Canadian Mennonite
Volume 11, No. 13
June 25, 2007
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How does your congregation feel about the children’s story? Is it something special, just for children, something that helps younger children understand the substance of the worship theme? Or does it, as some critics of children’s stories suggest, put the children on display for adult gratification and even “operate implicitly to marginalize or exclude children by segregating them from the worshipping community as a whole and trivializing their ways of knowing through moralisms”?
There is quite a debate about this among current Christian educators and leaders in children’s ministry, so if you feel ambivalent about this part of your worship service, you are in good company.
Research found in Children’s Spirituality: Christian Perspectives, Research and Applications (Cascade Books, 2004) suggests that “one of the most important positive impacts of this congregational practice of gathering children together in worship [for the children’s story] is its visual power. Children, generally smaller than the sanctuary furniture and the adults with whom they sit, can easily be rendered invisible in most Christian worship spaces.”
In Children Belong in Worship: A Guide to the Children’s Sermon (CBP Press, 1986), W. Alan Smith says, “An inclusive children’s story needs to be part of a thoroughgoing attempt to so structure worship that children are included in all its ritual, meaning and power.” And current research into the spirituality of children is providing more evidence of the deep and authentic ways that young children experience God and respond to God’s good news when they can engage with faith at their level.
The children’s story is a part of our worship services where we can focus on children as the integral part of the worshipping family of God that they are. In it, we can invite children to open their hearts and wills to the loving heart and will of God. As we do so, the clear communication strategies that help us connect with children will also help many adults to worship more fully.
Since the summer of 2004, Mennonite Church Canada has guided the writing of children’s stories on the theme of the Lectionary Gospel Text for Ordinary Time. The magazine Leader: Equipping the Missional Congregation (Mennonite Publishing Network) provides children’s features for Sundays in the church’s high seasons of Advent and Lent/Easter/Pentecost. Both resources can provide a great place to start planning your children’s time and are available at mennonitechurch.ca/tiny/126.
Some people adapt these stories to their specific setting, while others are happy to use them as they appear. Even if you are not following the Lectionary, browsing through the titles of older stories often provides a suitable point of departure.
But perhaps you need a different focus or theme. While there are wonderful books of children’s sermons and stories that can be used, a good story that comes from within the storyteller can provide a powerful ministry for the young and not-so-young. Here are some things to keep in mind if you choose to develop your own children’s story.
Preparing the story
Remember that you are entrusted with the task of helping young children to worship and honour Jesus, who took children on his lap, blessed them and challenged his disciples to become like them. Therefore:
• Prepare yourself spiritually. Pray for yourself and the children who will receive your story.
• Trust God to work through you.
• Gear your story to a four- to eight-year-old audience. They are the ones who will not understand most of the other words of worship. Adults benefit from listening in, but this is a bonus rather than the focus. Children of this age are highly visual and tactile, and long to be reminded of God’s unconditional love for, and acceptance of, them.
• Keep your story short. Try to tell it in about 300 words.
• Use basic vocabulary that links to their experiences.
• Connect the theme of the Bible passages to the current context of children in a concrete way.
• Stick to one main point and image. (A concrete object or symbol can be helpful.)
• Share the good news of the passage without moralizing.
• Plan some reflective questions that help children worship and internalize the biblical message.
Presenting the story
Honour the children as spiritual beings. As the storyteller, you need to be conscious of the sacred function you are serving. Therefore:
• Trust God to work through you.
• Take time to settle. Ask the children if they are comfortable and ready to listen to this message from God to them. You may find it helpful to remind them that Jesus invited the children onto his lap, that he appreciated and blessed children, and that Jesus still wants to bless them during this special worship time. A short prayer to open the story can be helpful for this.
• Make eye contact with each child. Let your eyes speak alongside of your voice and gestures.
• Follow a predictable pattern of gathering, listening, telling and departing. This enhances the worship experience for children, whether it is a special season or throughout the year.
• Tell the story from your heart. Enter into the story with all your presence and attention. This is easier to do if you have practised. If you are using props, practise in front of a mirror.
• Let the story do its own teaching and resist explaining its lesson. If you present the story well, the children will hear and reflect on God’s voice rather than yours.
• Present reflective questions that help children worship and internalize the biblical message. Provide a pause of 10 seconds or so after each question, so that children can ponder it in their hearts.
• If children distract others, remind them gently that this is a special time for focusing on God—not on them. Re-focus on the story as quickly as possible. (Children under four years of age should have a caregiver come forward with them to help them remain settled.)
• Finish with a brief prayer of thanksgiving for this time with God and the children.
Other children’s time options
Be creative and provide variety for the children’s time. Rather than always telling a story, consider reading and reflecting on a good picture book; doing an interview with someone in church; sketching; or using music, drama or movement. Or invite artists, writers, musicians or dancers to tell a story that links with their gifts.
Honour the different ways that we find and make meaning, or that we connect with God’s intentions for our world.
For additional resources, visit the MC Canada Resource Centre mennonitechurch.ca/tiny/127.