January 17, 2007
children's ministry 101
As some of you know, I have recently stepped into the role of children's ministry coordinator at my church, The Wheatland Mission. Our church is still fairly small, so it's not a huge job, but it's keeping me busy. It's been almost 8 years since I worked in children's ministry, other than the occasional filling in for a teacher on a Sunday morning. I've been doing a lot of reading and talking with others in children's ministry and I'm finding that a lot has changed! With the new emerging church movement, there's a lot of changes in the way children's ministry is viewed and practiced. One that has been on my mind a lot lately, and that our church is dealing with, is the role of children in the worship service. We have been incorporating the elementary children into our worship services more often and there's been some really cool things that have come with that, but also some bumps and bruises as we discover what works and what doesn't. Since many of you who read this blog are parents with kids in children's ministry at your own churches, I'm curious what your thoughts are on this topic. Anyone want to share?
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3 comments:
Our church (www.riverlakeschurch.org) is a small groups based church. We go to Worship service while our kids go to Sunday School. Children are more than welcome in the "big church", but there is really nothing there for them. It would be nice to have children somehow incorporated into the worship service somehow. The kids do love their Sunday school classes and they do a great job of keeping them interested and getting them excited about Jesus.
Thanks Becky. You're my faithful responder :) This book I'm reading challenges the idea of separating the children from their parents when families enter the church. Maybe we need to change our worship services so that parents and children can worship together...otherwise we risk setting up an environment where children learn that church is about fun and the worship services are for adults only and don't apply to them. Maybe this is part of the reason why kids leave the church as they grow older, because they miss the fun and don't know how to incorporate in the adult world of church. I'm not sure....just some thoughts.
Hey Kelly,
Our church only has nursery for kids up to 2 and has a story time during the sermon only for 3 and 4 years old. Children are encouraged to be in the sanctuary the whole time though and amazingly there are few children who disrupt the service because they learn from an early age to participate in the service and to be quiet when necessary. I love it and keep Corban with me through all the praise and worship and put him in the nursery just for the sermon (we are both happier that way).
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