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Activities for children in a home church/family inclusive?
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Looking for activities or worksheets for younger children to help them focus during sermon time. I found some worksheets online somewhere once but not sure where I found them. They were like listening sheets (listening for certain words in the sermon or drawing a picture while listening). Hope what I’m asking makes sense. Thought about making my own. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Following this. our home group has 7 couples and 16 kids and the oldest will be 5 in April. It’s getting a little crazy and hard to get anything other than fellowship out of it with the kids everywhere
We used the Grapevine Studies pages sometimes in our home group, but we were also okay with having a shorter teaching geared toward the kids, and then releasing them to another part of the house for activities and songs.
I suppose it depends on how committed you are to the children being completely integrated. After visiting many family integrated churches, we decided that it was more important for the kids to pay attention and participate during worship, prayer, and a short teaching, than it was to keep them for a long and drawn out (mostly adult) discussion. Most of the kids we saw in that atmosphere were being trained to ignore the lesson by being given diversions such as coloring books and toy cars.
Have you read, “Re-Imagining Church” or “Finding Organic Church”? I think there are some helpful ideas that pertain to how to include everyone in home services.
Thank you, Servingwithjoy. We have short teaching that usually turns into longer adult discussion. Sometimes we let the children go when it turns to discussion. I hate for them to get bored and have to sit there and not understand anything. I also don’t want them doing an activity that means completely ignoring the message like reading a book or playing with certain toys. When you dismiss the children, does an adult go with them? What kind of activities do you all have them do? Thanks for your advice. I haven’t read those books, but I’ll see about checking them out for more ideas.
Yes, we alternate a mom/dad couple who takes the kids for that time, and we let them determine what the activity will be. I like to do crafts with them, another couple does Bible story and discussion, another couple just lets them play in the back yard or playroom. We try to keep it hubby/wife team because that way they are focused on the kids and not on catching up with each other (as we are prone to do when we haven’t seen each other for a week). We wanted our home church to feel like a family, or extended family, and I think this helps keep it fun for the kids while they are still very much a part of the church.
Also, we adults do other things during the week to stay in touch, so that the group meeting doesn’t stretch on and on. We do a conference call (really should upgrade that to Skype) and have a men’s only group and a ladies only group that meets throughout the week. We found that when we are discussing the more adult issues of our lives this way (and praying through them) we are more connected, and can focus on worship, the word, and fellowship in our home meetings. Hope that helps!
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