Beyond Cotton Ball Sheep

In the summer months, all children over age 2 remain in the sanctuary for the full worship service at Smithfield UCC. In many denominational traditions, and in many regions of the country, inviting the children to be present for the entire worship service is not a special, seasonal event — it’s simply what’s done.  The kids are expected to come to church, sit quietly with their families, and learn to worship. It’s worth noting that many of these churches have worship services that last much longer than the 50-70 minutes that we average each week. Amazingly, the children live to tell the tale.

Among mainline churches in the Northeast, though, children often leave the worship service after the first few minutes to attend Sunday School, to play on the playground, or to participate in other kids-only activities. Sometimes — as at Smithfield during the school year — we offer these programs for kids during the worship hour to give the children more age-appropriate ways  to worship and learn. But sometimes we send the kids out because we just don’t want them with us anymore. We think they’ll interrupt the serenity of the sanctuary by squirming or chatting. We’re afraid that they might speak aloud what many adults are probably thinking: “I’m BORED! When can we go home?”

Jesus, of course, welcomed little children, and that’s what we ought to do in worship. But we’re not Jesus, and offering a real welcome to kids is easier said than done. It’s true that kids can be disruptive (I have a vivid memory of throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of worship when I was about five … sorry, Mom) and it’s true that many sermons, prayers, and solos are not calibrated for a child’s attention span. Good worship can be very accessible to kids, but it need not always be — adults deserve to hear complicated sermons and long Bach fugues once in a while. (This issue is the topic of more than 30 comments on a recent PeaceBang post.)

The best solution to the question of children in worship takes a serious commitment from family members: parents or guardians need to make extra effort to work with their kids during the service — not to keep their kids quiet, but to help their kids learn what worship means. This site from Central Presbyterian Church in Baltimore offers a great list of ways to do that: questions to ask, ways kids can participate, and strategies for keeping focus. But, as the site notes, even with the best family guidance, kids’ attention is going to drift during worship, and that’s where the worship bags come in.

At Smithfield, kids borrow a worship activity bag each week from the ushers as they enter the sanctuary. At the start of last summer, I had the children decorate plain canvas bags with drawings of their favorite Bible story, using fabric markers. (Note: use smocks when working with fabric markers, and beware: they have an amazing ability to find their way onto kids’ Sunday clothes. Sigh.) I think that’s Zacchaeus in the tree in the bag at left.

I put two books in each bag, swapping them out for new titles each week. We don’t have a terrific library of kids’ books at Smithfield, although there are a few good ones here and there — mostly we have assorted mass-produced Bible story picture  books like the ones at right. They’re not too offensive, but not very memorable either. I would love to make an investment in new, high-quality books on faith for kids, but I know our budget won’t allow for that this year. (Got suggestions for books we simply must buy? Share them in the comments!)

The next ingredient is a clipboard. The clipboard prevents hymnals and pew Bibles from being used as hard surfaces for writing, keeping errant crayon lines far away from them. Plus, kids think clipboards are fun for some reason. Beats me. They can be purchased for cheap in packs from office supply stores.

I tuck children’s worship bulletins (one for ages 3-6 and one for ages 7-12) into the clipboard. We download and print these from ChildrensBulletins.com, to match the text that will be preached on that day. The bulletins for the lectionary text come straight to my e-mail inbox, but when we go off-lectionary, I can go to the Website to choose a different design. The activities include word puzzles, hidden pictures, secret codes, and matching games.  Thankfully, there’s not a word-find among them. (Nothing is less educational than word-finds!) Though the bulletins do not use inclusive language for God — something I try to do — they also don’t push any particular theological perspective too strongly; they’re pretty solidly rooted simply in the texts.

Underneath the children’s bulletins, kids find a coloring page that also matches the text of the day. (See this earlier post for more about coloring pages.) If I can’t find a page I like, I make my own; recently, when the text was Jesus’ return to Nazareth, I wrote something like “In today’s Bible story, Jesus visits his hometown. Draw a picture of your home here” at the top of a blank page. The back of the coloring page doubles as a sheet of blank white paper, which some kids use for their own drawings.

Two sheets of construction paper also provide ample room for drawings, writing, and games of tic-tac-toe. I try to use two contrasting colors of paper, since as any child will tell you, some colors are simply better than others.

What to use for all this coloring? Well, a bag of crayons, of course! In a fit of organization, I separated our baskets of assorted crayons into Ziploc bags with one each of all the essential colors. After all, I well remember what it’s like to wind up with all orange and brown when what you really need is purple and black.

And for the piece de resistance, I enclose a simple craft kit or game — a different one each week. I spent about $50 at Oriental Trading Company to supply us for the whole summer. You get what you pay for, but most of the items I ordered should be good for at least a few minutes of fun. Shown here is a cross ornament; when scratched with the stick, bright colors appear under the black coating. Other activities have included color-your-own puzzles, magnetic solitaire games, slide puzzles, and foam bookmarks.

How does your church include children in the worship experience? If you use worship bags, what do you include in them? I’d love ideas for how to make our bags more exciting and more closely connected to each week’s theme, so please share.