Sunday Worship in the Summer

In many churches some portion of the children’s ministry program happens during the worship service. When summer break comes the Sunday morning service is crowded with kids! If that’s your church, what do you do to help them engage in worship and offer their gifts in service?

With a little coaching and practice many kids are happy to read the Scripture text before the sermon, greet visitors and pass out bulletins, escort new families to the nursery, or assist the ushers in seating people.

Some churches put together weekly children’s bulletins based on the sermon text, songs that will be sung, and other elements of the worship service. I like to keep a stash of children’s Bibles and storybooks like the God Loves Me series by Pat Nederveld and the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones at the back of the sanctuary, for kids to use. We also try to incorporate more of the songs sung during children’s church, into our morning worship service, and the kids often help lead the congregation in learning the motions.

The harder trick is to help kids engage in the quieter, more reflective parts of the service. Encouraging them to raise their hand to offer a prayer request, or open the Bible to read along in the call to worship. That takes the personal attention of a parent, sibling, or caring adult to help them flip through the pages of the Bible to find the verse, or whisper a prayer request idea, or hold the hymnal open at kid’s eye level, and point to the words so they can sing along.

How does your church include the youngest worshippers? Please post your ideas below!

Snapshots of a Child-Friendly Church

At my little church, even the youngest kids usually join us in worship until after the singing. A few weeks ago, as one of the deacons was passing the offering plate, he came to the aisle where his family was sitting. His two-year-old son climbed out of his seat and reached for dad’s hand. Then his three-year-old daughter took hold of her brother’s hand, and together they walked down the isle, linked together like a little train, each one trailing behind the other, until they reached the front. Then the two kids stood with their dad, next to the other deacons as they prayed for the morning offering.

It’s easy to notice the things that should change in a church. As the children’s education coordinator, I’m sensitive to the times when kids are overlooked, left out, or underestimated. When I see that happening, I try to influence change.

But lately I’ve noticed that I’m not as vocal about times when kids are fully included and embraced. I might smile to myself and send up a prayer of gratitude, but I rarely seek people out to highlight the positive. We have a shared memory of two little ones walking down the isle with the deacons, but after church that day, I missed the chance to mention to anyone how special that moment was.

About a year ago I attended a workshop by Mark DeVries, author of Family Based Youth Ministry and Sustainable Youth Ministry. He talked about motivating leaders and the entire congregation by broadcasting snapshots of the church at its best. He said that he looks for opportunities to hold up a mirror to the congregation and say, “Look, this is who we are! This is what God is doing among us!” He watches what is happening in ministry and the life of the church, and then shares stories with parents, leaders, the council, and the ministry leaders.

These might be big or small stories—the leader who showed up at a student’s athletic event to cheer her on and get to know her parents. The adult who noticed that one of the kids always comes to church alone, and invited him to sit with their family. The child who welcomed the newcomer with a friendly warm smile.

I think Mark was really on to something. No one likes to be nagged and scolded about changing their attitudes or behaviors. But we like to hear good stories and good news. By sharing stories of the best of what’s happening in our church, we call out the best in each other. We are inspired to become more like the stories we hear!

What snapshots do you have to share? How can you let people in your church know about the good things God is doing in your midst?

Faith Modeling

What does it mean to be a faith model?

If the chorus of R.E.M.’s song “Shiny, Happy People” springs to mind, you’re not alone. Sadly, what we think of as faith modeling is often little more than pretending. Instead of reflecting the reality of life with God (which includes its share of ups and downs, as the psalmists testify), it’s tempting to put on a smile and pretend like everything is peachy all the time.

But kids don’t learn how to offer and receive forgiveness, or how to trust God through hard times by watching us put on a brave face. In their book, Celebrating the Milestones of Faith (Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2009), Laura Keeley and Robert J. Keeley write, “Children and teens need to see adult people of faith who are deepening their relationship with God. They need to know how adults pray. They need to see them in times of sorrow and doubt, and in times of sadness and joy. We cannot expect children to grow into mature disciples unless they see how other followers of Christ live a life of faith.”

This year for Good Friday, I attended a solemn service with a friend. On Easter Sunday my church was alive with joy and song in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. In-between the two services was Saturday, which turned out to be a pretty ordinary day for me. But it was far from ordinary for the first disciples. Imagine their despair and confusion in that time between Friday and Sunday—when they couldn’t yet see that the dawn would bring new hope, and they didn’t understand why Christ had died.

That lull exists in our lives, too. There are times when we’re right in the midst of the action—we see God’s hand at work, we sense God’s leading, we feel a close connection with Christ. And then there are times when we don’t understand God’s plan, we can’t see the way forward, or we feel the pain and shame of our failures. Can we really model faith for kids and teens if we still struggle like this?

We can if we don’t mind the company of people like Moses, David, and Job. Only Jesus can offer a picture of perfection. What we can do is demonstrate that hard times don’t disqualify our faith. We model what it means to have faith in a God who is bigger than our doubts, diseases, fears, and failures when we ask God the hard questions, when we pray the same prayers over and over again and wait for an answer, when we get help for an addiction, when we ask others to pray for us or with us, when we cry with someone who is mourning, and when we get away from the crowd every now and then to find refreshment in God.

We may actually model the essence of faith best when we don’t have all the answers, when we know our great need for God, and when we are open to the encouragement and wisdom of other believers.

