7. Liturgies
Liturgies with which adult congregations and musicians have become familiar will initially at first appear inaccessible to children and young people. Services which do not allow children to engage, participate and contribute can be a reason for them not to turn up.
With a little careful thought and planning, liturgies can be chosen or adapted to involve children and young people more fully, allow their voices to be heard, and help them to grow in faith and commitment.
What children want out of liturgy
At the risk of generalisation, children – younger ones in particular – like familiar structures and feel comfortable within them. If they have a sense of how long a service is likely to continue, and what is expected of them and when, then they are more likely to stay engaged. Conversely, a service which appears shapeless and endless can leave them listless, and too much content which doesn’t directly involve them or is hard to understand can put them off coming back. Relatively short, clear in structure, lots of opportunities to get involved, with plenty of content to make them think, but without consistently going over their heads – these are the building blocks of liturgies with which children can happily engage. So choose carefully the services in which you try initially to involve your younger musicians.
Adapting liturgies
You should be prepared to develop your existing liturgies to ensure greater accessibility when children are present.
- Eucharistic services can appear ‘wordy’ to young ears, but they can easily be adapted. You might reduce the number of readings, shorten them or take them from a more accessible translation of the Bible. Better still, get the children to read the lessons or present them interactively. The sermon from a pulpit might become two-way discussion at ground level. The intercessions might be written and delivered by the children themselves, bringing their voices into the centre of the church’s prayer life.
- Evensong, already a relatively short office, can be shortened further by having fewer hymns, and substituting a short homily or reflection for the sermon.
- Churches which are less centred on traditional liturgies have plenty of flexibility to design services which speak clearly to children and young people, involve them fully and work with their attention spans.
