A church can be a wonderful, life-giving community to be a part of, but there can sometimes be a disconnect between the community that adults experience at church and the way that kids experience that same group of people. While there are many reasons this might happen, each of which requires different approaches to resolve, sometimes simply getting kids to engage in worship and talk to fellow church members about church-related topics can be very helpful. The Kids Celebrate bulletins that accompany All Creation Sings aim to encourage kids to connect with the rest of the congregation over activities that balance worship and silliness.

The Kids Celebrate: Worship bulletin has an activity called “Worship Community Scavenger Hunt” on pages 14 and 15. This activity encourages kids to collect signatures from people who play a variety of roles in a worshiping community, such as those who preach, pray, were baptized here, prepare the bread and wine for communion, etc. This helps kids understand and appreciate the many parts that go into making church happen. Similarly, on page 12 of Kids Celebrate: Hymns and Songs, kids are encouraged to take note of who makes the music in church.

On the sillier side, pages 10 and 11 of the Kids Celebrate: Creation bulletin contain a Mad Libs-style prayer that asks for contributions such as “the favorite color of a grown-up sitting near you” and “the favorite land animal of someone with short hair.” Other bulletins also prompt kids to talk to fellow members of the congregation: The Kids Celebrate: Hymns and Songs bulletin has an activity on page 3 where kids are supposed to ask about other people’s favorite hymns, and the Kids Celebrate: The Trinity bulletin has two activities where kids ask other people questions about the Trinity—one focusing on how people describe the different persons of the Trinity, and the other focusing on which person of the Trinity different people feel closest to.

We hope that these resources will help the kids in your congregation feel more connected to the adults around them, and also that kids will come away realizing how important each member is to the body of Christ.