Children and Worship

Last Sunday I was blessed to have several children at church. The last congregation where I led worship rarely had children attend, and almost always they were visiting grandchildren. I never skipped children’s time, and we had fun, but you really can’t replace the presence of the chronologically young.

We know that Jesus welcomed children even when the disciples wanted them sent away. We know that children were important to Him and seen as the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So we should all be thrilled when children are in our midst and be ready to learn from their unique perspective. We should be taking notes at the wonder they express, the simplicity of their responses, their ability to be in the here and now. We should all be learning how to reconnect with our inner child and our child-likeness.

At the same time, church is often far from the experience of children. They tend to be used to technology, to constant stimulation and entertainment, and to stress and anxiety in daily life. They are losing the ability to occupy themselves without external stimulation, to find solutions through play, and to engage with the actual world instead of a virtual one. Parents who work in Silicon Valley pay to send their kids to private screen-less schools. They know the addictive and brain-impacting realities of the products they sell to the masses and that are targeted at kids.

How do we address these realities? We know that the church is meant to be an amazing place of safety and refuge for people of all ages to nourish their souls, find life purpose and hope and peace, and to be transformed into who their Creator wants so much for them to be. It can be tempting to succumb to the culture and to try to mimic it in our worship and programs. It can be tempting to try to compete with all the other things going on and to get on the treadmill of always being exciting and stimulating and filled with technology. I actually did that for a while.

But we can never truly fill the endless addiction for dopamine - the rush of that next exciting thing to watch, the ping on our phone of a notification, the flashing characters in a computer game or app. We shouldn’t try to compete. Instead, we should attempt to do what the church does best - introduce people, and children especially, to Jesus: the One who calms the raging sea and the storms outside and within, the One who has all the time in the world to listen to our story (a story He already knows but wants to hear from us), the One who includes absolutely everyone and is magnetic in offering healing, transformation and identity.

How do we do this with little people? Carefully, and by constantly reviewing how what we say and do in worship includes or excludes them. We mirror the welcome that Jesus offers children - warm hospitality, patience, and joy in who they are at the stage they are at. We provide supports to parents to help them teach the faith to their kids and normalize it in daily life. We teach about why we do what we do in worship and allow opportunities to grow worship skills. We recognize our own need for Jesus and share about why He and the church and worship are important to us. We ask children to share what they are thinking and learning and honour their stories and experiences. We live out our faith intentionally and make sure that everyone in our church feel safe, respected and important to the family.

As I adjust to leading worship in a new place, I celebrate that parents are making the effort to bring their kids to church. I celebrate that there is noise and activity and wonder on display. I celebrate that the whole congregation has the privilege of speaking into young lives about why faith is such a precious gift. I thank God that I had a congregation to lead me into the faith and now I can share it with others.

May we never take for granted the privilege of living and sharing our faith with the children among us!