Children in worship thougts

One thing that having been on staff as a Christian Educator and having taken CE classes in seminary that I have given some thought to is the ideas surrounding children in worship. In this thinking I try not to forget my worship experiences as a child and become one that says even thought I did ______ you should do __________. In the past I might have stated my opinions on this topic as this is the way it should be, but find my self more open minded and willing to consider various view points on this.

So with that background where do we start the discussion about children in worship? I think the first basic question is how do we view children and their role in worship? I heard a story once about a pastor who one Sunday when he was not preaching wanted to view worship through the eyes of children. He sat on the ground instead of on a pew to see what it is like to watch worship when you can not see over the person in front of you. He also crawled around on his knees to look at things like door knob heights, water fountain heights, etc..... I wanted to do this some Sunday but never had the courage to do it and deal with the questions about what I was doing.

I also remember at one church I attended that on certain songs a couple of the little girls would dance in the aisle, the Pastor included them in a worship service at least once after this occured a few times. This church also had complaints at one time about kids being a distraction in worship and some wondering why parents didn't teach their kids on how to "behave" in worship. I have faint memories of the first church I grew up in of one family of kids running in the sanctuary during worship.

I have not even got to the children's message ( sermon) yet and look at the possible things to discuss in terms of children in worship. What about activity bags or scribble paper for kids in worship, kids helping usher or read something during worship, what about singing in a kids choir or a kids bell choir. What ages should the kids be in the service for part of the service, and then for all of the service? What should kids do during the service if they are not in the sanctuary during worship?

As I write and come up with questions I wonder if I should answer my questions or just leave them out there so I do not give my bias to how churches should answer these questions. While I ponder this I will address the children's message ( sermon).

First I know from my classmates in seminary that few enjoy or are prepared when they are given the responsibility for this part of the worship service. Many I knew that had done their year long internship commented on how nervous they were when they did their first children's sermon and how this is was an area they truly grew during their year. just a side note, many recent seminary grads in their first call find themselves either as an associate pastor with children's ministry as part of their position or in a small church where they are the only staff so work with the children by default. Yet there is not class at Luther and I would guess most seminaries that MDiv students are required to take where children in worship is discussed and giving children's messages is taught.

So a question I have is what is the purpose of the children's message? why do churches have it, because everyone else does, or have they thought about what role or purpose it plays in worship. I think from my memory of the book of worship section of the Presbyterian book of order and the common book of worship many denominations use for a worship resource children's sermons are not mentioned in either. if this is to be a children's sermon , isn't a sermon a proclamation of God's word in response to scripture, why do churches do the children's sermon before any scripture is read and for some kids they never hear scripture during worship? Is it ok to put the kids on display to illustrate a key point of the Pastor's sermon later in the service? If this is done, who is the children's sermon really for the kids or the adults? Should an attempt be made to tie the children's sermon to scripture, or can it simply be an idea or principle not related to anything else in the service?

I had mentioned earlier in the post the idea of kids choirs or kids bell choirs, why do we have them up on the chancel area up front, but yet the adult choir sings from the choir loft? Should people always clap( another post in the future on to clap or not clap) when the kids "preform" in worship, what message are we giving kids about their role in worship when we do this and every parent gets out their cameras, in some churches there are more camcorders when kids preform than you see at some school events. How do we communicate with parents and the rest of the congregation expectations and vision of children's role in worship?

Having taught a first worship class this last year to first and second grade students as well as discussing worship in confirmation, the question raised is when do we start educating kids(maybe parents and other adults as well) about worship, the various parts, why we do things,etc...... The last youth service I did we looked at worship from Soren Kirkagard's vision of worship. Simply we often think of the roles in worship in that the congregation is the audience, the worship leaders ( Pastors and music) are the actors and God is the prompter. Kirkagard suggests that the congregation are the preformers, the worship leaders are the prompters and God is the audience. This vision relates somewhat to children and worship but is good to think about for worship overall. I may add to this post or topic in the future but this is enough for now.