Practical Suggestions For Children In Worship

This article presents dozens of practical suggestions for encouraging and teaching children to worship and for including children in regular worship life of the community. These suggestions pertain to every aspect of the worship experience, including the worship environment, music, prayers, and gestures.

General Areas of Concern Any program of worship education will need to have several areas of focus. The content of worship can be taught to children in some manner regardless of age. The preschooler experiencing the season of Advent for the first time can feel the sense of expectation, sing some of the songs, and learn the names of the major characters in the Advent drama. Each time Advent is approached thereafter, new layers of understanding and participation can be added. We as Christians never outgrow our potential for perceiving new meaning during the Advent/Christmas season. The same is true for other worship concepts. First, let us look at some of the content areas of worship education, and then let us suggest some organizational ideas for implementation. A Special Sense of Time. In order to appreciate the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, it is very helpful for the child (indeed, for all of us) to relive that life and ministry in a systematic fashion. The Christian year is such a tool. One of the important aspects of a child developing cognitive skills is that of a sense of time. Understanding and reliving the Christian year, each year offers the child an organization and experimental basis for relating to Jesus Christ as a person and friend. Without the Christian year, the events and teachings of Christ become a series of episodic activities that lack cohesive structure and intent. We weaken the message of Jesus Christ by not leading the child to an understanding of this special sense of time. A Special Sense of Place. Children identify worship and their understanding of God with the church building, especially in the preschool and early elementary years. While adults can conceptualize worship at any time and at any place, children live in a concrete world, where such abstract ideas do not have any relevance or significance. Church buildings exist to promote a variety of ideas and feelings, including a historical tradition, fellowship, ministry to the community, and worship. Naming the parts of the sanctuary and explaining their function should be a part of the worship education. Developmentally, the child will be much more at home if he understands the place of worship. There will be time later to expand the child's concept of where God is and where we might worship God. A Special Sense of Order. Children need to learn why things are done the way they are in worship. How is a service organized? Where can the child participate in the service? What are the different moods expressed in the service? Why are certain words said (rites) and certain actions done (rituals)? The words, actions, and symbols of a worshiping congregation are unlike those of other gatherings and need to be explained. A Special Sense of Community. The worshiping community gathers to praise God, to confess, to hear God's Word, and to go from that time of worship to share what it has experienced. These are different reasons from any other grouping of people that are a part of the child's life. Children need to understand worship so that they may more fully appreciate this special community of which they are a part. These are some broad ideas for worship curriculum for children. There are many specifics to be answered, but it is important that these areas, at least, be covered. Specific Suggestions for the Child in Worship Preparing Childen For Worship (1) Make arrangements to acquaint the children personally with ministers and worship leaders. (2) Give the children a tour of the sanctuary, including the chancel area, nave, narthex, and the furniture used in worship, including the pulpit, lectern, communion table, baptistry or baptismal font, organ, etc. (3) Teach the children to use the hymnbook, including how to find hymns, read stanzas from the hymnbook, read responsive readings, etc. (4) Learn the basic hymns used in the church's worship. (5) Learn songs and responses that are usually memorized by the congregation, e.g., Doxology, Lord's Prayer, Apostles' Creed, etc. (6) Learn key terms associated with worship.

"¢ Musical terms: prelude, introit, anthem, offertory, hymn postlude, choral response, gradual, antiphon, psalmody, voluntary, etc.

"¢ Types of prayers: invocation, morning prayer, prayer of confession, prayer of adoration, prayer for illumination, offertory prayer, benediction, collect, etc. "¢ Other liturgical acts and terms: passing the peace, Lord's Supper, Communion, Eucharist, baptismal call to worship, Old Testament and New Testament Lessons, etc.

(7) Encourage the children to write prayers of various kinds, e.g., prayers of praise, thanksgiving, confession, dedication, etc.

(8) Introduce the children to the meaning of Christian symbols.

(9) Introduce the children to the Christian year by preparing banners, singing hymns, and using other worship aids that reflect the character of each session. (10) Prepare the parents for involving their children in worship through special seminars or classes. Topics might include the following:

"¢ How to help your child during worship;

"¢ Introduce your child to those around him in worship; "¢ Singing hymns and responses at home; "¢ Praying with the child at home; "¢ Involving the children in home worship that reflects the various seasons of the church year, e.g., a home Advent wreath; "¢ Learning a hymn-of-the-month at home; "¢ Reflecting on the worship service at home with the child after each service; "¢ Looking over the order with your child before the service, anticipating what is to happen.

Encourage parents to sing and respond actively as a model for the child; e.g., sit closer to the front of the sanctuary.

