Description
Can you remember attending church as a child? What made it special for you? Who welcomed you in? Who taught you how to follow the hymnal, or to say the Lord’s Prayer? Did you ever feel like you were just there to watch? Did the Communion plates ever pass you by? Were you dismissed from the sanctuary at some point, or left out altogether?
Worship can be a mixed experience for the youngest members of our church family. It tends to be an adult-centered moment and is planned with adult needs in mind. What would it look like to plan for worship with children at the forefront?
Child of Blessing: Growing Faith in Worship, is a program of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians that helps congregations to more fully engage children during worship. Our goals include:
• Listening to the needs, challenges, and hopes of congregations as it pertains to multi-generational worship.
• Producing field-tested materials for children, adult worship planners, and congregations that support multigenerational and multi-sensory worship, to accompany each week of the 3-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle.
• Training and collaborating with church leaders on ways to effectively engage and nurture children, including children with additional support needs.
• Evaluating the impact of intentional, multi-generational worship: on children as they grow, on participating adults, and on the life and health of the worshiping community.
This workshop will explore liturgy, congregational singing, and worship practices that engage the entire faith community: children through adults. We will explore the overlapping needs between our youngest and oldest worshipers, and ways that we can bridge the generation gap by experiencing God’s wonder and joy together.
Workshop Leader: Melissa McNair-King
Melissa McNair-King is the Program Manager for Child of Blessing: Growing Faith in Worship, for the Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM). Melissa is a graduate of Furman University and Columbia Theological Seminary. Before joining the PAM staff, she pastored congregations in Arkansas, Virginia, and Georgia. She lives in Tucker, Georgia with her husband and three children.
Co-Leader: