The following are ideas from HCDL subscribers on the perennial house church question, "What do you do with the kids." We hope you will find ideas here that will be of use in your own home churches. The newest ideas will always appear at the top of the page.
We'd also like to hear from readers about ideas that have worked for you in your own home churches. Just click on the icon below to write to us. Please make your submission relatively brief and very practical!
Yesterday, I did a teaching about bearing one another's burdens. I asked each person to bring something small, heavy, and unbreakable to home church. I spread a bedsheet on the floor, and then asked people to talk about what sorts of burdens we all have to carry in our lives. There were all sorts of suggestions - fear, anger, loneliness, other people (at times), our jobs, school, etc. I wrote each suggestion on a piece of paper, and then taped it to one of the heavy objects and had a kid put it on the sheet.
After awhile, I tied the ends of the sheet together, and asked the kids to try to lift it. The little ones couldn't lift it, and even the older ones had a hard time. Then, I put a big dowel rod under the knot, and had five kids try to lift the burdens together. Obviously, it was much easier, and we talked about how God wants us to help one another carry our burdens.
Joann Hnat
3/3/97
A few months ago at home church, I did a teaching about the Lord's Supper. I brought all the makings for yeast bread, and we all went into the kitchen and made a loaf of bread together. While I made the bread (and let the kids help knead), we talked about how Jesus is the Bread of Life. We talked about how a little yeast leavens the whole loaf, and how salt gives flavor to the whole. We talked about how God provides our daily bread, and we talked about how Jesus allowed his body to be broken for us.
Once I had mixed the bread and set it out to rise, I took grapes and had the kids crush the grapes to make juice. (We didn't wait for it to become wine!) We talked about how Jesus allowed his blood to be spilled for us.
Just before lunch together, we all shared the bread and juice we'd made, as the Lord's Supper.
Betsy Retallack
3/3/97
I realized how much our house church emphasizes gifts or talents in the children. We seem to keep an eye open for whatever the young person expresses an interest in, and then we encourage them to develop that gift or talent, and to use it as part of our house church worship. For example, there is a 13-year-old girl who has been labelled as "fetal alcohol effected." She has not wanted to participate in the worship. But she is pretty good at the piano, after only a few lessons, and now she is excited about playing along with us next time. I want to encourage you all to keep looking for various gifts and talents in the children who worship with you, and make a special point to let them express worship in their own different ways.
- James Eubank
1/26/97
People are frequently asking for ideas that work well with the children, so I thought I would share what worked in our house church this evening. The adults were winding down a little discussion about "telling the truth in love," and the children were wiggling with wonder, hoping something "better" was coming up soon. I stood up and announced that in ten minutes there would be a visitor coming in. This visitor is from another planet - a planet where the people are kind, friendly, easy to get along with, but they have never heard of God. When this visitor comes in, he wants you to tell him about this "God" he has heard of. Oh, by the way, on his planet the children are considered to be the wisest ones, so he will listen better if the children tell him about God. And he will understand better if you can SHOW him something about God, not just tell him.
When I came back in ten minutes, dressed up silly, the children did just that. They told me about God! And it was understandable! And it sounded like such good news that I left right away for my home planet to tell the others there about God. You get the picture - it turned out to be a fun time and a learning time, both for children and adults. Thank you Lord for that simple idea.
James Eubank
1/19/97