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Basic features
The Children's Service never lasts more than 30 minutes. It
is usually very noisy indeed. The first 10 minutes are formal
and familiar - a mini-Mattins. The reading, however, is from
the Lion Children's Bible. Parents and children follow the
story from one of the 100 pew Bibles. Instead of a talk, the
story is then acted out. There is a great emphasis on dressing
up and unrehearsed audience participation. The service has
its own "Wardrobe Mistress" and a lively organist.
A former cinema organist, he plays a Yamaha Clavinova rather
than the main Chelsea Old Church organ. From September 1998,
children will be sent home with a drawing of the story for
home-colouring during the week. With the drawing will be a
basic fact list so that parents can re-tell the Sunday story
in their own way. By the end of the year we will have available
a year-long draft syllabus ("Take Home Message")
of stories, drawings, ideas and facts. This will be published
on the parish internet homepage as a service to the considerable
Old Church diaspora.
Philosophy
The Children's Service is targeted at young children (of 5-8)
but babies and older children are more than welcome. The first
priority is for children to enjoy themselves. (One American
mother recently complained that "Billy keeps bugging
me to go to Church".) The second priority is to familiarise
children with the major stories and themes of the Old and
New Testaments - to repair the biblical ozone layer; to correct
widespread biblical illiteracy. There is no attempt to moralise
or to draw out spiritual implications. A-story-is-a-story-is-a-story-is-a-story.
Children leave the church on Sunday mornings having enjoyed
the story of Noah and the Rainbow, Samson and Delilah, David
and Goliath, Jesus teaching the disciples to fish for men
and so forth. Sometimes they bring their pets and plants.
Once a year we have two donkeys. We resist the temptation
to aim at several targets. The service is for 5-8 year old
children who do not work well with abstracts or concepts.
They react best to good role models in good stories.
In our short service the children
- Follow the story in the simplified and illustrated pew
Bible
- Hear some straightforward word-echoes (eg. to the Good
Shepherd) in the hymns and songs
- Go over the story again in the play which is completely
unrehearsed and relies on questions and prizes and volunteers
("Who wants to be Jesus?").
AUGUST
As usual in
AUGUST, the CHILDREN'S SERVICES will take a break for the
summer. They will recommence on Sunday 7 September
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