Few things are more important than spending time alone with God reading the Bible and praying each day. This is how we learn more about God, grow closer to Him, and strengthen our faith and understanding of Him. We see in scripture how Jesus often withdrew to spend time alone with His Father. In my own spiritual journey, I became a Christian when I was in 5th grade, but I did not experience major growth until I began having a daily time alone with God in high school. Quiet time is important! (which is why we start each day of CentriKid with it)
“Quiet time” may not sound that great to kids who do not enjoy sitting still for any period of time, and it sounds miserable to kids who do not like to be quiet. (In fact, that’s why we call it “Time Alone with God” at camp.) Between school activities and sports practices, teaching kids the importance of stopping for a little while each day and spending time with God should be priority in kids ministry. Explaining quiet time to kids is important; they need to know why we do it.
I explain it to kids this way:
Quiet time is basically a conversation between us and God. This is how we can learn more about him and grow closer to Him. Think about your best friend. Why are you close to him/her? It is probably because you have spent lots of one-on-one time getting to know each other and talking about everything. Our relationship with God is so much bigger and better than that! Like scheduling a daily phone call or a FaceTime call with your best friend, make time in your day to talk to God whether it is before you go to school or before you go to sleep at night. Spending time each day praying and reading you Bible is how you get to know God, and how your relationship with him grows deeper and deeper!
Ultimately, kids need to know that spending time praying and reading their Bible is extremely important. Before you explain this to kids, look at your own life and how much emphasis you place on your own quiet time with God. In this busy world, do you set aside time to grow in your relationship with God? Make quiet time an intentional part of your day each day!