This is part four of the series looking at the inclusion of Children & Young People in Worship – if you haven’t read the other posts (intro, 1, 2, 3), I’d encourage you to do so before you continue. this time taking a bit of a step back and considering the wider issue.
Having critiqued our current practice at Spurgeons, and considered some of the relevant issues and theology, I believe there are three possible options we might consider taking in our context (with a little adaptation, they may be relevant for others too).
Some might argue that I should consider the implications of any change before presenting and choosing an option. I disagree. Too often in my experience we discount options/actions because their implications are too hard/involved/expensive. We focus too much on practicalities (and why we shouldn’t do something) and not enough on what we believe is the right action to take. I think we should work out the right thing to do, and only then work to achieve it. I am fully aware that each option presented below will require work in order to implement them (much of which will probably fall to me), but I don’t want to allow that to deter me from taking the right action, simply because it involves more work.
And so to the options:
Option One
- fine tune the status quo
- retain the present slot
- refocus it to engage 5-16 year olds
- produce theme/series
- each week builds on the last
- provide guidelines to assist those preparing to lead it
- assess each talk and feedback to volunteer presenters
- ensure appropriate vocabulary for first part of the service
- ensure prayers are suitable for all (length/content/style)
- maintain appropriate pace to keep young ones engaged
Option Two
- change the nature of the ‘family time’ at the start of the service
- aim for all-age worship each week, prior to Junior Church groups
- introduce range of new songs suitable for children & young people
- allowing space for worship activities
- creative prayer, actions & movement
- engaging multiple senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell
- draw the children and young people into worship:
- ‘tell the next generation of God’s power & the wonders he has done’ – Psalm 78:4
Option Three
- young people join together (separate from adults) and have their own worship time
- similar approach to option two, but without the danger of alienating the adults
Before I reveal my personal view, let me analyse the options a little first.
Option One would be an improvement on where we are now:
- providing clarity for those delivering the talk and some guidelines to assist in preparation
- helpful feedback will ensure both consistent quality and encouragement/development to volunteers
- theme for series will provide direction for volunteers, assist with their preparation, whilst also ensuring progression of the teaching
- although aimed at children and young people, this would also be accessible and helpful to new Christians of any age
- the focus on appropriate vocabulary will assist in making the service more accessible
- positive:
- will build on the foundation we already have
- negative:
- doesn’t specifically address the need to encourage children to worship
Option Two would provide a marked change (gasp! change?!) and involve a great deal of work, both in implementation and on an ongoing basis:
- form a team to plan & lead worship each week
- need to invest in appropriate worship resources and developing team skills
- introducing the changes to the congregation
- being sure to communicate the reasons well (both theological & practical)
- weekly task of planning the worship time
- positive:
- enables children and young people to join the adults and fully participate in worship, following their example and learning from them
- the service will be more suitable for families
- negative:
- there is a danger of alienating the adults (to be discussed further in a future post)
Option Three is a radical step but I fear it may be a step too far, offering some of the benefits of Option Two whilst avoiding the main danger, but also introducing a significant problem:
- positive:
- makes worship more accessible to children and young people
- encourages them to participate more fully and express their worship
- the focus of children’s worship may make the church more appealing to families
- by separating the children from the adults you don’t run the risk of alienating adults by ‘dumbing down’ the worship time
- negative:
- children & adults don’t worship together
- children need to witness adults worshipping
- adults should model worship (in life and in services)
- children & adults don’t worship together
Conclusion
Having considered at length the options outlined above, I believe that we should strive toward Option Two, effectively transforming the worship time at the start of our service. I will have my work cut out in order to present the options and convince our fellowship that this is the right option for us, and, more importantly, that we can achieve it. If we agree that this is the way forward, the really hard work will begin when we attempt to implement it.
The Easy Path?
I’ve been leading our ‘family services’ for the last six years, and understand just how hard it is to change the format and atmosphere of a service. Whilst the content of those services has been aimed largely at the young people, often they have reverted to our usual style and format. Preparing services which engage young people requires more work than a regular service (even more so to engage children too!) but as I’ve said, that’s no reason not to do it if you believe it’s the right thing to do. If ‘hard work’ was a valid excuse, I doubt we’d bother with services at all. The time and effort we invest in preparing our services must be proportionate to the value we believe they have. If we believe it’s important to engage adults in worship, we put in the work on a weekly basis. That fact that we don’t currently expend any effort to engage our young people in worship on a weekly basis reveals how little value we ascribe to their worship.
