Family worship services offer a great opportunity for intergenerational worship and to teach kids what it means to be part of the body of Christ. But family services are often new experiences for families and leaders alike, and they can be intimidating for everyone involved. If you really want to make your families hate attending your service, just do these 3 things…
- Don’t communicate with parents. Parents probably have a lot of questions about what a family service may entail. How long will it last? What if their kids are noisy? What if the kids can’t sit still? Don’t address any of these questions ahead of time; families will figure it out when they arrive.
- Work to keep kids quiet. Rather than engaging kids and inviting them into the service, do what you can to provide activities and busy bags that keep them distracted long enough for the service to be over. Don’t consider changing the flow of service for your family worship service, and treat kids like noisy guests.
- Try to do it all yourself. You’re the children’s pastor, so it’s your sole responsibility to address the kids in attendance at a family worship service. The senior pastor, worship pastor, and other staff members don’t need to change anything.
OK, OK, so obviously, you don’t want to do any of these things. You want to do the opposite, in fact! Communicate with parents, engage kids in the service, and remember it’s a team effort.
Want to dive deeper into these ideas and learn how to practically apply them to your ministry? Consider downloading access to our online ministry training all about including, not just occupying, kids in a family service! Learn more here.
Looking for other resources for hosting a family worship service? Check out some of these:
- A complete Guide to Family Worship
- Parent Note to ease parents’ worries
- Ideas for what to include in your Worship Activity Bags
- Emoji Sermon Notes for Kids (free printable!)
- Sermon Notes for Kids Printable Pack
- Sermon Notes Bundle (Including pages for Pre-Readers!)
- Looking for activity pages based on a specific passage of Scripture? Browse our available library here.
- List of my favorite sermon notes for kids resources
- On-screen games the whole family will love!
- A free “Fidget-Friendly Zone” sign you can use to reserve a special section in your worship space for families with littles.
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