The Child As Congregational Participant (1) Involve people that the children know in worship leadership, including church school teachers, choir leaders, parents, children's ministers, etc. (2) Involve family units as liturgists in worship. (3) Use more stories or a more narrative approach to the presentation of Scripture and biblical events, as well as in sermons. These stories can be sung, as well as spoken. Many hymns stress a narrative approach to the life of Christ or other biblical characters. (4) Use sermon illustrations that cite children as examples. (5) Use illustrations from children's literature during sermons. C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are good examples. (6) Look for ways to allow children to participate in the sacraments. While this is not the place to argue for a particular approach to children and the sacraments, each tradition can decide what points allow for more participation. One possible substitute for the sacraments that is more inclusive of children is to develop the idea of the agape or love feast, which is a family meal used by the early church and carried on in traditions such as the Moravians. The Presbyterian hymnal, The Worshipbook, has a suggested order for a love feast. (7) The use of simple dramatizations of biblical/historical figures in costume doing monologues can add to the child's experience in worship. (8) Use litanies and responsive readings that single out children as a participating group. (9) Include the concerns of children in prayers, as well as the concerns of adults. (10) Developing worship guides for children can play a major role in improving the child's involvement in and comprehension of the worship experience. The following is a list of options to choose from in preparing worship guides for children:

(a) Pre-worship checklist of things to look for in the up-coming service, e.g., worship leaders, themes, hymns needed, symbols used, Scripture lessons needed, etc.

(b) Hymn bookmarkers for hymns to be used. (c) Bible bookmarkers for Scripture to be read. (d) Inclusion of texts that the congregation usually knows by memory, e.g., Lord's Prayer, Doxology, Gloria Patri, Apostles' Creed, etc. (e) Litanies and responsive readings. (f) Space for writing prayers. (g) Puzzles and games that reflect on the content of the sermon and Scripture lesson, or the nature of the particular season of the Christian year. (h) Space for guided drawing that reflects the theme of the service. (i) Meanings of words used in worship that may be difficult to understand. (j) Texts of choral or solo music. (k) Graphics and pictures that illustrate a particular section of the service or use various Christian symbols. (l) Background on the worship leaders that might be of interest to children. (m) Information on hymn writers or background on how certain hymns were written. (n) Elements that personalize worship for the child, e.g., "?What can you offer to God??" or "?The body of Christ broken for [child's name].?" Children As Worship Leaders (1) Use children or family units for greeting and for preparing the sanctuary for worship, e.g., helping with envelopes, pencils, bulletins, inserts, flowers, banners, etc. (2) Have children sing for those events that they cannot participate in directly, e.g., Communion, baptism, parent-child dedication, ordination, dedication of teachers and other church leaders, etc. (3) Use children to read Scripture lessons or involve children in a reader's theater presentation of Scripture. (4) Use children to teach the congregation a new hymn. (5) When using children to sing anthems, always stress the function of what they are to do, rather than the performance aspect of their involvement. (6) Have children write and lead prayers and litanies suitable for worship. (7) Place special children's musical presentations in a worship service, rather than a performance context. Children And The Applicaiton Of Worship (Worship in Practice) (1) Bringing food, clothing, toys, etc., as a part of the child's offering to God. (2) Visiting shut-ins, hospitals, nursing homes with music and Scripture for those who are ill or unable to attend worship. (3) Participate in the sharing of the gospel in Scripture and in song in malls, in shopping centers, and in areas that demonstrate differing cultural and socio-economic situations. (4) Participation in cleaning, decorating, and beautification projects around the church and for those who are unable to do these for themselves. (5) Sending cards, letters, pictures, etc., to those who are unable to attend worship or for those who represent the church or denomination in mission positions. A Program of Worship Education Any program of worship education needs a philosophy of implementation. This philosophy of implementation needs to be consonant with the content you wish to teach and the nature of worship you wish to communicate. For example, if you wish to teach that worship is an inclusive activity involving the whole family, it is best not to use an approach that takes children out of worship every Sunday. A more consistent approach would be to develop a format that allows children to participate actively in worship at least part of the time. The following are some general suggestions for enacting a program of worship education. (1) Invite other church programs to share in the responsibility for teaching some of the tasks of worship. For example, the children's choir program might teach specific hymns as well as the use of the hymnal. The church school program might sing one or more of the hymns to be used later in the worship service. (2) A modified children's church program might be used for a part of the year that allows children to learn the vocabulary of worship, practice some parts of the worship service, and, most importantly, create worship experiences for themselves. Then the children could be brought back into the worship service during special seasons of celebration, participating more fully and with greater understanding. When the children are involved in worship, those adults whom the children trust and know should be used as worship leaders as well. (3) Form a committee for coordinating children's worship education among various church organizations and for drawing up children's worship guides with the help of the ministers. (4) Provide activities and materials that will aid parents in the task of worship. These might be included on a weekly basis in the children's worship guide. Suggestions for family worship might also be a part of family Advent and Lenten devotional guides meant to be used at home. Special family services could be a part of the church tradition that involve children in special and more active ways, e.g., Thanksgiving. These may be held in other areas of the church to allow for greater flexibility. Worship education at the church will never have the impact it should, unless the family practices some kind of worship preparation and experiences worship at home. Involving children in the worship life of the church should be an adventure. Most adults will appreciate the freshness and vitality that children can bring to the occasion. Some will find the children's involvement distracting and perhaps offensive. No prophetic activity will meet with unanimous support, but the ground work can be laid in a careful manner to help to ensure as broad a base of support and involvement as possible. You will only learn by experimenting and worshiping together.