Church welcomes more children

Intergenerational connections are well worth the effort. For children, they build confidence that will serve them throughout their lives. At the same time, children’s participation beautifies and enriches our communal life today and encourages adults to let go of the pressure of perfection, practice patience and grace, and stay connected across generations. Children develop a sense of ownership in the Church, which makes future involvement feel natural.

So it wasn’t surprising to me that when I arrived at St. Timothy, North Toronto, the parish was eager to welcome more children. At the time, we saw about five children on Sundays, though many more were loosely connected.

Over the past two years, the programming at the church has grown into a multi-tiered ministry with age-specific offerings for preschoolers to teens, lay volunteers and a coordinator overseeing a roster of art professionals who lead short-term sessions (more on that below). Congregational support also emerged. A music programming fund was established in memory of a spouse; generous donations to the art program were made; and high school students joined us for volunteer hours and stayed long after. New families were easier to retain because of the momentum already present. This past year, we welcomed up to 30 children weekly, 80 on Easter, and a few even during the summer months.

To make this possible, my first decision was to be personally involved – teaching most of the children’s lessons during services, sitting with them at meals, sharing my hobbies and more. Beyond that, I shaped the program around five principles I developed over the past two years.

1. We moved away from a volunteer-led, didactic Sunday School to clergy-led, interactive children’s teaching within the main service. This ensures consistency with the lectionary, primes adults for the sermon and gives families a shared point of connection. Messages include hands-on elements such as magic tricks, liturgical items and videos, with highlights shared on Facebook. We sometimes introduce guests or new staff and wardens.

Afterwards, a child reads the first lesson from the International Children’s Bible, and the children split into groups. Younger children participate in arts-based activities led by hired professionals in drama, music, visual arts, cooking, gardening or dance, while older children and teens join a class led in turns by me, our lay associate or a volunteer with a theological or pedagogical background. This doubles as Confirmation preparation for those who are interested and even attracts a few adults as well. Everyone returns to the nave in time for Communion. A children’s programming coordinator manages logistics and summer coverage. Volunteers are present but no longer central to delivery. Hiring both a coordinator – the role that requires no theological training – and art professionals remains more cost-effective than employing even a half-time children’s minister.

2. The children’s contributions are not separate or decorative but are taken seriously and shared regularly. Every block of art programming results in artwork that is put on permanent display, and we aim for at least two major presentations – musical or dramatic – each year during the Sunday service. We regularly use the mass setting that the children co-wrote with guidance from a composer. The children read, serve and lead prayers alongside adults. At every service, children lead the choir into the nave carrying liturgical objects – crosses, candles, a bible, banners they embroidered themselves – ensuring each child has a role. Vesting is not required for the children, allowing spontaneous participation. Teens help with live streaming.

3. We invested in dedicated spaces that are age-appropriate but not segregated. The church library became a children’s room, retaining books but adding toys, carpeting and art supply storage. A transept was renamed and dedicated as the Children’s Chapel, with a small altar and displays of children’s artwork and sculpture. I added several of my own paintings to diversify representation, including a Black Madonna and child and Stations of the Cross featuring female characters.

4. Although children are fully integrated into regular worship, we also offer relaxed services designed to be intergenerational. These began as Saturday evening liturgies with pizza but were moved to Sunday mornings, as families preferred to worship with the full congregation. We now offer them quarterly, on Back-to-Church Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, Christmas Eve, Good Friday, Pentecost/Trinity and at the end of the school year. We use simplified liturgies, the kids gather around the altar during the Eucharist, and the children’s message and homily are combined.

5. When something no longer works, we adapt. The Easter Vigil was moved to 6 p.m., making it accessible for families and leading to consistent participation by children in readings, as servers and in baptisms. Monthly Saturday services became quarterly Sunday events. A standing children’s choir didn’t take hold, but short-term music programming thrives. Casual youth group gatherings didn’t engage the children, so we are creating a youth group focused on planning and fundraising for a spring retreat. As the original cohort aged out of arts-based programming, we added more theological content and explicit instruction. When the Godly Play-style Stations of the Cross grew too long, we separated the children’s activity from the adult liturgy.

This ministry took two years to develop, and I believe that its success lies in treating children as fully-fledged, contributing members of the congregation today – not some day in the future – welcoming the gifts of the community, layering approaches and remaining flexible. Even without many resources, I believe any parish that adopts this philosophy and implements even one of the five strategies I have outlined will enrich the lives of its children and the congregation as a whole.