Prayer Experience Communication Checklist

• Date – Consider how this affects the flow of their daily devotions and your weekly discussion.
• Time – Clarify how the time could/should be utilized. For the online experience, we encourage the following:
• Watch the introductory video independently prior to starting (approx. 10 minutes).
• Set apart a time/space for 45 minutes to 1 hour on your own.
• Gather for 1-hour of debriefing & breaking your fast together.
• If childcare during your session is an issue, think about advising parents to trade-off times so they can pray alone. 
• Have available: Bibles, notebooks, Rooted books, pen, and other devotional materials.
• Try to advise people to put themselves in a situation where they can disconnect. 
• Remind people to prepare – rest, excitement, having read through their Rooted Prayer Experience Page.

Leader Preparation Notes

• The Prayer Experience is typically the most dramatic turning point in your group. Do your best to prioritize this experience and do whatever you can to get everyone there. Plan out the way you’re going to begin the experience: choosing passages to read and praying together as a group.
• Consider fasting as a group. Agree on the duration and what’s still on the table. I typically choose to go from dinner to dinner and allow all liquids.  Fasting is all about controlling our desires. When we choose to willfully overpower a desire for something we need (like food), we’re more capable of controlling our willpower over something we only want. Especially in those moments of fasting, we can realize just how much our hunger is spiritual.
• When we satisfy our spiritual needs in focused connection with God through prayer, we can better tell the difference between our physical hunger and spiritual hunger. And we’ll find that the second one is surprisingly stronger. There are more notes in the Facilitator’s Guide appendix.

A few tips to prepare for the ROOTED Prayer Experience:

• Review your journal for areas in your own life that you will want to incorporate into your prayer time. 
• Come to the meeting without your To-Do Lists, Mobile Device(s), or Day Planners.
• Communicate with your group to consider a plan to fast (see below) until the end of the Experience.
• Silence is ok and will allow for God to do the work.
• The plan for the group’s Prayer Experience is SIMPLE:  Communicate with your Group to create a place/time to pray individually, then gather to debrief collectively (either a separate time/session or once all have completed - prior to your scheduled group time)

If you are gathering Online (at your regular group time or after all have completed) for 1-hour debriefing & breaking your fast together.

NOTE: Bring YOUR ROOTED Book with you to read along & use for individual prayer/journaling.

Ideas for Fasting

• In order to make the most of your experience with your Rooted group, we recommend you spend time preparing to hear from God. One of the disciplines that helps with this is fasting. Fasting is a way we can eliminate the noise and distractions of our daily routines and focus more completely on hearing God’s voice. While we fast, we are reminded and become more aware of our dependence on God. By fasting, we also intensify our prayers by placing ourselves in a position of submission and often become more sensitive to hearing God’s voice. 

Fasting can take various forms, but here are 3 commonly suggested areas to consider:

• Food/Drink: Refrain from eating prior to the meeting. This could be as simple as skipping breakfast or your morning coffee, to eliminating key foods (sugar, carbs, etc).
• Digital: Remove your wearable tech, leave your phone turned off, ignore social media, or silence all devices.
• Routine: Skip your regular workout, reading time, appointment, etc instead use that time to prepare, pray or practice a different Spiritual Discipline.
• Talk to your group and communicate what you are fasting FROM and WHEN you plan to begin AND break your fast (ex: tonight after dinner, tomorrow morning only, after prayer experience, etc.). 

I pray that this message encourages and excites you as much for this week to come as it does me, but if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at sarooted@usw.salvationarmy.org

https://www.faithward.org/fasting-and-prayer-guide/