Practicalities

Not sure why the entry page doesn't have new posts on it...oh! the refresh button!

Once you decide the purpose of your gathering and what matters, understand that no one said including children would be easy. Life gets a little more complicated when you include children. Including children may prove even harder than having a separate children's program. It may not look or sound like your traditional adult service. And some days you'll wonder why you're doing what you're doing, which is why you ask that "why" question first. Hopefully you turn to the scriptures. :-) Remember the Promised Land? Caleb? The giants? The promise is real but there are giants.

If you're half-hearted about succeeding, your chances for success dwindle.Either you, and the people you're working with, believe that including kids is a biblical direction and you're willing to see it through or not.

The biggest challenge is to engage children in what you're doing without dumbing down your service for adults. What's negotiable? What's non-negotiable (meaning kids need to rise to the challenge or sit quietly or take part in whatever way they can). You don't always need prescribed child-friendly learning activities.

Once you have your staff on board, how will you communicate your vision and purpose to parents? How can parents or caregivers learn to draw their children into what they're experiencing? What tools and direction do they need?

How will you communicate this vision with the rest of the congregation? They also have a role to play. You don't want to hear "I can't worship. I can't get anything out of the sermon anymore. Why come?" You want to hear, "God is really meeting us here " (us meaning adults and children).

Hopefully, the CM will be very present and involved. Look at each part of your gathering and the way it's designed. Who will this engage? Who will this not engage? Why? Can we change the language? Can we tweek it a little this way or that to draw in a wider age range without losing heart and substance? If you go back far enough through the blog you'll find alot of brainstorming, and even a few specific ideas. And to tell you the truth, if you read Parenting in the Pew (parenting a child through a tradtional service) you'll see that perhaps most of the success hinges on the ability of your parents to draw their children in. The author loved to worship and shared that with her children and other parents.

But this isn't just about kids. You're including children as an integral part of the larger community. Every "special group" and individual is an integral part of the larger community. You're looking for ways to extend hospitality, to include someone who isn't included. You don't want to include kids and lose someone else. This is why the congregation and leadership, (not just parents) need opportunities to catch the vision. On the other hand, you'll never please everyone, that's not the goal, either.

We grow up as the Body of Christ through that which every joint supplies (Eph 4:15-16). You're including children because children were there when Jesus ministered to the multitudes and when the disciples tried to keep them away, Jesus said, "No, let the children come."