GAINESVILLE — Sit still ... relax your mind ... breathe deeply ... then close your eyes and think about God.
These are not typical requests for children and, moreover, it’s not typical that the children would actually comply.

But at the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, a group of 6 to 11-year-olds are hushed and relaxed during a class on Sunday evenings called The Way of the Child.

“I heard about (the class) through the Companions in Christ Network, which is an adult discipleship, spiritual formation program,” said the Rev. Carrie Veal, the minister to children and program leader at the church. “And I chose it because I realize that our kids weren’t learning how to do things like pray and communicate with God. I wanted to take them to a little deeper level that we can’t get to during Sunday school because there just is not enough time.”

The Way of the Child brings youngsters together each week to focus on ways to bring them to an enhanced awareness of God, according to www.upperroom.org/companions, the Web site for the Companions in Christ Network.

The 39 sessions are grouped in themes: God’s Love and Care, Prayer, Advent and Epiphany, Acts of Love, Lent, Easter, Parables and Meaningful Scriptures.

Each class begins with the children taking off their shoes as they enter the room, followed by a time for the children to discuss the subject of the day in small groups. Then there is a time of silence and being still.

“The first week we did that, they just couldn’t do it,” Veal said. “They were just so fidgety. The children, who a majority of them are 6, 7 and 8 years old, have learned how to sit, be still and be very quiet and not be distracted by anything else that is going on around them.”

The exercise encourages the children to close their eyes and relax their bodies so they can more deeply think about God and prayer.

“When you are still, that’s when you can most clearly hear God,” Veal said. “When you are rushing about and doing a lot you are distracted.”

After the time of silence and stillness, the children light a candle for other kids who may have missed that class. Then they are off to reflection stations: sand, gazing, world, art, journaling and reading.

“You can learn more about God than you can in a normal class,” said Katherine Anderson, 9. “It’s easier to learn and pray, and you can be quiet without distractions. (I like) the sand station because it is silent. I think about how God cares for me and how much he protects me in everything that I do.”

Chance Thoroman and Carlee Cosper both headed to the sand station first during a recent class.
“I think about how God made sand,” Thoroman said.

A sign posted at each station tells the children what to do as they contemplate God. The sand station’s instructions state: “As you are silent with God slowly rake the sand and arrange the stones in any pattern you choose. Think about God and you being together.”

The art station was popular with Will Gaydon, Elyse Metzdorf and Lindsey Sewell.

“Art is the most popular because it is more tangible,” Veal said. “When it is time for them to go to their reflection stations, they get to choose and they have a whole half an hour to do what they want without being told, ‘You have to go to this one or that one.’”

Gus Kaufman, Matthew Gaydon and Sawyer Jackson all said they loved the reading station. Kaufman and Jackson chose the Bible for reading material and Gaydon grabbed a book about the Lord’s Prayer.
“I just wanted to read the Bible verses because they are interesting,” Kaufman said.

In the gazing center the children are instructed to light a candle, sit comfortably, silence their body, breathe slowly and sit with God.

Veal said the remarks about the class from parents have all been positive.

“The parents call me and say their kids come home every night and tell them everything that they did,” Veal said. “And they are noticing a difference in the way that they are praying and that the kids are really enjoying it. And I think the reason for that is it is not quite as structured.”

This Sunday’s class will focus on the breath prayer. “It’s a one sentence prayer that you can say in one breath,” Veal said. “A breath prayer is when you think of a name for God then ... you imagine God asking you, ‘What do you want from me?’ Then you make a prayer out of that.

“I’ll give you an example from the book. You could say that you want peace and the name you are going to call God is just God, and the breath prayer would be ‘Let me know your peace.’

Veal said she can’t wait to see how the children handle the task.

“The first time I did a breath prayer it is very hard to do because when we are praying we think we need to say a lot, and that is not really the complete point of prayer,” she said. “One of the main points of prayer is to see what God has to say to us, so a breath prayer forces you to narrow it down to one thing.”