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Worship with Young People

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Children LOVE to worship.  All children may not know what's going on during an entire church service, but they love the mystery & they love being a part of it.  They become formed by the community, by the words spoken & the prayers they can recite back to you without even knowing it. 

  

Youth (young people over the age 11 or so), like being a part of the service.  They like to be ushers and part of the altar guild, they like to be in the choir or acolytes.  They like to (and need to) know that they are full members of the church, and as such, have a part to play in the service. 

   

   

 

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Liturgy Planning with young people

   

Children and youth can help plan the service, preferably in an on-going way as a member of the liturgy committee.  Or you can work with them seperately to write specific prayers.

The following are some tools to help the adults and young people work together to create a Eucharist. 

• Click here to download a format for planning liturgy with children and youth

• Click here to download some helpful information on creating a liturgy with children and youth

 

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Incorporating young people in the service

    

With proper training and a true call to do a ministry, young people can take part in all aspects of the church service that adults can.  Our Bishop encourages & approves of the licensing of young people to perform these ministries.  As we no longer delegate specific tasks by gender, we encourage you to not delegate tasks by age either, but rather by gifts & skills.

Here are some ideas

Connecting young people to worship

Children and youth like to see the action!  I firmly believe that the further back they are that more difficult it become for them to pay attention & truly believe they are part of the service.  Put the children up front - where they can see the action! The following links have some ideas & suggests for ways to get young people more truly involved in the service

• Awake my Soul (downloadable for free)

  Click here for .pdf

   

• Sermons for Kids:  Lectionary based coloring pages, ideas, etc. (also in Spanish)

  http://www.sermons4kids.com/#

   

     

Children often need to keep their hands busy.  And when their hands are busy, they are often listening more closely.  The following links have activities that you can use

• The Sunday Paper

  http://the-sunday-paper.com/