Book: Forbid Them Not: Involving Children in Sunday Worship

Carolyn C. Brown. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993. $19.95. Based on the Revised Common Lectionary. Three volumes, for Years A, B, and C.

Whether or not your congregation follows the lec-tionary, your worship planning team—and congregation—will benefit greatly from these excellent ideas for involving children in congregational worship. Each Sunday of the Christian Year is given three pages of creative and helpful suggestions.

The great strength of Brown's approach is that she starts in the best possible place: with the Scripture readings for the day, briefly explicating them "from a child's point of view." Then follow "Watch Words" (vocabulary helps), "Let the Children Sing" (hymn suggestions accessible to children that fit the theme), "The Liturgical Child" (loads of ideas for dramatic readings, prayers, and various ways to make the Scripture come alive for children and adults), and "Sermon Resources" (to be integrated in the "real" sennon, rather than a separate children's sermon). Finally, each Sunday comes with a reproducible 8 1/2" x 11" activity sheet for children, also tied to the scriptural theme.

Get one volume first to give it a try in worship planning meetings; you may decide soon that you could benefit from having all three.

Emily R. Brink was a Senior Research Fellow for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and former editor of Reformed Worship.

 

Reformed Worship 36 © June 1995, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Used by permission.