Our kids face trouble too, and they need to know that God is there with them. They need to see that God’s Word still speaks to us in everyday situations, giving us guidance, strength, and conviction. They need to see us admit our mistakes and ask for forgiveness—because Christ’s forgiveness is strong enough to restore us to God and each other every time we fail. These aren’t always things that are taught in a lesson, but they are evident in our actions, our attitudes, and our prayers.

Faith modeling is simply about living our faith with kids—praying with them and for them, sharing conversations and stories about faith, and talking about how God is at work in our own lives.

I want to be able to say with Paul, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). But I identify more with Peter, who loved Christ imperfectly as he tried to serve him with all his heart. He walked on water with Jesus, he witnessed the transfiguration, and he preached boldly on Pentecost. He also denied Jesus three times and was forgiven and restored. That part of Peter’s life tells me something very important about God’s grace and about faith—it gives me hope that Jesus will hold onto me too, no matter what. And that he’ll somehow use both the shiny, happy times in my life as well as the weak, painful times to testify to his goodness and grace.

Sing Along Songs

“Let us sing the books of Moses, of Moses, of Moses,
Let us sing the books of Moses, for he wrote the Law.”

Believe it or not, these are the opening lines to a song I learned in college. The professor of Old Testament Survey passed out lyrics set to the tune “Did you ever see a Lassie” to help us remember the Old Testament books and classifications.

It gave us a good laugh, but it also worked. Whether you’re a 9-year-old at Sunday school or a 19-year-old at college, setting the books to song is still the best way to remember them—and the song selections keep getting better!

In a recent You Tube search I found three that I just had to pass along.

The first, from The Bigsby Show, has a tune that’s radio-worthy.


The Books of the Bible Rap by MarshPointProductions includes an echo that makes it easy to use with kids.


Finally, a version from Go Fish—always a favorite with kids!

Too Many Stories?

"I don't send my kids to Sunday School, because they already hear so many Bible stories. My kids hear a lesson at school, during children and worship, and again during their groups (such as GEMS, Cadets, etc.). It is just too much for my kids!"

It’s true that many stories swirl around in our minds, sometimes all jumbled together. Right now, when I close my eyes, my mind sees a flurry of images—the face of someone I passed in the hall a few minutes ago, the circle of friends from last night’s Bible study, the setting of the book I’m reading, a painting that recently caught my attention. Along with the images is the chorus from a Jars of Clay song I listened to this morning—“This is the one thing, the one thing, the one thing that I know . . .” With all of these snippets floating around in my mind, is there any room for another story?

Mine isn’t the only brain that’s swirling with stories. Characters like Blue, Dora, Arthur, Hannah Montana, Raven, Suga Mama, and Danny Phantom come in daily and weekly doses. Kids might see back-to-back episodes of the same shows from several different seasons, or several different shows in a given week. But, sequential thinking doesn’t begin until about the fourth grade, so this kind of jumping around doesn’t confuse kids. The star character is the connection between every episode.

The same is true of Scripture, but the stories of Scripture are true and lasting, with God at the center connecting them all. Our brains love this! They are always looking for connections—questioning whether new information is important and looking for ways to link with something we’ve already experienced or learned. According to Sarah Armstrong, author of Teaching Smarter with the Brain in Focus, our brains need to encounter each new piece of information multiple times and understand how it fits into the big picture in order to fully learn or memorize it.

If kids don’t remember every story they hear this week, that’s okay! They will be hearing these stories for the rest of their lives. And with every encounter they’ll discover more about God and themselves. Though they might not see all the ways each story fits together now, we can trust that in time the sequence will become clear, and the one big story of God’s redemption and restoration of the world through Jesus Christ will emerge as the heart of each episode.

In the meantime we can help kids get a glimpse of the big picture by talking about what the Bible means to us, by saying things like, “This story is from the Bible—a special book that tells us about God and about God’s plan for the world and for us.” Neurologist John Medina talks about the big picture—the schema—in his book Brain Rules. A schema is a system that organizes smaller details under broad categories. Schemas help us learn by grouping connected information—in this case, the multiple Bible stories our kids hear each week.

The God Loves Me series of Bible storybooks offers a wonderful Bible schema that links each story for preschool brains. They all begin with, “This is a story from God’s Book, the Bible. It’s for (child’s name), and it’s for me too.” The schema, “Stories from God’s Book, the Bible,” becomes a giant treasure chest in a child’s brain that opens up to receive each new story!

That little phrase, “It’s for (child’s name), and it’s for me too,” also does something very important when it comes to learning—it identifies value. This story is for ME! Things that personally connect to us, especially when they connect emotionally—with laughter or sorrow, surprise or excitement—are much more likely to find a home in our memory.

With each story we share we can help kids see the value by asking ourselves some questions: What will my kids relate to in this story? How will I draw them in to those aspects? What does this story mean to me? What examples can I share of how God is shaping me through this story? We can also pray that the Holy Spirit will work inside the brains of our kids, helping each story find a home among the neurons—a place of connection with their hopes, fears, dreams, questions, and everyday experiences.

Can there be too many Bible stories in one week? I don’t know. One thing I do know is that God meets us in the stories of Scripture, and I want my kids to meet with God every day of the week.