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| How many people still do Children's Sermons? How often? For which age group? What do you include in a children's sermon? How long does the children's sermon last? And, how do you handle the times when a response from a child elicits laughter from the congregation and this bothers the child?
Barbie
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| Because I fear the children might be patronized or laughed at, I carefully prepare the message to keep that from happening. I include the adults in the message such that if there is laughter, we’re laughing along with the children rather than AT the children. I basically put the congregation in the same boat with the children asking them to do whatever it is I ask the children to do. That way, the congregation ends up playing along rather than being asked to sit and watch while only the children participate. I leave out too much questioning in front of the congregation to avoid putting children on the spot for an answer. If I ask a question, I’ve learned to use pair shares and have EVERYONE discuss their response with someone close by. That way no one person has to be in the spotlight. Our AV team has asked several times about video taping the children’s message, because the back half of the congregation strains to see what’s going on at the steps during the Children’s Message. I continue to resist that because I don’t want to put the children “on display”. I like to take the action out into the Congregation by doing instant dramas where the pastor, the congregation, the choir and the children all have parts to play. We end up laughing…. A LOT, but it’s collective laughter that not directed at any one person. Only 2 times has a child’s response gotten a laugh like you described. (When it happened, it concerned me too.) AND BOTH times, on the way to children’s church the child asked me “Why did they laugh at me, Ms. Lisa?”. One child named Anna, I’m convinced was fishing to see if I too thought her comment had been funny. (She had remarked that adults get boring gifts for Christmas.) I explained to Anna that the adults were really laughing at themselves because her observation was very true – I explained that the adults agreed with her…their gifts ARE boring sometimes and that is why they laughed. (Anna’s mother tells lots of “cute Anna” stories in front of Anna, so sadly enough she’s many times been laughed AT because her mother likes to quote the latest cute & precocious thing she’s said.) I really think Anna was afraid she had been laughed AT during the Children’s Message and I saw in her eyes how much the thought of being laughed AT stressed her. So, I will continue to work on crafting and posing my messages to keep that from happening. Lisa B NC
Barbie
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| We no longer have the children go up front, but instead have everyone participate together in family time. For instance, this week Roger is using John 15:11 "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." and the story of the lost coin/sheep/prodigal son. We are making cardstock puzzle pieces and each person (no matter how young or old) will get one when they enter the sanctuary. There will be eight pieces to each puzzle, each of a different color. Roger will ask everyone to find their puzzle mates and work their puzzle. Yes, they will have to get up and move! The picture will be the word JOY in the center. (So by coming together they make their joy complete, get it? LOL) Roger will speak for a few minutes about how the joy in the stories we're looking at is not the coin's joy, the sheep's joy or the son's joy, but those who have been made complete - the shepherd, the woman and the father. When we are as one, it's God's joy AND our joy as a Christian family that is made complete. Then we will have people do prayer time in small groups. Yes, the children are able to participate and will be fine because we are a smaller, family oriented church. But even if I was in a large church, I would do the same thing, but make sure a parent took the same color as the child. It's not hard to do, it just takes planning! And I really don't like the children being up on display. But you'd be amazed at how many grandparents have whined about them missing THEIR little darlings being up front. And it's usually the ones who want to use the altar as a jungle gym! 
Pictures taken on vacation at Lake Junaluska, NC.
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| Hi Peggy - You are ALWAYS a step ahead of me in this area of ministry! (And that really inspires me!) You and Roger have taken this to that next level making it into an interactive worship experience for all. My secret goal is that eventually, I won't need to ask the children to come forward. They will participate from the pew interacting with their family members and or people around them. But since a "Children's Message" is 11 months new to this congregation, I am glad to have gotten them this far. But please tell me, has Roger used any of the Group "Unforgettable" sermon aides like the rubber chicken http://store.grouppublishing.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?item=507970or clown noses yet?
