Activities vs. Discipleship

I'm the vicar of a small Anglican Church plant and one of the concerns I hear most is that we don't have enough activities for young children.  I'm not really sure what that means, but if I had to guess it has something to do with the whole mega church phenomena and the "children's church" stuff that flows out of it.  I hear that criticism and I know of some Anglican Churches that have risen to that challenge and done some pretty interesting things.  But that's not what Anglicans bring to the table historically speaking and I think it's important that we address that upfront so that people aren't disappointed when they darken our door. 

That's not who we are.  Sure Anglican parishes do that sort of thing, and there is nothing wrong with that, but its just not been apart of our patrimony.  Instead of activities we have a holistic approach to ministry to the family.  We don't separate people by age or demographic, but rather we include each member of the intergenerational family in the worship of the church.  Grandparent's, parents, children and all are invited to worship together as a family and to participate in the sacraments as much as they are able.  This is what appealed to me about the tradition in the first place.

Before coming into the Anglican church I was an Evangelical youth minister for several years and one of my great frustrations with the way in which we did things, was that activities often did not equal discipleship.  We let the kids have a good time, but there was very little discipleship actually happening.  As a result I was graduating kids out of high school and often the church at the same time. 

The Anglican model is different. Discipleship happens on day one and following.  It comes in the form of word and sacrament.  There aren't any goofy games, but rather the body and blood of Christ.  In this model father is encouraged to lead home devotions, teach their children the creeds, commandments and prayers of the faith, and all under the direction and leadership of the vicar or rector of the parish.  You don't do it alone!!! 

The prayer book in this model acts as the guide.  It has daily family prayer for the morning, noon time, evening and night time prayers and is designed to be prayed in the context of the family.  The liturgy of Holy Communion is bathed in scripture and the reformed faith.  It's purpose is to teach the Christian by touching on all of the senses.  As you participate week in and week out, you are unbeknownst to yourselves, being taught the gospel, and so are your children. 

None of that's to say that we don't have fun or that entertainment is always out, its just that our goal as a church is instead to instruct in the faith and experience Jesus in concrete and objective ways.  Community is central to our faith and while we might not have the "activities" you're looking for what your child gains from being apart of our church is so much richer.  Its a family!  A family centered around word and sacrament.  Instead of activities and entertainment your child becomes apart of something bigger than themselves and bigger than you.  The body of Christ, the family of God.  They aren't second class citizens to be relegated to another part of the church.  They are the church.   

Sometimes people ask me about noise.  They've been conditioned to think that the noise is a distraction and so its better for the kids to be somewhere else.  We disagree with that entirely.  The noise is a beautiful sound of a healthy church.  A church with a future.  To me its the sound of Heaven.  For it was Jesus Himself who said, "Let the little children come unto me and hinder them not.  For unto them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven." 

So come...  Bring your children and experience the richness of the Anglican way.  We might not have all the activities that a larger church does, but what we have for your child is something more important...  Discipleship!