Still searching for ways to make worship more alive and vital for children, to truly include them in the worshiping community? If so, you're not alone. More and more congregations are recognizing the need to address and include these youngest members of our church families. On these pages you will find guidelines, strategies, and lists that may give you some new ideas about the wide number of ways in which adults can include children and teach them about worship.
CHILDREN'S SERMONS
In the last several years I've visited a number of different churches and heard a variety of children's sermons. Some of them were really good, even outstanding. But, unfortunately most were not. In fact, many of them failed miserably.
A number of factors contributed to this almost universal failure. In some children's sermons I heard, the person giving it talked down to the children. In others, the pastor used concepts that were far beyond the children's age level. Some children's sermons were filled with moralizing platitudes no self-respecting kid would ever sit still for. (Most didn't.) Other messages dealt with adult concerns, quite removed from the experience of children. Still others were little more than occasions for showing off the kids or the minister's sense of humor.
Clearly if my experience is any indicator, the preaching of children's sermons has fallen into a sorry state among us. In spite of the large number of readily available resources, both on children in worship and on the makings of a successful children's message, most of these sermons still fail.
Why? Probably because most pastors simply don't know where to begin or what's appropriate for the tone and content of children's sermons. If that sounds familiar, you may find some help in the following guidelines and strategies.
Guidelines for Good Children's Sermons
Gear children's sermons to the experience and interests of children.
When preparing children's sermons, try to remember what it was like to be a child. Talk to the children. Get to know them. Begin where the children are— with their concerns, instead of the concerns of adults in the congregation.
Gear children's sermons to the abilities and thought processes of children.
Refrain from object lessons in particular. They often require reasoning that is more abstract than most children, especially younger ones, can follow. If you use an object, use it as an illustration, not as a metaphor (the way Jesus used the flowers of the field to illustrate God's care, for instance).
Make use of stories.
Retell a Bible story, and let it go at that. (If the story is from the lesson for the day that's even better.) Don't feel obliged to give an interpretation. Most of the Bible stories you are likely to choose are quite capable of standing on their own. If all else fails, read a well-written children's story that exemplifies appropriate Christian values. Better yet, tell the story in your own words.
Call on the resources available to you in the congregation.
If your congregation has a professional church educator, use his or her knowledge and expertise. Consult with members who are school teachers and make use of their talent and experience too. And ask advice of members you know who are particularly effective parents. They can also be of great help. Encourage such persons to take their own turn giving the children's sermon too.
Strategies for Worshiping with Children
Paradoxically some of the most helpful strategies for improving children's sermons don't directly involve the children's sermon at all. These strategies have to do with the total worship service and the place of children in it. Such strategies are important because they undergird and support the children's sermon. They also help put the children's sermon in proper perspective by setting a positive tone for how children will be received in the whole service and not just at those moments that are particularly theirs.
Prepare children for participation in worship.
Use church school time to teach children music they will later recognize in worship—the Doxology or the Gloria Pa-tri, for example. Teach children other frequently used prayers and worship responses too. Older children especially should be encouraged to learn about worship and to understand why we do what we do in our services.
Try to make the whole worship service more "children friendly."
Expect children to regularly participate in worship and plan accordingly. Incorporate more movement, symbol, and color. Restore the old Reformed practice of ceremonially bringing in the pulpit Bible at the beginning of worship, for instance. Encourage choir processionals. Introduce the use of banners or other appropriate liturgical art, particularly art that the children of the congregation have helped to create. Also, become less dependent on the written word and use simple, repetitive congregational responses that are easy for children (and others) to learn and take part in. These ideas will help make more of the worship service inviting and interesting for children.
Most importantly, increase the participation of children in worship.
Instead of focusing all attention on children's sermons, find ways to include children throughout the entire worship hour. Ask them to hand out bulletins, light candles, share their musical talents, and make banners. Ask them to help clean up after church by picking up used bulletins for recycling, gathering up communion glasses, or taking articles that have accidentally been left to the lost and found box.
Particularly when paired with an understanding adult who will not take over, children can be very effective greeters. Older children also could be asked to take appropriate leadership roles: leading prayers, reading Scripture, or taking up the collection. The possibilties are limited only by the imaginations of worship leaders.
