How can we make church more engaging for Youth, Children and Families?

The heading above is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive in our office. Although there are still some priests out there who maintain the view that church is not something which is meant to be enjoyed - that's why it's called a 'service', they say - the vast majority are pragmatic enough to realise that if families don't enjoy coming to church, they won't come!

As a rule, Anglicans in our Diocese are bound by the Prayer Book (the most recent of which is the 1995 A Prayer Book for Australia) in terms of how we are allowed to conduct services, especially those with Holy Communion on offer, and there are plenty of good reasons for having some rules - for example, I had a serious conversation with someone recently on whether Communion for a young congregation could be done with chips and Coke instead of bread and wine.  (In case you're wondering, no, I didn't think that one would fly...)

So what follows is a collection of the most popular responses to the FAQ.  Some are clearly best for a local Anglican setting, but others could apply right across the board.  None is necessarily better than another - what works in one church won't always work in another.

1. If in doubt, be intergenerational. If you've never heard of 'intergenerational ministry', you could start by reading the Wikipedia entry here. After that, the best sources of explanation in my opinion are the book "Intergenerational Christian Formation" by Holly Allen and Christine Ross (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), and the websites of John Roberto (more about his work below). Another way to think of it is as an "all-age" church service. This does not mean a "children's service" to which adults are dragged reluctantly, but a service which features not only something for as many age-groups as possible, but, importantly, features meaningful interaction between them - shared learning, shared fellowship, shared fun, shared service, etc.

a. Here's a guide for planning intergenerational services (from Mary Jo Zwar and the UCA, SA).

b. Here's a very practical booklet of advice on Intergenerational Worship, from Ps. Matt Thiele, currently of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Buderim, Qld (ichurch.net.au)

2. If we want to hold an engaging service including Holy Communion, what does the current Anglican Prayerbook allow us to do?

a. Based on the info above, you could always hold regular Prayerbook-based services, but aim to include people of as many ages as possible, including whole "households" or families. (I'm grateful to Terry Williams from SU Qld/International for the idea of referring to "households" as a unit within churches, as a household can be one person, avoiding singles feeling excluded from the concept of "families".)  Rosters should be composed of whole households whenever possible - household members could cover the welcoming, or the readings, or the intercessions, or the morning tea provision, etc.

b. It's not exactly a loophole, but p.813 of the APBA sets out an order for Holy Communion which could allow for a considerable amount of flexibility in practice, though I note it is "not primarily intended for use at the principal Sunday celebration".

c.  Every so often, someone shows me a 'family friendly' Order of Service which they claim has been approved for use in our Diocese or Region. I am pretty sceptical about most of these, but I believe this one is legit across Australia, when authorised for use by a diocesan bishop.

d. See the Messy Church options below.

3. John Roberto's resources.

John is one of the world's leading experts in intergenerational faith formation. His curated resources are almost all on-line and freely available, with his major website being reimaginefaithformation.com.  A large number of resources for intergenerational ministry and worship may be found here. I particularly like his regular on-line magazine on Life-Long Faith Formation, which can be read or subscribed to here. It features articles describing authentic church experiences from around the world, including Australia. Definitely worth a browse.

4. Ask around (or just listen!) It is great to hear about churches exploring new ways of engaging with families. After I heard a rumour about one church doing it well, I asked their Youth and Children's Minister if she would write me a short report. Here's what she wrote:

"Here at Sunnybank we have an intergenerational service that we've termed our "All-In Service". It happens once a month, normally at the end of the month, or unless we have a celebrational service like Easter or Pentecost, then we hold it on those days instead. We run it during our Sunday morning 9am service, which is the service that normally runs our Kids Club program.

The service, though still keeping with the Anglican tradition, is modified slightly to accommodate for the inclusive style of the service and essentially becomes a lot more interactive for the congregation. For example the songs that are chosen are played by our youth band, our lovely organist, and on lyric videos, and range from hymns to contemporary worship tracks, and the rest of the service reflects this. The sermon that Stephen preaches is deliberately written to reach a wide range of age groups, the service itself is projected so that everyone can see, the communion is quite simple and reflective, and interactive prayers, such as the releasing of balloons on Pentecost, are all used to encapsulate the central theme and the lectionary readings for the day. 

Our All-In services also encourage our congregation members to step into new roles and to be involved in the service. We ask families to do intercessory prayers on whatever topic they choose (even if it's just little Eve asking God to "bwess the world"), we ask church members to partake in either reading or acting out the bible readings for the day, and if we hold special activities after the service our church members are actively involved in organising and running these too. So far we've had Family Fun Days complete with coffee vans and jumping castles, a visit from [singer/musician] Dan Warlow, and we're about to start advertising for our Treas-ARR Sunday in July.

We've found that All-In Services have really resonated with the people here at Sunnybank. They bring joy and excitement to our parish, and are a great opportunity for people to invite friends and family to church. For those that find this type of service is a little out of their comfort zone, they whole-heartedly pray for our All-In Service and send their support in whatever way they can. We wouldn't be able to run these types of services without our church's encouragement and support.

All-In Services are such a blessing to our parish and have become a big part of our Sunday ministry."

How good is that?  I applaud the willingness of the priest and the people to explore ways of balancing tradition and innovation to engage with the families in their community and make worship meaningful and inclusive.

5. I've probably written about Messy Church before, because I really love it so much. The major UK Messy Church website explains everything, or there are more local versions to explore. For the uninitiated, Messy Church is a style of worship which is built around five key values: it is All-Age, Christ-Centred, and offers Creativity, Hospitality and a sense of Celebration throughout. Many churches across many denominations have found offering Messy Church a great way to form a Christian bridge with families in their area who wouldn't otherwise be likely to attend a worship service.

Some Messy Church services offer Holy Communion, though it is not common. If you would like to see how it's done, you're invited to St Matthew's Sherwood (in Brisbane) at 9am on the third Sunday of every month (and on Christmas Eve). Recommended!

For more advice on anything you've read above, don't hesitate to contact your AYCF team by email at info@aycf.org.au or call +61 (07) 3514 7432.  Every blessing on your efforts to take the Holy Spirit's lead in making your church more engaging for youth, children and families!