Little Hands, Big Faith, and a Place to Belong
If you’ve ever sat near a child during worship, you already know they take in church a little differently than the rest of us. They wiggle. They whisper questions (or don’t whisper them). They draw on the bulletin, and every so often one of them says something the whole room hears. But they’re paying attention more than we give them credit for. They’re watching how we pray, how we sing, and how we treat each other, and they’re figuring out what it means to be part of a church family.
Here at Pittman Park, we want our kids in worship. We don’t mean “once they can sit still” or “once they’re old enough to follow the sermon.” We mean now, wiggles and all. The Fellowship Hall and the Sanctuary belong to them too, and we want them to grow up knowing that.
That’s a big reason we’ve started putting out Share Pouches in both worship spaces. Each zipper pouch has creative toys for quiet play with bible-based themes. We’ll be switching out what’s inside over the course of the year so it lines up with the church seasons and sermon series. Yes, they’ll help keep little hands occupied, but they’ll also help children feel valued and connected to the worship going on around them.
We’d love your help with this. There’s a reason we called them Share Pouches. If a child is sitting near you, hand them one. Help them pick out an activity. Ask what they’re drawing. Or just tell them you’re glad they came. You don’t need to be a parent or a children’s ministry volunteer to make a kid feel welcome. A lot of the time, it just takes one grown-up who notices them.
Every time we baptize a child, all of us stand up and promise to help raise that child in the faith. We keep that promise in Sunday school and in our children’s programs, but we keep it in our worship services, too, right there in the pews and chairs. Kids learn to worship by worshiping with us. They pick up how to pray from hearing us pray and how to sing from hearing us sing. And they come to love the church because the people in it loved them first.
In Matthew 19:14, Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me.” He didn’t tell them to settle down first, and he didn’t tell them to come back when they were older. He just welcomed them. Then Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
May we learn as we teach, and remember that we grow in faith together. We’re not trying to raise kids who can make it through a service without fidgeting. We’re raising kids who know this church is theirs.
That’s a job for all of us.
Rev. Stephanie Smith,
Family Ministry Pastor, Youth Director