Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Creating Home: A Program on Developing a Sense of Home Grounded in Faith for Grades K-1

Faith In Action: Joining In Worship - Short-term

Part of Creating Home

Activity time: 60 minutes

Preparation for Activity

  • Choose a specific worship service at your congregation for the Creating Home group to attend together with you.
  • Especially if your congregational worship does not normally include children, work with your minister or lay worship leaders to plan how the children will participate. Be sure to talk with the lay leaders responsible for ushering, clean-up and coffee hour about how their duties can incorporate children.
  • Optional: Plan this activity for a worship service that will include a child dedication. Make sure the Creating Home children have a chance to sit up front so they can see and fully participate in the service.

Description of Activity

If Creating Home meets during your congregation's worship time, you can structure this project as an on-site "field trip." If congregational worship happens at another time, make arrangements for families to bring the Creating Home children to a specific worship service. Have parents bring the children to your meeting space, or another location outside the worship space, so you can meet with all the children and take them into the worship service as a group.

If you like, gather the children to help tidy the worship space when the service has finished. Explain that you will be caring for the faith home by cleaning the worship space, which is shared by everyone in the faith community. Show the children how to help straighten chairs, pick up scrap paper, recycle service bulletins, and rearrange the chalice and lighting materials. When the children are finished, ask them how it feels to care for their faith home worship space.