The first point I would make is that they are supposed to be flexible. You have my permission to change them however you like - we really don’t mind. In writing them we are aware that there are no two churches the same and what the author may think is a stunning idea that their own church would love may be a disaster in your one so tweak it as much as you like and make use of the options we’ve given.
Secondly we have majored on stories for a reason. Jesus taught with stories so we thought we would copy him! Everyone can relate to a story and find meaning in it, we all relate in different ways. Younger children will tend to see stories as a series of unconnected incidents and will find the meaning of the story in one of these events. As they get older they are able to link scenes together into a wider narrative. But it’s only as a teenager that we begin to be able to stand back and appreciate the story as a whole and consider its overarching meaning.
So we have deliberately tried to make the story the highlight of the service, being really creative in how we tell them, so that they stand out and lodge in people’s minds while staying faithful to how the Bible tells them. All the services include a period of reflection, which might seem a bit high risk with children present but I’d encourage you to use it. Children are well capable of quiet and thinking deeply; indeed all our best evidence tells us that they are more likely to sense God through quiet and stillness than anything else. One of the keys to nurturing a child’s spirituality is to give them space, and these pauses in the service are there to do that.
The final departure from the norm is to include questions for discussion. These are not, as you may think, to be used at a later date in homegroups (or whatever we are supposed to call them now) or next week in Sunday school but are there to help you create little ‘learning clusters’ in your church. The idea is to form all-age groups and talk together about the questions. My strong suggestion is that someone facilitates/hosts the discussion and allows everyone a chance to speak and welcomes and affirms everyone’s contribution with a ‘thank you’ rather than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Working this way prevents people from being afraid to contribute for fear of being wrong. We want these groups to be safe places where adults learn from children and children learn from adults and it’s also ok to say nothing and just listen.
The final thing I would say is to be brave. Some of the ideas will take you beyond your comfort zone and that’s ok. They are all tried and tested and have worked somewhere else. Many all-age service struggle because they are either a kids’ service or too ‘safe’ for fear of offending a few key adults; these service plans try and plot a path in which everyone’s invited to encounter God together as one body of believers. Try them out and please let us know how you get on.
