The prayer room, though it started quietly, became very popular. By the end of the week we were running out of space for all the post-its.

The most popular station was the ‘burdens’ station, where students were asked to write their burdens on luggage tags and place them in a suitcase to symbolise how God was carrying their burdens. Some burdens were predictable, such as school, homework and ‘late out to lunch’, but some were very personal as teenagers prayed for their families, sick relatives and future plans.

The other station which was very popular among the younger teens was the ‘Big Questions’ board: ‘If you could ask God any question, what would it be?’. Questions gave insight into what the kids were thinking about, serious issues such as war, sickness and ‘right and wrong’.

One of the teachers asked her religion class to write down some things they thought about the prayer room. The responses were very encouraging;

+ ‘It is a very relaxing and quiet place to pray.’


+ ‘I felt really close to God and I could have spent all day in there. When I read each thing it really made me feel so loved by God and I could feel the presence of God in the room.’


+ ‘It’s good the way you can get things off your chest.’


+ ‘In the Quiet Room, all my troubles just seemed to go away. Everything just was peaceful.’

The prayer room was given a warm welcome by the whole school, with the students’ only regret being that it had to be taken down after a week. Banbridge Academy are now planning for another prayer room in the school later on in the year.

For more information on Prayer Spaces in Schools in Ireland, please email Beth Laverty at beth@24-7prayerireland.com

(Original article on 24-7 Prayer Ireland website)

Posted by Phil

Phil Togwell lives in a large community house in Romford (UK) with his family (three daughters - Megan, Poppy and Angel, and one wife - Emma) and various visitors and pilgrims... exploring and experimenting with rhythms of prayer, mission, hospitality, life together. Phil is learning to cook, slowly. He likes curries, mountains, lengthy late-night conversations and reading books. He dislikes cats. Phil leads 24-7 Prayer's UK team and the Prayer Spaces in Schools team.