What Do We Do with the Kids?
Issue 028
AUGUST 22, 2018
WRITTEN BY ELEANOR TRACEY
Eleanor Tracey is the writer and developer of Worship, Word & Way - a Bible curriculum for children ages 2–14, including those with cognitive disabilities, that has been translated into Arabic and Spanish and used in over 80 countries. She serves as Children’s Global Equipping Director at Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Florida where she developed performing arts camps and programs encouraging young artists to grow in their faith and artistry. After 35 years of marriage, God continues to bless Eleanor and her husband Tim through their daughter Marty, their son Michael, and his wife, Katie. Tim and Eleanor are expecting their first grandbaby in September!
When a group gathers on a regular basis, if anyone in the group happens to be a parent, this question will eventually surface. Trust me, this one will not go unanswered. It can be a deal breaker. Some will recruit an older child or a sitter to “watch the kids.” Some will venture beyond childcare to look for a more inclusive spiritual experience, and that is a search that can change the lives of every adult in the group. The first efforts might look like passing out popcorn and parking those kiddos in front of The Prince of Egypt video, so the grownups can engage in unfiltered and uninterrupted conversation. It's a great start. But let’s press pause and take a moment to consider the Prince of Egypt, you know, Moses.
Whether you’ve seen the DreamWorks animated film by that name, watched the Cecil B. DeMille epic, The Ten Commandments, or read the book of Exodus, you’ve probably concluded that the man they call Moses did not mince words. He’s my kind of guy. I love that after gathering the Israelites and setting before them the Ten Commandments (which I imagine would have been for them a bit overwhelming), Moses effectively pulled off the “but wait, there’s more!” He added:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
True to form, Moses made it extraordinarily clear who God is and what He wants in a relationship with us. Moses then went straight and unapologetically to the inclusion of one of my favorite people groups... children. For the big picture on little ones, fast-forward about 1000 years (give or take a century) to Galilean countryside where Jesus was on quite a roll denouncing the townspeople who would not recognize him as the Messiah, even after seeing him perform miracles.
When Jesus finished, he said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what You were pleased to do.” (Matthew 11:25-26)
“We lean into that inclusion because children are the ones to whom Christ has revealed Himself. It is us that need them. To fully worship, follow, and represent Jesus, we must to discover what He has shown them.”
Wait, what? The Author of Life has revealed the mysteries of God to children? He has, and not only to their children then, but to our children now. The cute and the not so cute.
The bright-eyed and the bored. The compliant and the cantankerous. The snuggler, the breaker, the big mischief-maker! Whether physically passing through the doorframes of our gatherings, or indirectly through the lives of others we know, those are our kids. Be they our own family members, our students, our neighborhood teenagers, or our friend’s toddlers - they are the ones Moses calls us to walk with daily, and the same ones to whom Jesus has revealed Himself as the Great I Am. If the mantra for the Church is “I Am = us for them, there”… then let’s get them there kids in here with us, shall we?
A word of caution - once you step through the doorframe of inclusion, there is no easy way out, and it can get pretty messy in there. Even so, we choose to walk through that door, not because it is the right thing to do, or because there are some tiny people in there requiring supervision, or even because Moses bestowed the responsibility of their spiritual leadership upon us, though in fact, it is, there are, and he did. We lean into that inclusion because children are the ones to whom Christ has revealed Himself. It is us that need them. To fully worship, follow, and represent Jesus, we must to discover what He has shown them.
Once through the doorway, it looks different for every gathering. I recently learned of one beautiful expression of the Church unfolding in a nearby home church. They have about 12 kids ranging from preschool to preteens. At their gatherings, everyone (including the kids) gather for the meal and the scripture reading. The kids ask questions about that scripture and the group grapples with the questions for as long as the attention spans allow. After that, the younger kids go and play while everyone else stays in the discussion to further unpack those questions. The Prince of Egypt would be proud.
Whether or not children attend our gatherings, we can take on the three challenges below with the minors God has placed in our lives, and then watch what God does.
Talk with them. Talk about who God is and what He has done. Share Bible stories and stories of what God has done in your life, so that they might draw closer to Him.
Listen to them. Listen carefully, especially to teens. Notice the people and the issues that they see, that perhaps we don't see. They can point us to the “them” Jesus wants us to serve.
Walk with them. This is the hard one. It requires transparency. More than learning what we know, they need to see who we are, and how we navigate our fallen selves through a fallen world with the new life Jesus has given to us. They need to walk with us, watching as we feel and fail and struggle and love. They need to fully see us, the Church, in all her glory with all her blemishes, so that they can fully lead her. And they will.
For tips on including and engaging children in a home church setting, go to: http://www.resourcewell.org/_resources/children/Tips_for_Getting_Started_at_Church_in_Your_Home.pdf