Why Children Should Worship

Children are uniquely equipped to enter into the mystery of worship. Yet the Christian church has often considered children to be less than essential to the worshiping community. The following article explains why and how children can be included as full participants in the worshiping community. My family attended the worship service at Duke University Chapel one Sunday. Although we were looking forward to being away from our regular worship responsibilities and being part of worship at Duke Chapel, we were a little apprehensive about how our seven-year-old daughter would respond to this new worship environment with its Gothic architecture, different ministers, and unfamiliar order of worship. As we entered the chapel, we were given two orders of worship, one for adults and one for children. The children's worship guide,"Elementary Worship," was informally prepared with pictures, explanations, space for responses by the child in words and drawings, words to responses and creeds known…