by Pastor Victor Chen

Just about a year ago, I started a blog series, “What are my Children Supposed to Do During Sunday Service?” Children had grown accustomed to school, Sunday school and church on the screen. As a result, focus and attention became challenges as children began returning to services in-person.

Early on, we tried having pastors give a “keyword” for children to track in the message and keep them engaged. This served as a “teaser” for the sermon in hopes of building anticipation. (Remember how children tracked how many times the “keyword” was mentioned?)

We started developing our own “Children’s Bulletins” to match with the specific sermon that Sunday, including the passage, title and series theme. Activities like mazes, word searches and coloring sheets were provided to help children engage with the passage.

We also developed a “Church Notebook” with blank sermon notes for our older children 3rd-6th grade to note the key points of the sermon and the key idea or question.

All of that has led to the launch of a “Children’s Worship Service” every 4th Sunday of the month beginning in January for children 0-6th grade.

But I like having the children join us for worship service.

And they will, for the beginning portion of the service. Following the opening two songs and the scripture reading, children will be excused to the back of the sanctuary, where they will be escorted to the MPR for the “Children’s Worship Service”.

Why is the service for older children? They can stay quiet and sit still in service.

The aim of the “Children’s Worship Service” is not to keep our children quiet and sit still in service. The aim of the service and the aim of children in any worship service, is to get them to listen. We see in the Bible that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). We have a great opportunity to train our older children to listen attentively, take notes and engage with the message and God’s Word as it relates to their life.

How do you expect to keep a toddler and a 6th grader engaged from the same message?

My message will have the same title, be from the same passage, have the same keyword and the same key points as the big Lord’s Day service. My expectation for the young children is for them to be able to identify the keyword. The older the children, the more they will be expected to track with the message. Following my message, there will be age-specific breakout groups with age-specific activities ranging from coloring sheets to small group discussion to help the children engage with the message from God’s Word in their particular context.

It’s only once a month? I need it every week!

Because a service like this requires a lot of volunteers, we will begin offering the service once a month. As more volunteers commit to helping, we can expand to twice a month, 3x a month to eventually every week. The hope is that we would have enough volunteers to form a rotation where everybody volunteers once a month.

For more information about our upcoming Children’s Worship Service or how you can help, please contact Pastor Victor at vchen@evergreensgv.org

by Victor Chen

This is the third part to the previous blog post, “What Are My Children Supposed to Do During Sunday Service?”

It’s pretty easy to tell whether my children are listening to me. 

They rarely listen if they are in another room (no matter how loud I bark orders).

They aren’t listening to me if their backs are to me (no matter how much they insist otherwise).

They for sure are not listening to me if they are doing something while I am talking to them (no matter the number of head nods and mumbling affirmations).

My children listen to me if they are looking at me.

That is why any call to listen is often preceded by a request —“Look at me.”

We listen most effectively with our eyes. We listen when we look up.

As a parent, Church School teacher and preacher, I can tell when people are listening. It’s as simple as looking at their faces and seeing whether they are looking right back at me.

What about taking notes? 

Sure, there are some who are able to take notes as they are listening. But to guard from wandering minds (and wandering doodles), we should look up and give the preacher our full attention. When a point or insightful thought is spoken, we can then take notes. First look, then listen and then write any appropriate notes. 

But that’s a long time to be looking up!

There will be times to look down, like when the preacher directs you to the Scripture passage and points out key verses or key words. It is important to look up during the preacher’s introduction though, because that is when he introduces the key idea, and during the preacher’s conclusion, because that is when he concludes with a key takeaway application. 

So parents, the next time the pastor is preaching, here’s a tip to help your children listen —tell them, “Look up!”

by Victor Chen

Let’s play an association game.

What is the first word that comes to mind when you see the following words?

Playground.
Toy store.
Library.
Classroom.
Church.

What words come to mind? What feelings come up? What memories are triggered? What associations are revealed?

If you couldn’t guess, all the words provided describe places from our childhood. The associations with these words come from years of repeated experience and ingrained messages, whether realized or not. 

The first two words could elicit feelings of joy and fun. These are places that encouraged play and enjoyment. 

The next two places could elicit feelings of boredom or obligation. We had to go to those places to read, study and pay attention. 

The final place is a toss-up. Though church may bring feelings of joy, that is not always common. More likely, our childhood experiences of church elicited feelings of duty and obligation, much like going to the library or to school. 

What associations do children have with church today? What associations are they making when church service comes via live stream?

These are the questions that haunt me as a Family Pastor. Frankly, these are questions that haunt me as a parent. 

Yes, we cannot always control what associations our children have with “church.” But, we can control the message they are receiving from us when it comes to “church.” 

As a parent, as a Church School teacher and as the Family Pastor, the message I want children to associate with church service is “listen.” I can’t control the hearts of children, but I can instill the call to “listen” during church service. From the children’s bulletin to the children’s messages, from the Church School points for completing sermon notes to prizes that reward listening during service, there is a constant battle to instill the association of “listening” with “church.” 

But if we don’t intentionally fight these battles, we lose our children and don’t relegate them to negative associations with “church.” We relegate them to ambivalent associations with “church.” 

Our children will learn to check out. Our children will learn to do their own thing as long as they keep quiet and don’t bother Mommy and Daddy. 

And what is the scariest word our children will associate with “church?”

Nothing.