Children in Worship; Adults in Sunday School

Today’s Alban Institute Roundtable discussion again references the book, Scattering Seeds, by Stephen Chapin Garner, pastor, and Jerry Thornell, layman, of  UCC, Norwell, near Boston. It is interesting that the Alban article lists only the pastor as author, leaving off the name of the lay co-author.

That’s what this book is all about, the changing roles of pastors and lay members. 2×2 will be reviewing it later this week.

Meanwhile, today’s discussion focuses on a favorite topic of 2×2’s: children in worship. This was the biggest surprise as our Ambassadors visited 41 churches in the last 18 months. We thought the Lutheran tradition was to have children worshiping side by side with their parents, deeply involved in the communal worship experience. We found that the overwhelming number of Lutheran churches dismiss children from worship before the Scriptures are read. In one church we visited, the fairly healthy attendance at worship dropped almost in half as a surprising number of adults accompanied the children out of the sanctuary.

The findings of this book support our concern. The Norwell experience found that the inclusion of children in worship created a more vibrant youth presence. There was more continuity between childhood, teen years and adulthood. We thought this was always understood among Lutherans!

Children in worship are important to the life of the congregation and continuity of Christian family. You do not exclude children from the family dinner table because the conversation is “over their heads” or not of interest to children. Children become interested in the concerns of the adults in their lives by listening. They learn the rules of social interaction by watching the give and take. The day will come all too quickly when the young child adds his or her two cents to a topic no one realized was noticed by the youngest. All heads may turn for a moment, but the conversation will go on . . . and grow.

Adults benefit. They have a chance to connect with their children and learn about their concerns. They begin to see the world through the eyes of a new generation.

Similarly, this book advocates for a stronger educational experience for adults. 2×2 suspects this is vital to healthy congregational life.

Redeemer, our parent church, followed this advice. Children were very active in worship and often volunteered when they thought they were ready for a new role. Children led prayer. Middle schoolers often told the children’s sermon story. They shared church leadership. They sang and accompanied music. When they came back from church camp, they insisted on teaching the songs they had learned to the congregation. They acolyted, they took the offering and read lessons. Our church, like Norwell, was experiencing significant growth.

Sadly, they have been locked out of their church for a significant part of their childhood.