Wondering how to engage kids in worship?
Seeking new ways to support your children’s faith development?
Join us in Making Meaning Together.
We believe that children are theologians.
From the beginning, children make meaning in response to their experiences with God. Children understand and experience God in worship. As we listen to and honor children, we lean into wonder, imagination, play, and creativity.
Listen to Children
We seek to equip and inspire leaders through experiential learning, collaboration, and support to discover beautiful possibilities for inclusive, intergenerational worship that values children. We facilitate trainings, lead cohort groups, provide coaching, and curate a library of resources for leaders in the work like you.
Develop Leaders
Create New Possibilities
We aim to inspire congregations into a spirit of play, wonder, and imagination that invites intergenerational corporate worship and prayer. Through partnerships with churches, new possibilities will emerge through processes of listening, envisioning, designing, and experimenting in your unique context.
“Some think worship is boring.
I think it’s fun. I get to be with my family and with God.
This is how I know God loves me.”
Children can claim God’s active presence in their lives through ritual and liturgy in worship. Participating in the Making Meaning Together (MMT) Initiative can enrich your church’s ministry with children by fostering their spiritual growth through creating worship experiences and prayer practices that incorporate the arts, storytelling, and creative practices welcoming to children.
“You recognize we all
learn differently, thank you.
I wish my teachers knew that.”
In many places, there is still a gap between what we believe (theology) and what we do (praxis). We see this gap when worship is designed for one specific learning preference, or when children are put in front of adults as performance instead of as an opportunity to honor God at work within them and the rest of the community. What might be possible when new prayers are introduced, when new songs are sung, or when we envision worship that is no longer only adult-centric or child-centric, not performative but participatory?
“We get to be ourselves, and we get to meet Jesus.”
Children flourish when included in faith-forming rituals and practices and when they are invited into the work of loving God, neighbor, and the wide world around them. When people of all ages bring their gifts to the holy space as the faith community gathers to dance, sing, laugh, and cry, the entire Body of Christ thrives, growing closer to God, each other, the world God has created, and being transformed as they themselves participate in the Divine work of transformation.
Churches selected through the application process will receive seed money to help implement creative and intentional ways to include children in worship. We estimate space for 60 churches who will be able to utilize this seed money to create their own project from the Rio Texas and Michigan Conference. This funding empowers churches to explore how and why children’s participation is vital to their spiritual growth while providing the support needed to bring their vision to life.
The MMT initiative is guided by experienced leaders, Rev. Kathy Pittenger (Michigan Conference) and Rev. Dr. Tanya Campen (Rio Texas Conference), who are passionate about helping churches create vibrant, child-centered worship experiences.