I’d love to hear your views on the options above and the brief analysis of them. Do you have particular experience of them which would be of interest. Please keep the conversation going in the comments below.
The final couple of posts in the series will probably focus on the ‘holy grail’ or all age worship and good practice which will make implementing the change a success (mostly theoretical).
This is part three of the series looking at the inclusion of Children & Young People in Worship – this time taking a bit of a step back and considering the wider issue. [Image courtesy of BobWeasel]
Having explored the issue of the children’s talk a little and critiqued our current practice, I want to suggest that perhaps we could do away with the slot completely. At Spurgeon Baptist Church we currently have a very tokenistic approach to the involvement of children and young people in our worship: they are permitted/expected to collect the offering and (usually) expected to engage with the Children’s slot. Even assuming that we do the Children’s slot well, I can’t help but think there’s more to involving and engaging the young people during the first part of the service than that. As I’ve been reflecting on this area the message I’ve sensed most strongly is that whatever else we do for young people in our services (Children’s talk, junior church,etc) we must be encouraging them to worship God (see Matt 21:16). Sorry if that sounds too obvious – but I don’t think it’s something we do well, if at all, on a Sunday morning.
Some may argue that our service is already accessible to most ages, if they choose to engage. At times I think that’s a fair assumption – but only from an adult perspective. But if we were able to see the service through the eyes of a child/young person I think we’d come to a different conclusion, and we’d do well to heed Jesus words when he said: ‘Let the little children hcome to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven’ Matthew 19:14
So what is it about our services which hinders children & young people from worshipping God? At present the first part of the service is aimed at the adults with the the token kid’s bits tacked on. Often the language we use goes above the heads of the children & young people (and some of the adults too!); not specifically religious language, but language in general. This particularly applies to prayers, which are often long-winded, and unnecessarily wordy (see Matt 6:7). In our Church prayers are always led from the front – with no opportunity or encouragement for others to pray (I imagine this is an issue for young and old alike). The songs are hardly appealing to the young people, and certainly not the children. We read scripture which is relevant to the sermon, but rarely to the songs we’re singing or the children’s talk. We collect the offering, during which the service stops and everyone waits for the bags to be returned to the front – this actively engages only four young people, whilst the rest sit bored and fidgeting – but we feel good about ourselves because ‘the young people collect the offering’. (Aside: when so many are now giving via standing order, and therefore probably half the church simply pass the bag along with putting anything in, what message are we giving to the young people who collect the offering? That half the Church don’t give financially? That isn’t likely to lead to a healthy attitude to giving as they grow up! Rant over…)
What message are we sending about God when our church’s corporate worship excludes children & young people? Church immediately becomes a time when they don’t need to engage – perpetuating the myth of church as ‘boring’ (or perhaps they’re right {gasp} and it’s not a myth!). We run the risk of alienating them from attending Church – if their experience of worship is that it’s ‘for someone else’, they’re likely to vote with their feet as soon as they’re permitted to.
A slight aside to consider one aspect of all ages worshipping together:
In Matthew 21, as Jesus was entering Jerusalem we read that people welcomed him with shouts of ‘Hosanna to the Son of David…’, and the whole city was stirred up with people asking ‘who is this?’. This is a passage which we’re probably familiar with, as is the story which follows of Jesus cleansing the temple of money-changers and market traders. But read to the end of that particular passage and I believe we see a powerful side-effect of children witnessing adults worshipping. The Chief Priests and Scribes saw the amazing things Jesus was doing, healing the blind and the lame, and they noted the children crying out in the temple: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’. Whether or not these were the children of those who’d been worshipping Jesus on His way into Jerusalem is almost irrelevant. But it would appear that they witnessed their worship and are now copying them. You might question whether it was mindless repetition, but I don’t think the text supports that (‘crying out’ in the temple implies passion). These children had experienced the power of Jesus for themselves – they were present in the temple as he healed the blind and the lame, and their response was one of awe and wonder which led them to worship him, using a form of words they’d seen employed by others. The whole city was stirred up and people everywhere were asking ‘who is this?’. Then as they came to know the answer, they too worshipped Him, in ways they’d seen modelled by others.
It is vital for us to share the message of Jesus – but we mustn’t stop there. As others come to hear the message and meet Jesus for themselves (however simply) we must encourage them to worship. Part of that encouragement must be modelling worship well. That’s not to imply that we must all worship in the same way – but we all have to start somewhere. When we learn to speak we learn very simple words and sentences, often just repeating the phrases others say to us, and gradually as we grow in our ability and confidence we learn to form our own sentences. So it must be with our worship – and the worship of our children & young people.
