3. Creating Pathways
Maybe there are already families and children in your church, and existing activities in which they are involved. Or maybe you are looking to attract new families and children in from outside – if your work in music is truly mission-based, you should in any case be looking to connect with children and young people who are not already involved.
Whatever the current situation, you will need to build collaborations and pathways which make it easy for children and young people to find their way into becoming involved in the church’s musical activities.
Start with existing families
If your church is already successfully working with children and families, whether in formal worship or not, take that as your starting point. Do you have a Messy Church, Junior Church, Youth Clubs, parents and toddlers groups, holiday clubs or social gatherings involving families or parents? Work with those responsible for such groups, offering music activities as an enhancement or extension of the church’s mission and ministry, and a way of maintaining a meaningful connection with children as they develop and look for new expressions of involvement in the faith life of the church.
Collaborate with outside bodies
Are there music groups for children in your town, with which you could collaborate to extend their provision, or to support them with personnel, resources or a venue? Can you create your own opportunities for children to get involved in one-off musical activities in your church? Perhaps consider working with others to offer a holiday club built around music making. Are you personally involved in an adult choir that performs concerts at your church? Seek to involve local children in one of your concerts. Give kids an opportunity and a platform to sing or play in church, and build on their delight and that of their parents. Have publicity ready about how they can sing there again, on a more regular basis, and what they can gain from it.
Partner with a school
The very best thing you can try to do is form an ongoing partnership with a primary school. Few schools have much musical expertise on the staff roll. If you or someone else involved in your project can spare the time, offer to play the piano for regular assemblies or a special event. Better still, offer to form and run a choir or other music group, built around accessible church music appropriate to the age groups you are working with, which they can use in assemblies. Consider what Hymnpact! from the RSCM has to offer in this regard. As children become familiar with the styles of music with which you are working, you can build a pool of potential recruits to your church choir or music group. By working in this way, you are making available a deeper, richer set of musical experiences and learning than children would otherwise have. The best schools and teachers will ‘get’ this readily, and welcome the life opportunities that your work generates.
Some points to consider when approaching a school
- Don’t over-commit: be sure you have the time and resources to deliver, so that you don’t regret it later.
- Prioritise schools with some church links already, especially church-maintained schools.
- If you don’t have connections with a school, get a personal introduction via someone who does.
- Have ready to share successful models of collaboration elsewhere – your own, or someone else’s.
- Listen to what the school itself particularly needs, and build it into what you can offer.
- Don’t expect a one-off visit to deliver recruits to your church. You’ll need to engage children for longer.
- Emphasise the extra, life-enhancing learning and growth opportunities you can provide beyond school.
