Greetings KidMin leaders!
At one of the last events I was speaking at, I was asked several questions regarding the same basic topic- At what age should children start paying attention in church. Basically meaning, when do you take away the iPad, skittles & GI Joe and expect them to engage in the service. I believe if a child is old enough to attend school where they are expected to sit still and pay attention multiple hours a day, I think they are ready to actively participate in a worship service.
This will take some planning and training. If the children in your church are not used to this, it will take some time. At the time of this writing, we have had 12 children receive the Holy Ghost in the last 2-3 months in our local church. At least 4 of these received it in adult worship services. This would not have happened if these children were mentally checked out on the back row playing fruit ninja and chewing bubble gum. Our kids staff and parents have worked hard to create an atmosphere where kids are encouraged and expected to participate in worship services. You can begin to train your kids to worship just like you train them in every other area of their life. Before my daughter, Maley, could even talk we had taught her to raise her hands and close her eyes when we told her to in middle of church. Granted, her focus wasn't going to last for 30 minutes straight at the age of one, but we were beginning to show her what we do when we are in church services.
Your children's ministry can stretch beyond what you do on Sunday morning. It goes beyond the Sunday School class and the Children's Church service. What happens in regular church services is so important. Begin to teach your students that when it's time for the altar call and prayer, we all go up front to pray. Let them know even if the pastor is teaching on marriage, you want them to go pray. You are teaching them a response. We respond when the Word has been preached. One of the tools that we utilize from time to time is Worship Notes for Kids. This is not an original idea of mine. I saw this somewhere and tweaked it for our own church and students. This is a tool to help kids stay engaged throughout a church service. It asks them things like: songs we sang, what scriptures were used, draw a picture about the sermon, etc. This is a fun and simple way for kids to be able to play during church yet at the same time, they are having to pay attention to what's happening during service. This is something that we do for about a month of services or so, then we take them away for awhile just so it doesn't become old and boring for the kids.
I have attached a pdf of the Worship Notes below. Feel free to use it in your church or take the idea and adapt it to fit your church format. We must teach our kids that church is fun and enjoyable. The Worship Notes is one idea to help you with this. Just remember- if we want our students to respond in worship, we must engage their attention. Have a great week and be blessed as you begin to think of ways to BOOST your kids ministry.
Worship Notes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2rROna3TrBoN3FSX01GSlBBMjA/view?usp=sharing
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