I believe a different approach to the start of our service is called for. Whilst the children’s talk has its place, and with a little effort could be far more effective, the thing which is lacking from our ministry with children on a Sunday morning is not ‘teaching’ but ‘worshipping’. At present they attend the service and are given the choice of worshipping in a way which is aimed at adults, or opting out. Not only does Jesus say (quoting from Psalms) that the Lord ordains praise from the lips of children (Matt 21:16) but that the things of the Kingdom will be revealed to children (Matt 11:25). Not only do we have a fantastic Gospel to teach the children & young people with whom we have fellowship – we have a great deal to learn from them too! As we all worship together, not only can they learn from us, be we can also learn from them.
Questions:
- does this resonate with your experience?
- how would you critique this view?
- what other scriptural examples would you use to argue in favour of all-age worship?
This is part two of the series looking at the inclusion of Children & Young People in Worship – this time just a quick overview of the issue of segregation.
At Spurgeon Baptist Church it is our practice to spend the first part of the service with all ages present, before separating about half way through, with the young people leaving the service and heading into different age groups.
There appear to be three different approaches to the logistics of the Junior Church ‘hokey cokey‘ (in, out, etc). In brief, this involves Children and Young People:
- in at start of service then depart…
- positive: get to experience other people worshipping
- positive: experience ‘church’ together as a family
- positive: acts as an introduction when the leave Junior Church
- negative: sending them out can appear negative
- out from the start (never joining the main congregation)
- positive: appropriately targeted teaching & worship
- positive: a more relevant expression of church for them
- negative: never worshipping with adults
- out at the start but joining the congregation later
- positive: welcoming the younger ones into the Church
- negative: logistically more difficult
This is just a simple outline of the options and some positives & negatives of each – it is by no means exhaustive. Apart from spending the whole service together (traditional ‘family service’), can you think of any additional models to add? Do you agree or disagree with the positives/negatives as stated? Do you have some more to add? Leave your comments below.
The next post will have more to get your teeth into…
I’ve been tasked with reviewing the aim and focus of the ‘all-age talk’ or ‘children’s talk’ at the church where I serve as Youth Minister. We are a pretty conservative Baptist church with a fairly set form of service (affectionately known as a ‘hymn-prayer sandwich’). The Junior Church leave approximately half way through the service and head into their own groups for age-specific teaching. But before they go we have the mini-talk which is aimed at them.
For a few years there has been confusion over the title and aim of this talk. Some refer to it as the ‘children’s talk’ and argue that it should be aimed at the children (4-12 years?) with others calling it an ‘all-age talk’ which should be aimed at everyone present (0-90ish?). It was primarily this issue (the name and focus of the talk) that it is my challenge to resolve. But as I scratch the surface of the issue it feels very much like opening Pandora’s box.
Whichever understanding you have of its purpose, in reality the talk rarely hits the mark. Frequently too long, rarely engaging, sometimes indecipherable even to the most switched-on people present, regularly pitched nowhere in particular and occasionally seen as an opportunity to say something to the adult church that you’ve been wanting to say for a while but could never find the right place or time.
There is little doubt that the initial thought/aim was to make the first part of the service more interesting (you might even say bearable?) for the children & young people. I’m sure it was well intentioned – but we’re still a long way off achieving that. Our approach to involving children and young people is very tokenistic (we also ‘allow’ the young people to collect the offering). Clearly something must be done.
At present, at the very least (in my opinion) we need to:
- firmly establish the aim & focus of the slot
- provide training to volunteers on the rota
- produce guidelines & practical advice to assist volunteers in their preparations
- provide feedback to volunteers after each slot with the aim of helping them to improve (not to knock them down)
However, I think a far more radical approach is called for (gasp!). But I’ve said enough for now.
Over to you…
Do you have any thoughts/comments/wisdom to share? Please take a minute or two to describe how you engage children & young people in your services, and if you have any nuggets of wisdom to share – positive (‘this works well…’) or negative (‘here’s how not to do it!’).
This is the start of a series of posts around the issue of inclusion of children and young people in worship.
As I review the current practice at my church and seek to find appropriate developments, I will be blogging my thoughts, comments, concerns and questions in the hope that it will aid my reflection, help to document my progress and allow others to join the conversation and share their wisdom.