Lisa B from NC
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| We haven't ordered anything from there, but I've gotten inspiration before! Next week, we're using the magic sand from last year's Galilee and I can't wait (I saved it from my previews last year! LOL). We've done the color changing silly putty to talk about God changing us, handed out army men to talk about always being prepared to be in service to God, given away little rubber frogs to remind us that we always need to be flexible and FROG (fully rely on God - even when STRETCHED to the limit, these little guys go right back to their shape and we will too if we trust in God). We've also used the chirping chick exercise to talk about being of one accord! Basically, our problem is a financial one! We love Group's ideas but since Roger and I generally foot the bill for these things ourselves and we need to purchase 100 or so, it's just too much to buy! The army guys came from Dollar Tree, the frogs were in packs of 20 or so for $1 at Walmart, etc. I'm always on the lookout for something we can use! 
Pictures taken on vacation at Lake Junaluska, NC.
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| This past Sunday, our AV team approached me again about their plans to video-tape the Children's Message. I shared with them my concern about how video-taping would put the children "on stage" which I have been working against for quite sometime. They listened and were sensitive to my concern, but still wanted to pursue the idea. (They admitted to me that their real agenda is to justify the purchase of a new video screen. Ooooo- that makes me me nervous!) I told them that I was considering offering the Children's Message while the children stay in their seats with their families, or even having them sit on the front pew for the children's message to avoid the "on stage" situation. In otherwords, I was suggesting that I didn't mind them video taping me but objected to video taping the children. On the ride home, my husband told me to drop those ideas and continue to invite the children to gather around me at the front of the church. He said that it was obvious that the children liked to be near me during the Children's Message. He added that it created an intimate setting for them and made them feel special. (HUMMMM... He's a preschool SS teacher, so I totally value his advice.) He said as long as I continue to include the congregation in the message and questions no one will be put "on stage" because everyone is participating. What do you think about my video taping dilemna?
Lisa B from NC
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We do a Time with Children every Sunday and it is very conventional. Mostly it is a conversation about either the service or the lectionary reading for the day. We use props sometimes but not always mostly what we do is ask questions and find out what the children think and help them build on that. This past week we had a child answer and the congregation laughed and I took a moment and said, "Deanna do you know why we laugh at that answer? Because your voice fills us with joy and we enjoy your answers so much that we laugh." this not only relieved Deanna who honestly answers every question I ask, but it also reminded the congregation that the children may be hurt by their laughter.
Video taping is a tough one - yes it is hard for people in the back to see -maybe if you could move to the middle of the space? The other thing the video team should consider is that the children are not always being attractive - they are young and so have runny noses and pick them! ugh Do they want to watch a 4 year old pulling her tights up over her head? Do they really want all of that on the screen? We think watching kids for the time would be cute but often they are just kids and thats not always cute.
Your sister in Christ, cathy
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Good point there Cathy about what might end up in the video! I will mention that to the AV Team.
Lisa B from NC
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| How do you get your pastor to buy into the need for a children's sermon? Our children need to be able to interact with him as their pastor. What can I as director of children's ministries do to convince him that this is important?
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| Children's messages create an inclusive worship environment AND they reach people of all ages. You can tell him about what convicted me of the bigger picture view of a "children's message" in adult worship. A member of my choir many years ago got up to lead the devotion. He explained that he had been taught of a God of punishment so he grew to blame God for his unhappy life. He told us he grew to be so angry with God that he hadn't prayed since he was a young teen. As an adult and only at his wife's insistence, he began attending worship with her and the children. Angry with God, he sat week after week, shutting God out... but as the weeks went by he started listening to the children's message because they always talked of a loving and caring God...something very new to him. He said that the simple messages geared toward children began to soften his heart and he began to look forward to learning about a loving God. He ended by telling us that the first time he prayed as an adult was with the children at the end of a children's message. Psalms 145:4 "Let every generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your greatness."
Lisa B from NC
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