way nearly all the time. I was looking for a book that would help my kids learn to interact with our great and Holy God differently than I do. I wanted them to pause in awe and wonder. I wanted them to see Him more clearly and relationally. This book was amazing. My kids embraced it differently according to their personalities and ages. My tween is very logical/left-brained like I am. He didn't enjoy it a lot. My imaginative younger two (4/5 and 7/8 when we read it) dove into each chapter with gusto. The book was perfect for them. I'd recommend this book for parents of elementary kids. And yes, this is a Christian book. Despite the woo-woo sounding name, it is Biblical.
September 19, 2017
As an erstwhile pastor and a full-time parent, I have a vested interest in my kids' spiritual formation. So I was excited to dig into Jared Patrick Boyd's book, Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide For Your Child's Spiritual Formation.
Boyd is a Vineyard pastor, spiritual director and founder of The Order of Sustainable Faith (a missional monastic expression). He has previously authored a book on composing a rule of life (Invitations & Commitments: a Rule of Life, The Order of Sustainable Faith, 2014).
In Imaginative Prayer, Boyd provides a template for leading your children through a year-long transformative prayer practice (actually 42 weeks). The book begins with a six-stanza 'Imaginative Prayer Creedal Poem (11-12). Each week has an Ignatian style imaginative prayer designed for kids ages 9-12, reflections for parents and mentors, suggestions for pressing deeper into each theme with your children (through activities, research, and conversation), and suggestions to get your children to journal about. Even seven-week cycle includes a week of review which incorporates questions, activities and memorizing of the section of Boyd's creedal poem that corresponds to that section. The 42 weeks cover the topics of God's Love, Loving Others, Forgiveness, Jesus the King, The Good News of God, and The Mission of God.
I read through this book a couple of weeks ago and took an atypical amount of time sitting down to write this review. Part of it is, this book came out in July, so me, or anyone reviewing it now, has not used the book as it was intended (a 42-week spiritual journey with kids). I actually have not used this with my own children, though I spoke with my daughters about it and they are super excited to try this out and I think it is a great way to harness their imagination to deepen their connection to God in Christ.
Essentially what Boyd provides, is a roadmap for us parents to slow down and become spiritual directors for our kids. Boyd tested the material with kids ages 9-12 because children these ages are old enough to grapple with significant questions and abstract concepts but also young enough to have a 'sense of playfulness' which makes the material more engaging (303-304). However, I plan to use this with my 8 and my 10-year-old. Having previewed the material, I like Boyd's sense of the larger Christian story and the way he employs contemplative practices in an engaging way for kids.
On the topic, I have a big problem with a lot of Christian children's curriculum because they focus almost exclusively on getting kids to behave better, promoting a form of moralism. Or they impart a faith formula that kids ought to believe. What is refreshing about Boyd's approach is that is a transformative invitation to prayer.
I may revisit this later, but for now, I give this an enthusiastic 5 stars. Now for the practice of prayer. . .
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from InterVarsity Press in exchange for my honest review
Boyd is a Vineyard pastor, spiritual director and founder of The Order of Sustainable Faith (a missional monastic expression). He has previously authored a book on composing a rule of life (Invitations & Commitments: a Rule of Life, The Order of Sustainable Faith, 2014).
In Imaginative Prayer, Boyd provides a template for leading your children through a year-long transformative prayer practice (actually 42 weeks). The book begins with a six-stanza 'Imaginative Prayer Creedal Poem (11-12). Each week has an Ignatian style imaginative prayer designed for kids ages 9-12, reflections for parents and mentors, suggestions for pressing deeper into each theme with your children (through activities, research, and conversation), and suggestions to get your children to journal about. Even seven-week cycle includes a week of review which incorporates questions, activities and memorizing of the section of Boyd's creedal poem that corresponds to that section. The 42 weeks cover the topics of God's Love, Loving Others, Forgiveness, Jesus the King, The Good News of God, and The Mission of God.
I read through this book a couple of weeks ago and took an atypical amount of time sitting down to write this review. Part of it is, this book came out in July, so me, or anyone reviewing it now, has not used the book as it was intended (a 42-week spiritual journey with kids). I actually have not used this with my own children, though I spoke with my daughters about it and they are super excited to try this out and I think it is a great way to harness their imagination to deepen their connection to God in Christ.
Essentially what Boyd provides, is a roadmap for us parents to slow down and become spiritual directors for our kids. Boyd tested the material with kids ages 9-12 because children these ages are old enough to grapple with significant questions and abstract concepts but also young enough to have a 'sense of playfulness' which makes the material more engaging (303-304). However, I plan to use this with my 8 and my 10-year-old. Having previewed the material, I like Boyd's sense of the larger Christian story and the way he employs contemplative practices in an engaging way for kids.
On the topic, I have a big problem with a lot of Christian children's curriculum because they focus almost exclusively on getting kids to behave better, promoting a form of moralism. Or they impart a faith formula that kids ought to believe. What is refreshing about Boyd's approach is that is a transformative invitation to prayer.
I may revisit this later, but for now, I give this an enthusiastic 5 stars. Now for the practice of prayer. . .
Notice of material connection: I received a copy of this book from InterVarsity Press in exchange for my honest review
September 4, 2017
This book takes a unique approach nurturing the spiritual development of children. Modeled after the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, based on formative passages of Scripture, the 36 exercises in this book are a rich set of guidelines for adults to help their young children grow spiritually and develop a close relationship with God and with Jesus' life and teaching. The exercises are well thought out and clearly explained and provide very good suggestions for discussion and activities that parents can have with their children to reinforce the experience that the exercises provide. Young children are prolific in the use of their imagination. Imagination has a strong effect on a child's learning and character development. This book is a wonderful resource to help shape the their use of the imagination in ways that will help them become more sensitive to God's work in their lives and in the world and how they can participate in that work. Jared Boyd has made a great contribution to parents and children in writing this book to share the fruit of his, and his wife's, experience in raising four young daughters who are well on their way to becoming women after God's own heart.
October 17, 2018
I used this with my youth group for a while. It got some slightly mixed reviews from them, though I realize this book is primarily for younger children - I found it better than the youth group version I bought. I do plan on doing this with my own children at some point in the future and may update this review then.
January 24, 2022
It took us a year, and the imaginative process has been very formative. Even doing the basics of this book it is worth the time and investment. We did one chapter a week and I rarely did any of the extra questions along with the chapter.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews