Church and the child

The whole church are part of the teaching environment

All the people around them – and not just their leaders – will affect what your children learn and how they view church. All your church members are part of the environment in which you meet and will influence the faith development of your children.

Five- to nine-year-olds want to belong. They need to hear and experience the stories, beliefs and observances of their church community. These are not just stories from the Bible and stories of faithful people from history or today. They include the stories of key events in your church year and the stories of your members that the children will pick up at coffee time or listening to family chatter at home. What is the attitude of your older members towards the children – those in leadership and everyone else? Are children accepted, included and welcomed, or are they seen as a barely tolerated nuisance, refusing to sit still and making a noise at inappropriate times? It is a huge responsibility and quite frightening to consider, but the way the adults from your church behave, both among themselves in and out of the church environment, and towards the children, will have as big an influence on children’s faith development as the Bible stories they are taught.

The children need to feel they have something to contribute. How are they represented on your PCC or leadership group? Does someone have the responsibility to think about the impact of every church decision on the children? Rather than asking the question, ‘How can we keep the children occupied whilst the grown-ups do this project?’ do you ask, ‘What can the children contribute to this project?’ Children can be involved in prayer events, fund raising events, missionary support by sending emails and pictures, preparation for all-age services, preparation for other all-age events and many other aspects of church life. Every time their opinion is sought or their help is requested they are further integrated into their faith community. This is a significant way of helping spiritual development and is an important complement to the Bible learning and life application discussions that will take place in more formal sessions. Every time you affirm children’s contributions their sense of self-worth is enhanced. Every time you ignore or over-look them, they are made to feel inferior compared to the other members (adults) within the community.

Involving children in church life should be as high on your agenda as seeking to ensure that you are providing them with excellent teaching sessions.

Extract from Children’s Ministry Guide to Tailored Teaching for 5-9s by Sue Price