Proposed instalments:
- The Children’s Talk: Critiquing Current Practice
- Segregated for Worship
- Encouraging Children to Worship
- Possible Solutions: Options for Worship
- All-Age Worship: The Holy Grail
- Questions along the way
Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences, to disagree with me, and to join the conversation along the way…
Today I started reading Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen for the Worship & Spirituality module at CYM. I’m half-way through which for me is a record (ok, it’s a short book and fairly big text) and so far I’ve found it really inspiring and challenging. I’m looking forward to getting my head around it when brain-capacity allows. I don’t have time to write a review just yet but here are a few quotes which struck me:
‘Over the years, I have come to realise that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can, indeed, present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are a part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection.’
‘Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved”. Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our experience.’
‘What is required is to become the Beloved in the commonplaces of my daily existence and, bit by bit, to close the gap that exists between what I know myself to be and the countless specific realities of everyday life. Becoming the Beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of, talking about, and doing from hour to hour.’
‘When our deepest truth is that we are the Beloved and when our greatest joy and peace come from fully claiming that truth, it follows that this has to become visible and tangible in the ways we eat and drink, talk and love, play and work. When the deepest currents of our life no longer have any influence on the waves at the surface, then our vitality will eventually ebb, and we will end up listless and bored even when we are busy.’
‘The movement of God’s Spirit is very gentle, very soft – and hidden. It does not seek attention. But that movement is also very persistent, strong and deep. It changes our hearts radically. The faithful discipline of prayer reveals to you that you are the blessed one and gives you the power to bless others.’
‘There is little or no neutral territory between the land of the blessed and the land of the cursed. You have to choose where it is that you want to live, and that choice is one that you have to keep making from moment to moment. [...] I must tell you that claiming your own blessedness always leads to a deep desire to bless others.’
‘As the ‘blessed ones’, we can walk through this world and offer blessings. It doesn’t require much effort. It flows naturally from our hearts. When we hear within ourselves the voice calling us by name and blessing us, the darkness no longer distracts us. The voice that calls us the Beloved will give us words to bless others and reveal to them that they are no less bless than we.’
You can purchase the book from the Youth Ministry Bookshelf, along with all the other booksI have found useful from the reading lists throughout my degree.
I’ve just found this video which features a fantastic Easter poem performed by John Goode. It formed the end of the Good Friday service at Buckhead Church in Atlanta. I know it’s a little late for Easter (although we are still in the season of Easter) but the message of the poem is applicable year-round. The poem starts at 1:24 if you’re too impatient to sit through – and the words are below the video:
picture this:
the sins that we’ve committed
are the direct cause
of the pain that was inflicted upon Jesus
cos He saw
the consequences of our flaws
and actions,
and He decided to take the awful lashes in our stead.so that night you left the club
so messed up that you ignored your God and the danger
that you invited a stranger
into your body and your bed
your actions were the lashes that stripped the flesh
from Christ’s legs.and those late night fights
that led you to lift your fist against your wife
as she whispered, whimpered and begged for you to stop
but you would not until you had knocked some sense into her head
got Christ ripped across His back
until the skin blistered, ripped and bledand when you said congrats to your co-worker on her promotion
but in fact you tore her down behind her back
because you envied what she had
you added the punches, lunges and jabs
that split Christ’s upper lip
the upper cuts from the fists of the soldiers as they kicked
the Saviour in His ribsHe endures the crown of thorns for every time you watch porn
He takes up the cross for your every transgression in the dark
He went to Calvary for the sins of you and me,
the senseless whims that we believe are victimless crimes
but please believe the victim is Christ
and I hope you see
that every time you deceive
your company with your embezzlement schemes
a nail goes through His right hand, right then, and He screamsand every time you plot to meet your mistress
and cheat on the missus
you can hear Him yell as the nail punctures the precious flesh of His feet
as He screams for no more
He implores us to cease
but we ignore His pleas
find ourselves on these streets, searching for more than we need
gluttony, envy and greeed
feed the need and plant the seed
and indeed you can’t see
that man who can’t stand up
with his hand out, looking for a hand upand the irony is Christ is screaming ‘he is me’
and the nail goes through his left hand
because we ignored and left him to die hungry
on these streetsand on that fateful morning
when the cross finally stands and comes to rest
when His needs quake in its wake
and there’s a pounding in His chest
after everything we just put Chris through
for the sins of me and you
He looks to the heavens and says
‘Father, please forgive them for they know not what they do’but we do in fact
daily we nail Christ to the crossnow can you picture that?
Last week as part of my end of term activities I took part in a retreat day at the Carmelite Priory at Boars Hill in Oxfordshire. The day was led by Ian Adams, one of the CYM Chaplains, who used the story of Elizabeth, Zechariah and Mary to introduce us to some meditative practices. I arrived early to avoid the traffic and was able to enjoy the sun as it rose over the crisp, frosty fields. I rarely travel without my camera so was able to capture a few shots before everyone else arrived.
