AN UNPREACHED SERMON (217)
This week’s mini message is based on something I was thinking about when away on a recent holiday. My thinking was confirmed by an article on the subject in the most recent edition of The Evangelical Times. It also includes material from a recent Homiletics lecture delivered to the FM students in Edinburgh. I don’t always give these weekly messages a title, but do so this time: “Remembering the Children”.
PROBLEMS AND PRACTICALITIES.
By and large, children’s talks in worship services are a 19th century invention. There is a tendency to imagine that they have always been an integral part of Christian services. But a strong case can be made for those who insist that children in worship services should be part of all that is going on in a service and simply imbibe the spirit and atmosphere of the service. It is noteworthy that several of Paul’s letters include sections directed specifically to children and young people (Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:20). Presumably, he expected the children to be there when the letter was read out at the worship.
More seriously, children’s talks are educationally suspect. It encourages the idea that “this is the children’s bit”. But it raises questions about why we train teaching staff and ask them to prepare thoroughly for each lesson. Allied to this is the serious criticism that too many preachers are unable to speak to children. They are not trained for it nor any good at doing it. Often, such talks are hastily prepared late Saturday night, and come across as such. At all costs, avoid the banal, the ridiculous and the theologically spurious.
ALTERNATIVES AND OCCASIONS.
Preachers should make full use of every opportunity to relate to and engage with children apart for traditional children’s addresses. The occasional word to the children from the preacher is helpful and comes across with great force when it happens infrequently. All-age (not children’s) services are another excellent way for preachers to “pull out all the stops” from time to time. But congregations should be discouraged from expecting such addresses every week. Summer holiday clubs and occasional input to a regular midweek children’s meeting are also good opportunities.
OBJECTIONS AND SOLUTIONS.
The children’s address can take up a disproportionate amount of service time. It can leave the impression that what happens after they leave for the hall is only for grown- ups. This runs counter to what we believe about Christian baptism and infant dedication. Having warmly received them into the fellowship of Christ’s church we hastily get them out of the sanctuary so we can get on with the adult business.
Whether children are present for the whole service or only a part, there should be an emphasis on simplicity and with language and ideas they can grasp. The intellectual and spiritual capabilities of children should never be underestimated. Most adults have not themselves progressed much further in their grasp of the faith beyond that of the average teenager. Brevity always makes an impact and drives home one main idea to young minds. Think child!
TECHNIQUE AND PRESENTATION.
Far better than stories-with-a-moral, are simple Bible stories re-told. The great stories of scripture are almost unknown to the majority. Living as we do at a time when no real biblical substance is given at school or at home, there is a wealth of material ready to be re-cast and re-told. A former Bishop of Gloucester, talked about the indispensables. “As we sit down to prepare a children’s talk, visualising the children in front of us, we ask ourselves three questions:
Will this INTEREST them so they want to listen?
Will it be INTELLIGIBLE so they understand what I am saying?
How can I use my IMAGINATION to make it stay in their minds?
Life to children is a series of particular, concrete experiences including the experience of being in church. This psychological fact must be kept in mind as we prepare. The telling of a Bible story can usually be divided up into various scenes. This aids the preacher in the telling and the children in the listening. If you can “see” it, so will they. We often speak about the children in our congregations as “the church of the future” but it is more accurate to see them as “the church of today”.
“Train up children in the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
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