Music and Sound Effects

Background Music

Generally, I prefer to have some light/ambient worship music in the background. Usually, I just use a playlist of slow worship songs. It's usually just an ipod with speakers or small alarm clock stereo.

It's important that the music is not too loud and also that the music tempo is not too quick. Instrumental tracks are good as well. The music doesn't necessarily need to be heard from the entire room. They can go closer to the stereo if they want it louder or farther if they don't want to hear it. Also remember to put the stereo somewhere hidden but also easy to turn on/off.

Sound Effects

If the room has a waterfall prayer station I usually also have water sound effects playing as well. You can download them pretty easily. If you don't have 2 stereos, sometimes we use a real portable water fountain to make the sound effects which is nice as well.

If you are doing a garden type prayer room, it's nice to have some bird sounds etc as well. If you are doing a lighthouse, maybe seagulls and ocean waves. I think you get the idea.

Just make sure it's not too loud and that it blends with the worship music well. The repeat loop is something to consider too. If the loop is too short and there is a distinct seagull for instance, it could get annoying for people who spend lots of time in the room. So keep the volume down and get a longer sound track if possible or use multiple tracks that cycle.

Live Worship

It's great to have live worship in a prayer room. Sometimes we leave an acoustic guitar there for people to play. There are some caveats though.

  1. If the room is too small, don't do it. If the room is huge, you could have continuous worship which is super cool but hard to organize. You'd need a schedule and coordinate teams.
  2. Another thing people do is schedule a specific time for a worship team. They put signs up so people visiting the prayer room will know when to come or avoid if they want privacy.
  3. If you leave a guitar, djembe etc, put instructions next to the guitar to be respectful and limit play time. Say 20 mins. It can be quite disruptive/distarcting if someone is too zealous or maybe just learning how to play guitar.

All that being said, there nothing like worshipping with a small group of people who have all been prayer and spending time with God for the past few hours. Nothing like it. Amazeballs.