Children's Bulletins - Keeping Kids in Worship

As some of you may already know, my main field is not actually youth and children's ministry - it is liturgy and worship. It should come as no surprise then that I have some pretty strong views on the relationship between young people and worship. To be blunt, I think everyone benefits from young people being in worship. People of all ages are full members of the Church and so when we worship without any one group, a significant part of the community is missing. Worship is also important for young people. It offers them a time to pray, to hear from Sacred Scripture, to sing and also to relate to the other members of the Church community of all ages and learn about what is important to them and their faith.

This is not to say that I think we should just throw kids into the way we do worship which is geared almost exclusively to adults. I believe that we need to work in two ways, through education for young people about why we worship the way we do and education for adults in the congregation about how to make worship more accessible to young people. This approach will help people of all ages learn to value things in worship that may not be immediately appealing to them, because they are important to others in the community and it is important to them that these others be included. I think there are many things that we can do to make worship more accessible to children and youth - just like we make worship more accessible to seniors by using audio loop technology and allowing those with less mobility to remain seated during most of the service. One of the ways that we can make worship more accessible for school aged children is to provide them with what are known as 'Children's Bulletins.' 

These bulletins provide a brief explanation of what is special about this particular service, activities to help with the comprehension of one or more of the readings, some opportunity to respond creatively to the readings, information or activities on the different parts of worship and how to participate and questions and prayers to take home and discuss with their parents and families. These bulletins take the form of our worship as it currently is and introduce children to what we are doing and why. This is especially important because most of the time children are not a part of the whole Church service. Church school classes take place during the service and so they rarely experience the whole service from start to finish. On the occasions when there is no Church school - because of major feasts like Christmas or during the summer - these Children's Bulletins allow the children in the congregation to better participate in worship along with the adults in the community.

This is the front the Children's Bulletin for Epiphany

Beyond facilitating their participation, Children's Bulletins send an important message as well. The message is that children belong in the worshiping community. It is a message for parents, for children and also for the congregation as a whole. It is a message of inclusion and welcome for an important group in the community whose ministry and leadership in worship have not always been recognized. The Church needs the ministry of each person, regardless of their age. Children's Bulletins are one tool to help us engage young people in worship and empower them for ministry in the Church.

St Philip's will have Children's Bulletins available at the services without Church school over the holidays including the later services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. I would be eager to receive any feedback on the use of these Children's Bulletins.