The day was divided into three sessions, each providing space for reflection and time to listen for God. During one session I felt inspired to draw (something I never do, and have no talent for) and was moved to reflect on what I’d drawn. A new experience for me, but one which I greatly appreciated and will continue to ponder the notes I made.
We divided into two groups for the final session and were encouraged to use Mary and Zechariah’s example and write either a magnificat or a benedictus based on our context/experiences/feelings. Here’s what we produced in our group:
Thank you God that everything is upside down;
that you don’t see things the way the world sees them.
You accept this generation, though others reject it;
others want to put them down, but you desire to raise them up.Where the world leaves young people empty, only you can satisfy.
Through your love there is so much more.As you draw them near to you we see them longing to be valued and eager to serve;
to accept others in the way that you’ve accepted them.We see your hope rising through this generation.
Thank you for the momentum which flows from and is sustained by your Spirit.Amen
It proved to be a really valuable time of reflection and refreshing – much needed preparation for the two mad weeks which have followed.
In our Home Group we’ve been exploring the Kingdom of God and trying to re-establish our vision of what ‘the Kingdom of God’ means. Just after our second session in which we looked at Matthew 7:21 (“not everyone who says ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom…”) I found the following ‘parable’ by Pete Rollins which really backed-up what we’d been saying:
In a world where following Christ is decreed to be a subversive and illegal activity you have been accused of being a believer, arrested and dragged before a court.
You have been under clandestine surveillance for some time now and so the prosecution has been able to build up quite a case against you. They begin the trial by offering the judge dozens of photographs which show you attending church meetings, speaking at religious events, and participating in various prayer and worship services. After this they present a selection of items that have been confiscated from your home: religious books that you own, worship CDs and other Christian artefacts. Then they step up the pace by displaying many of the poems, pieces of prose, and journal entries that you had lovingly written concerning your faith. Finally, in closing, the prosecution offers your Bible to the judge. This is a well-worn book with scribbles, notes, drawings, and underlings throughout, evidence, if it were needed, that you had read and re-read this sacred text many times.
Throughout the case you have been sitting silently in fear and trembling. You know deep in your heart that with the large body of evidence that has been amassed by the prosecution you face the possibility of a long imprisonment or even execution. At various times throughout the proceedings you have lost all confidence and have been on the verge of standing up and denying Christ. But while this thought has plagued your mind throughout the trial, you resist the temptation and remain focused.
Once the prosecution has finished presenting their case the judge proceeds to ask if you have anything to add, but you remain silent and resolute, terrified that if you open your mouth, even for a moment, you might deny the charges made against you. Like Christ, you remain silent before your accusers. In response you are led outside to wait as the judge ponders your case.
The hours pass slowly as you sit under guard in the foyer waiting to be summoned back. Eventually a young man in uniform appears and leads you into the courtroom so that you may hear the verdict and receive word of your punishment. Once seated in the dock the judge, a harsh and unyielding man, enters the room, stands before you, looks deep into your eyes and begins to speak,
“Of the charges that have been brought forward I find the accused not guilty.”
“Not guilty?” your heart freezes. Then, in a split second, the fear and terror that had moments before threatened to strip your resolve are swallowed up by confusion and rage.
Despite the surroundings, you stand defiantly before the judge and demand that he give an account concerning why you are innocent of the charges in light of the evidence.
“What evidence?” he replies in shock.
“What about the poems and prose that I wrote?” you reply.
“They simply show that you think of yourself as a poet, nothing more.”
“But what about the services I spoke at, the times I wept in church and the long, sleepless nights of prayer?”
“Evidence that you are a good speaker and actor, nothing more.” replied the judge, “It is obvious that you deluded those around you, and perhaps at times you even deluded yourself, but this foolishness is not enough to convict you in a court of law.”
“But this is madness!” you shout. “It would seem that no evidence would convince you!”
“Not so,” replies the judge as if informing you of a great, long forgotten secret.
“The court is indifferent toward your Bible reading and church attendance; it has no concern for worship with words and a pen. Continue to develop your theology, and use it to paint pictures of love. We have no interest in such armchair artists who spend their time creating images of a better world. We exist only for those who would lay down that brush, and their life, in a Christ-like endeavor to create it. So, until you live as Christ and his followers, until you challenge this system and become a thorn in our side, until you die to yourself and offer your body to the flames, until then my friend, you are no enemy of ours.” – Pete Rollins
I took this especially for a couple of close friends – they know who they are ;o)
