5 Easy Ways to Engage Children in Church Service

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Have you ever seen a child playing on an electronic device during church service?

At what age should children be expected to be a participant in church service?

This past Sunday, I looked around the sanctuary and noticed several children being “entertained” by various electronic devices during the church service.  These children ranged in age from 2- to 17.  I was bothered.

We require children to focus and pay attention in school but allow them to entertain themselves while WE participate in church service.

Here are a few suggestions on ways to get children engaged in the service from an early age.

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1) Have your children worship with you

In 3 Tips for Christian Parents of Young Children, one of the tips is to have your children worship with you.  During services, have children sing with the congregation.  If they do not know the words, whisper them in their ear.   Have them follow/read along with scripture reading.  If they are not reading, point at the words so they can feel like they are “reading-along.”

2) Get them their own Bible

Buy them age-appropriate Bible and have them bring their own Bible to church. Help them find scriptures in their bible.  If they are bored with the service, maybe they will look through the Bible.

I am a fan of the Adventure Bible series.

• The Adventure Bible for Toddlers is a wonderful choice for children ages 4-8.
• The Adventure Bible, NIV is an excellent choice for children ages 8-12.
• The Adventure Bible for Early Readers, NIrV is perfect for ages 6-10.  This is the bible my six-year-old daughter uses and it is perfect for her. Read a detailed overview here: The Adventure Bible for Early Readers: Great Bible for Kids.

3) Pack a Sermon Activity

Take some activity for your child to do during the sermon, if they are too young to pay attention.  Bible-based coloring pages and word searches are good.

In Oh Behave! ~ Training Your Child to Behave in Church, Michelle from Satisfaction Through Christ suggests having older children take notes and younger children take, “tally notes.”  For tally notes, you and your child list words that you think will be in the sermon. Pictures can work for young children.  Guess which word will have the most tallies. Your child makes a tally every time the word is said during the sermon.  This is an excellent idea. You can read the whole post here.

4) Participate in Children’s Church

Some churches offer children’s church.  This is a fantastic option.  Our church has it 2 Sundays a month.  It is only from the beginning of the sermon to the end of the church service.  They have an interactive sermon designed just for them followed by a related activity and snack.   The children 4-12 participate in the worship service completely until the sermon on those Sundays and the whole service on other Sundays.  This is an excellent mix of children participating in the worship service and participating in a related children’s activity.  If your church has anything like this, definitely have your children attend.

5) Have a Summary discussion

After church, during dinner, every family member talks about one interesting thing they heard during the church service.  In our family, we have the discussion surrounding the Sunday School lesson. All the Sunday School lessons in our church have the same scripture reference with age-appropriate lessons. It is fascinating to hear what a child gets out of the same lesson or sermon that we hear.

Although every church service is different, the overall idea is to find ways to engage children.  Church is for the whole family, not just the adults.

Do you have any suggestions for other ways to engage children in church?  Please leave them in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by!

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