Kids Speak

Child Research that was conducted in Spring 2024 as part of the Wonder of Worship grant.
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These findings come from eight different churches throughout the United States: Georgia, Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
 
On pieces of paper the children were invited to answer some of these questions as they entered the room:
 
What do you like the most about worship in your church? The most written answer was “communion” followed by “singing”
 
What do you like the least about worship in your church? The most written answer was “the sermon”, which may not be surprising, although one child expressed it this way “too many big words that I can’t understand—words that I don’t know.” Another popular answer to this question was “sitting there for one hour or waiting a long time.”
 
How do you participate in worship? “Listening” was by far the answer most often written. This was followed by “praying” and “singing.” Some also cited times and places specifically set aside for them such as a prayground, time for children, or children’s chapel. Almost none of them listed leadership roles even in churches that frequently invited children to be ushers, liturgists, or acolytes.
 
Where do you most connect with God? This activity was done in one of two ways. If meeting with the children at a time and day when the church was not busy, I invited them to take me on a tour of the church and we took instant pictures of places where they connected with God. These were often at the communion table or at thresholds of entering the church. Sometimes they were outside near a cross or other marker of faith. Sometimes we went to their classroom or a place of play.
 
In churches where I was there on a Sunday morning, the children drew pictures of where they most connected with God. Here we were not confined to the church facility. Here are some of their drawings: