Create a prayerful art installation in your church with these Prayer Doves for Peace. Ideal for all ages, these doves offer a simple prayer activity that the whole community can participate in.
Creating a Prayer Station:
Start by finding a welcoming area in your church where you can set aside a prayer table that's accessible for all ages & abilities. Lay out the Prayer Doves along with some pens & colouring pens/pencils. If you're unable to precut the doves beforehand, you could add some children's scissors & a bin to recycle the paper offcuts.
Invite your community to join you in prayer:
You could leave the prayer station for your congregation & any visitors to use, or you could extend the prayer invitation to those in your wider community, such as schools, care homes, uniformed organisations, & any local groups or shops. Simply print off the dove templates for them to use & arrange to collect their prayer doves at a later date.
Offering opportunities to pray in this way is particularly poignant for care home residents who are unable to get to Church. It's always moving to see their intercessions displayed alongside children's painted prayers.
Creating your Doves for Peace installation:
To create this art installation, you'll need a reel or two of transparent fishing line & sticky tape.
Tie the fishing line between pillars in your church or in an area where the doves can hang freely above head height. (Obviously, for safety reasons, the line needs to be well above people's heads & out of children's reach.)
Attach the back of the prayer doves to shorter lengths of fishing line using sticky tape, making sure each one is secure. We fixed 5 doves to each length, but you could add more or fewer depending on your space.
To hang the doves, tie each section to the fishing line between your pillars & secure it with a knot & sticky tape to prevent it from slipping.
If possible, leave a space between each section of doves; this helps create a greater impact. They'll also create beautiful shadows when the light hits them if they're spaced out.
Keep Praying:
When the art installation is in place, it's important to still leave a prayer station or a prayer area where visitors can create their own prayer doves, & be invited to either take them home or leave them on the altar. The art installation can act as a call to prayer & having a station there enables anyone to join in at any time.
