Kids in Big Church
What a joy it will be to gather in person for the first time in 3 months. I expect our time together will be full of smiles, laughter, and sweet fellowship!
As mentioned in our Re-Gathering Email, children’s ministry will not be available for the month of June. This means that all kids will be a part of the corporate gatherings! I don’t know about you but I think this will be a joyous sight to see! While it will be a joyful sight to see, I am not unaware that for some of you this may be the first time you have your kids with you during service.
For this reason, I wanted to provide some encouragement for how to approach the next three Sunday’s with your kids!
CULTIVATE EXCITEMENT ABOUT CHURCH
As parents who are excited to go to church once again, how powerful would it be to leak that excitement into our kids as well! Undoubtedly, many of them are already excited to see their friends again. All the more incentive to add fuel to that fire by allowing our genuine excitement to increase theirs.
There are many ways you can do this. One way is to create a countdown of the numbers of days till Church (i.e., 5 days till Church, 4 days till Church, 3 days till Church, etc.). Another way would be to pray with your children at the dinner table about Church. Pray about the sermon, pray about the singing, pray about joyful conversations we will have. You could even have the kids pray for some of these items. By doing this, we are modeling for them a proper longing for the corporate gathering!
There are many other things you can do. Be creative and have fun!
COMMUNICATE EXPECTATIONS FOR CHURCH
As we approach each Sunday we should do our best to set our kids up to win. Thus, it is helpful to clearly state our expectations for our kids. Clear and age-appropriate expectations will keep our kids from wondering what we expect of them during the service. Here is a simple framework to use with your kids: Behave-Follow-Listen.1
Behave: Explain to your child(ren) that we behave well during Church. We exercise self-control and respect for others so that everyone, including your family can worship through song, study, and giving.
We sit upright and keep our belongings and hands to ourselves. We try not to wiggle.
We potty before and after the service, not during. (This is on us as parents to do before service begins)
If we must speak to dad or mom, we whisper. Or, if you have taught your child to do something different to get your attention (e.g., placing their hand on your hand), this would be an excellent time to reinforce this.
Follow: Explain to your child(ren) that we follow along during church. As a family, we do what everyone else is doing.
We stand when others stand (sit, pray, sing, greet, give, etc.). It is important to work during this time to help your child meet these expectations. Help them to participate in what is going on.
Share your lyrics sheet with them. We will sing these three songs this Sunday (Doxology, O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer, and All Glory be to Christ). A neat way to have your kids begin to learn these lyrics is to play the songs in the car or at home over the next couple of days.
As scripture reading happens, run your finger across the verses while it is being read.
Let them drop the offering in the bucket. All in all, be a model for them during this time.
Listen: Explain to your child(ren) the importance of listening during the sermon. Explain that the sermon is God’s way of speaking to His people. Explain that the pastor is a person God has put in authority to teach us God’s truth. This is a perfect time to give your child an age-appropriate assignment to help and encourage them to listen.
For elementary kids, use the “Kids Sermon Notes Binder” we have made. These will be available for free this Sunday.
For younger kids, have them draw a picture of the pastor preaching.
Have your kids keep a tally mark count of a repeated word in the sermon. Hint, some keywords for this week's sermon are "Faithful, Church, and Promise."
Set aside some time to review what they wrote with them. This could be done on the car ride home, at the dinner table, or maybe over ice-cream after Church :)
Question: What if my child is an infant?
Answer: We will have some new, basic, and noise-free toys for our youngest children. If you already have your own special “church-only” tote that is filled with a kids Bible and noise-free activities this would be a great time to bring them.
CELEBRATE WINS AND DISCUSS ADJUSTMENTS
The beautiful thing about having clear expectations is that they help to make debriefing with our kids simpler. Take the time to celebrate the things that met the communicated expectations. Also, take the time to discuss with them how they could grow in an area next week.
What a great opportunity we have been given in this season to show our kids the beauty of corporate worship. Undoubtedly it will be a learning time for all. But let me encourage you to stay consistent, persevere, and have fun all the while teaching your kids to cherish the Church and the corporate gathering!
1)The framework of Behave-Listen-Follow is adopted from a blog written by Jen Wilken titled Big Church for Small Kids. I have adopted the framework but modified to fit our Church.
