Children in Worship

In this 2021 "Established Church" podcast, Pastor Sam Rainer and Children's Pastor Jenny Smith discuss alterations to the ORDER of Worship and "splitting" the sermon in two to accommodate the needs of children in worship and everyone who needs a break from a long sermon or gets wiggly by the second half of traditional worship. (They found that adults needed it too).

https://churchanswers.com/podc...y-involved-in-church

If you can't listen to the whole thing, start around the 7 minute mark.

In short:

• They moved the sermon toward the front of worship, split it in two with a "family minute" (children's sermon) in between, then finished the sermon and spend the second half of worship is more active participation (prayer, singing, etc.)
• The kids get a lesson prior to worship about what the sermon is going to be about. They stopped holding separate children's worship in favor of having kids worship with their families. This was something they experimented early in the pandemic and decided to keep once they were fully back in-person.
• The Sunday School creates lessons based on the subject of the sermon, which in this particular church tend to run in several week themes.
• You have to get your sermon outline/notes done early in the week to give to the educators.
• They asked families if this was a "pandemic-time only thing" and families responded, "we love it, keep it."
• This isn't just about accommodating kids in worship but recognizing they are part of our congregation whose needs should be addressed. "It's not about us."