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Tag Archives: Verkosto

Kids in Church

31 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by laceduplutheran in Church

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

children, church, Communion, Confirmation, Elizabeth Rowlings, eucharist, family, Kallio kirkko, pastor, sacrament, Sunday, Verkosto, worship, Zion Lutheran

Being a seminarian and having a family with four children makes our family stick out usually.  “My, that’s a big family these days,” is a typical expression. I don’t know if it’s a compliment or some kind of slight that is supposed to imply something. I usually just agree with the person offering it and move on.

Our family goes to church most Sundays.  There are some exceptions from time to time, but generally you can find us at church at some point on the weekend.  It really just depends on when the service is offered.  And being overseas can complicate the matter a little.  We try to find a service in English so the kids won’t feel too lost.

Having our kids in church is important to us.  They don’t always want to go, but they do come along and sometimes actually enjoy it.

I know I’m not the only one who takes their children to church – this is not something novel.  Elizabeth Rowlings wrote a great article on getting kids to willingly come to church.

Here are my own insights into getting kids to church from a different perspective – a future pastor’s perspective.  Here’s what I want to do as a future pastor to encourage families with children and make sure they feel welcome in attending church.

1. A seminary professor once told a class I was in that architecture trumps theology every time.  So true.  When it comes to children that means we have to think about how to be creative with the spaces we have in church.  I have seen many churches do this effectively and I think they do a great job.

Here’s one example from a Kallio kirkko, in Helsinki, Finland:Kallio Kirkko, HelsinkiAcross the Atlantic in the US, I can highlight my home congregation, Zion Lutheran in Etters, PA, USA.  Our pastor had the first pew removed and made a young kids-friendly space.  Talk about making it obvious that families are welcome!

2. Kids involved in worship.  Not just on youth Sunday either.  If we want to send the message that children are important, then what better way to do that than through actions – like involving children in worship as often as possible.

3. Spending time with children – This doesn’t mean I will be teaching every Sunday School class there is – but I can make a time investment in other ways.

4. Speaking of Sunday School, maybe its time to rethink how Christian education happens.

5. Sacramental stuff – I have no theological problem with having children receive communion.  Whoever came up with idea that you had to fully understand what was going on in order to receive communion had a nice idea, but really – do we honestly think that most adults fully understand what’s happening in the Eucharist?

6. Confirmation – I’ve seen too many Confirmation programs that just seem physically painful for everyone involved – students, the pastor, parents, etc.  Like Sunday School, maybe it’s time to rethink how this happens and when.

So, now that I have that wonderful list, here’s the other part of the list that is important – the consequences.

1. People have to be willing to have noise in church.  If you are going to children, then there is going to be noise.  There is no way around that.  And if there is going to be children in church, there is going to be plenty of movement around the church.  Little ones will wander, adults will chase.  Other children will be lying around, playing, etc.  I saw one church deal with this effectively – Verkosto – it’s a blend of Lutheran and Pentecostal services in Helsinki.  The church wants children in the service and no one has any issue with the lively and noisy nature of that decision.

2. People have to be willing to have imperfection in worship.  Children don’t have nearly as much experience at doing things as adults.  They make mistakes.  Guess what, so do adults – it’s just that adults think that mistakes are not allowed in worship.  As if we are supposed to hide our humanness from God or something.  When children are involved in worship, stuff is going to happen and that’s ok.  And it’s ok for adults too.

3. It’s not all about the children.  The idea is not to focus on one group of people – i.e. children.  The idea is to welcome all to come to worship.  Typically children get the shaft on this in too many churches.  If we take a little time to see how children can be welcome, then maybe we’ll also think about how we welcome the stranger, the visitor, the elderly, the divorced, the outcast, etc.  There are a great many people out there.

Verkosto Service

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by laceduplutheran in Church, Finland

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christian, community, eucharist, Helsinki, Jesus, Lutheran, munkkivuori, Pentecostal, singing, Verkosto

On Sunday evening I attended the Verkosto worship service in Munkkivuori, Helsinki.  It was a unique worship service here in Finland and I was glad to have gone. As far as I know it is a one of a kind worshiping community in Finland.

A little info on the service – It’s a unique mixture of Pentecostal worship and Lutheran liturgy.  It’s not often that you sing a Chris Tomlin song (in Finnish) to open the praise music, hear a sermon intermixed with the readings, and participate in Eucharistic liturgy all in one service.

Here’s my takeaways from worship:

1. The first impression is important.  In this case, the first impression carried through the entire experience.  People were warm, welcoming, and glad to be there.  The people, and the culture of the worshiping community are authentic in a very real way.

2. It’s a diverse community.  One sign of a healthy church community is that it has multiple generations.  Verkosto has that – young, old, middle-aged, children, you name it.

3. People are actually welcomed here – I mentioned this in point 1, but it’s worth repeating.  You can tell this not just by being greeted and spoken with at the door, but you can see it throughout the service.  For example, children.  Children are noisy and they like to be constantly moving.  The Verkosto community has no problem with this.  I saw children in the aisle from time to time and standing on the pews making noise too.  No one thought anything of it.

4. Liturgy can mix with non-liturgy – if it fits of the context of the community.  This service is such a unique mixture.  I was wondering what communion would be like. I was pleasantly surprised.  When it was time for people to go up for communion, just about the entire congregation (about 300 people) got up at the same time to go to the communion rail.  People were glad to be going.  I mean really happy to be going to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  That was awesome to see.

5. The people here actually believe in what they say they believe in.  They believe in the power of prayer.  They believe in Jesus.  They believe in the Eucharist.  They are authentic.  And it shows.

Overall, this is a worshiping community that is alive and healthy.  It was great to see and to worship with.

A side benefit for me – I discovered that I actually understood more Finnish than I thought.  Yay!!

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I believe that God, church, and theology are approachable, enjoyable, and relevant for everyone. I write about this a lot because people need to hear it. So many people feel lost, hopeless, alone, and are searching for identity and meaning. I'm an ELCA Pastor (Lutheran) who has a background in politics, business, and the non-profit worlds. I take churchy theological ideas and words and communicate them in everyday language that people can understand, in ways that relate, and show that God, church, and theology matter a great deal. Oh, and it doesn't have to be boring either - mostly because it's the best news ever!

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