INCLUDING ALL AGES IN THE WORSHIP service helps churches begin to grow. Grandchildren want to come to church with their grandparents. People who quit attending come back and bring their children. People are happier inviting their friends to church, especially those with families and children.
This refreshing approach to church worship aims to create services that involve, engage, and inspire every person in the congregation. The different generations learn to treasure and respect each other. There is more joy and less isolation in church. Here are some ways to include children and teens in your church services.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
• Teach children how to pray simple prayers for other people in the congregation. Invite those who would like the children to pray for them to put up their hands. The children can go to those people, ask for their requests, and then pray short prayers for them.
• Invite children to learn sign language to illustrate the Lord’s Prayer and then perform it or teach it to the rest of the church.
• Print off the following words on different colors of paper and cut them apart:
- Yellow paper: Praise
- Blue paper: Sorry
- Green paper: Thanks
- Pink paper: Please
Stick one of these four words onto a gift bag the same color as the paper. Place these at the front of the church. Give four small pieces of paper (one in each color—yellow, blue, green, and pink) to each person in the congregation. Invite them to write a praise prayer on their yellow paper, a request on the pink paper, and so on. Invite the children to collect the colored papers and place them in the matching bags. Pick up one bag at a time and present it to God as a congregational prayer. Then pull out a few of the papers from each bag and read them aloud prayerfully. (You do not need to read aloud any confessions from the bag marked Sorry.)
• Pray a pray-dough prayer of confession. Give each person a piece of white modeling dough and invite them to make something that represents a struggle they’ve been having. As the congregation works with their clay, pray each person present receives God’s wisdom and power. Claim His promises of peace, healing, protection, and strength. Ask them to shape the dough into a pure, white heart that they can take home with them. And as they do, praise God for keeping His promises. Thank Him for giving each person exactly what they need at just the right time.
Place a branch in a pot to make a “tree.” Give out green card leaves with a hole punched in one end and a loop of yarn for hanging. Write the names of people who need healing on the leaves. Hang the prayer request leaves on the tree. Leave the tree in the church as a prayer reminder. When healing takes place, stick a colored paper flower onto the leaf. If someone dies, attach a white flower to their leaf.
For more intergenerational prayer ideas, see 100 Creative Prayer Ideas for Kids: And Grown Ups Too! by Karen Holford.
SCRIPTURE READING
• Mentor a child or young person by discussing the Bible reading with them ahead of time. Explore different ways to present the scripture to the church, with actions, pictures, background music, or a group of people reading different voices in the passage.
• Ask children to perform a silent action each time certain words in the scripture are read, such as pointing to heaven when God is mentioned or making a heart shape with their hands to represent love.
• Older children could research the context of the passage and say a few words about the background of the verses before reading the scripture.
• Choose several teens and give each of them a verse from a multi-verse scripture reading. Ask them to illustrate their assigned verse in any way they like—such as a photo, some abstract art, or a painting. Photograph their work and use the pictures to create a slide deck to show while the scripture is read.
• Invite children to hunt around the church for the words or verses of a Bible reading printed on large sheets of paper. Arrange the children to show the passage to the congregation correctly. Ask a teen to read the scripture aloud to the congregation.
For more ideas on including children in Bible readings, see 100 Creative Ways to Learn Memory Verses by Karen Holford.
THE OFFERING
• Young children can learn how to collect an offering. A supportive and helpful deacon can stand nearby if necessary. Children feel valuable when we trust them with an important and responsible task.
• Collect the offering in attractive gift bags that the children have decorated. Use these to remind the congregation that everything we have is a gift from God, and we can show our appreciation by giving something back to Him.
• Use an interesting offering container for the children’s offerings. Collect their money when they come forward for a children’s story.
• Give children blank envelopes to color for adults to use for their offerings. Write the child’s name on the envelope so the adult can thank them.
• Collect a special offering each month to support a children’s project in your church, such as Vacation Bible School or a special item for their Sabbath School rooms.
YOUR CHURCH’S WELCOME AND BLESSINGS
• Train children to be welcomers. They can smile, greet people, and give out bulletins and Bibles.
• Train older children to welcome the children who come to church. They can give them children’s bulletins or sermon-related worksheets to encourage them to listen to the morning’s message.
• Pair school-age children with a senior member of the church. Give them the responsibility of welcoming an “adopted” grandparent to church each week.
• If your church serves drinks or snacks, involve older children and teens in serving and tidying up afterward.
• Invite friendly teenagers to say goodbye to the children after the service and bless them with encouragement and appreciation.
THE SERMON
• Tell the children’s story during the sermon to break up the long sermon and give them something to look forward to.
• Be creative about involving the children in the sermon. One pastor places a surprise object in a special bag that he takes to church each week. The children can’t wait to help him open the bag during the sermon! The object helps the children learn how much God loves them.
• Ask a teacher to involve the children in a science or nature experiment that illustrates the sermon.
Give each child a small ball of clay or modeling dough. Invite them to create something connected to the sermon. Display the models after the service and encourage adults to ask the children about their experience.
• Dress children as characters from your Bible story and involve them in telling the sermon. Provide cards with words for them to read aloud at the appropriate moments.
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
• Invite teens to design your bulletin cover and ask children to create special designs to suit specific sermon topics.
• Children can make cards to send to people who haven’t come to church for a while. Give them plain white postcards to decorate with drawings and Bible verses.
• Children and teens can create inspiring calendars of decorated Bible verses. These can be commercially printed and sold to raise funds.
• Children listen better when they have something to do. Ask them to draw a picture that illustrates a message from the sermon. After the service, place their drawings on a bulletin board to inspire others with their thoughts.
• Choose a gifted adult to mentor the creative talents of the children and youth in your church. Art can be used to deepen their spiritual understanding and experience. They can design scripture bookmarks, T-shirts, greeting cards, and banners.
