I work for a congregation that has two campuses: one is urban in Minneapolis, MN, and the other is suburban in Minnetonka, MN. One Sunday at the Minnetonka campus, I invited the kids forward for storytime. We had a mob of them that day, and I said to the congregation, “Isn’t fun to see all these kids come forward?” There were many heads nodding “yes’” or saying it out loud. There were even a few people that clapped. Seeing young people of all ages in worship does make our hearts smile. 

So I asked on Facebook “What are the best reasons for children, youth, and families to be in worship?” I got around 40 answers. I couldn’t use all the answers, but here is how I summed them up:

1. Train them up! “If you want to raise an adult, who doesn’t worship, raise a child who doesn’t worship. You can’t come back to a place you’ve never been.” – Rich Melheim. We do meet people who enter the church as adults. But I find that the people who return to church after a leave of absence went as a young children. In fact, the last funeral I did was for a woman who stepped away from the faith for 50 years. When she found out she was dying, a pastor was called in to speak God’s promises to her. “Train up a child in the way in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it. ” (Proverbs 22:6)
2. Body of Christ! “Children of God come in all ages.” – Betsy Hoium. Precisely right, and how quick we are to forget this. We are all children of God, and we are faithfully formed to love God and to love others. IMO, there is no such things as a “mature Christian” if we really believe we have everything we need to love God and love others. Plus, kids give “honest feedback!” – Jay Gamelin.
3. Not the Future! “Children aren’t “the future” of the church.  They are precisely the present.” – Natalie Hall. Kids are not miny adults. They are the church of today, but they learn differently through muscle memory, repetition, and movement. Adults make a promise when a baby is baptized to love them and be in faith with them. This means the congregation needs to learn as children do. “Because kids learn best by doing…” – Heather Hanson, or “Faith is caught, not taught!” – Janet Blake.
4. Kids will be kids. “Jesus said, ‘Let the children come!'” – Julie Miller. If kids belong to the kingdom of God, then they belong to the church. “The kingdom of God will be filled with wiggles, squiggles, and squirms.” – Beka Forst. Doesn’t this give the best image of the kingdom of God? We get to see this in our worship spaces, too. Kids giggle and poke, squirm and need room to move. Make sure you are paying attention to #5. Read below.
5. Space Matters.“Belong, behave, believe in that order.” – Rob Norris-Weber. First, we all want to belong, even kids, to something bigger than ourselves. Second, most people will love the kiddos in worship, but crying babies or tantrums are hard on the hearing. Create spaces inside and outside the sanctuary for parents to bring kiddos and can still be part of the service. Third, belief comes to us by the spirit and that happens when we gather. It’s full circle!
6. Church is Intergenerational. “Where do you gather regularly with people from all walks of life? Church! How rare is that in this time?” – Bonnie Wilcox. What a gift to the church to have 4-5 generations in the pews together. Use this gift, and let kids lead. “They ask the best questions.” -Michelle Basner-Ketepa, and “they interpret the stories in such different, and beautiful ways.” – Melissa Lee.
7. Open to the Creative Process. People come to worship and expect it to be a certain way. But there is a creative process that can change things like music, storytelling, preaching, and the prayers. Kids being themselves remind adults how creative worship can be. – Katie Rode. When we let kids take ownership in worship, “they become leaders, and they become our teachers, and we learn so much from them.” – Kaydee Kirk.
8. Brain Development and Biblical Literacy: Worship is good for their brains! – Dawn Rundman. If you have never heard Dawn speak about baby brains, go to one of her workshops. She will teach you how music, conversation, tasting communion, and interacting with others will teach them about worship. It’s what sticks with them as the grow! “So they’ll start to “play church” at home, and you’ll hear how our rote words sound in their ears!” – Amy Truhe.
9. Feeling Welcomed. When you have kids and youth in worship and a new family shows up to visit, they can see themselves there. “The story it tells new families makes all the difference.” – Jared Randell. “Kids, when they know they are welcomed and valued as part of the community of faith, they learn that they belong. Church has a place for them.” – Beth Tobin.
10. Faith is Contagious. “They spontaneously clap at the organ (and other things)!” – Amy Truhe. Their spirits allow them to respond in ways adults believe are (sometimes) unacceptably. I grew up in an anti-clapping church, but we know that clapping can be a form of praised. So kids clap you hands, twirl and dance, and tap your feet. “Children and youth are just as much of the Holy Spirit as everybody else and they don’t squash it.” – Pam Marolla.

Here are some other things that I am rolling out this September:

• Check out the new pew card for ways to engage children and youth around you. Learn their names and ask them questions. Here is my new pew card.
• We want kids and youth to be leaders of the church today, so we hope to have our 3rd-5th graders take on reading the lesson and carrying the cross, our confirmation small groups helping out with the prayers, serving communion, and ushering, and perhaps our first communion students learning how to bring Holy Communion to someone who is homebound. 
• We have a new welcome statement! To help us live into that statement in welcoming our young families, we plan to create a new “prayer ground” in the back of the sanctuary, north side. It will be available starting Sunday, September 24, and it will be an experiment. We hope to survey people sometime in November. 

Don’t forget to give thanks:

So thank you to all our families that make church a priority in the lives of their children and youth, thank you to the congregation who promised at their baptism to love them, and thank you to Jesus who sets the example for each of us to follow.