KWLS - Kids in Worship, Leadership and Service

Here's how my year is going. Again our group is comprised of 4th through 8th graders. We have around 15 kids who rotate through serving, depending on their schedules. We rehearse/meet once a week and the kids lead a brief children's church service on Sunday mornings. The kids have also started rotating through the classrooms as helpers, and KWLS has become the umbrella for processing other kids/teens for serving in the classrooms.

Positives:
1. The KWLS kids have grown to appreciate their role in the church as leaders. They know they are valued and their opinions matter.
2. The kids and families are excited about the music and are using it in their homes.
3. I have fourth graders chomping at the bit to join this year.
4. Parents are supportive of the commitment to KWLS.
5. Partnership with the other leader has meant we've never had to cancel.
6. Possibilities for outreach have grown.
7. Younger kids are seeing KWLS as caring leaders in their community.
8. Continued desire to add more to what we are doing (new songs, skits, collections, etc).
9. Requests from the adult worship team to involve the kids.

Negatives:
1. Getting some complaints about some 'fairness' issues.
2. Focus has shifted somewhat from wanting to 'serve' - to wanting to do 'what I like.'
3. Having trouble maintaining interest from boys.
4. Burnout on rehearsals.
5. Difficulty with inconsistency in attendance.
6. Still struggling with how to attract older teens and kids who don't want to 'sing and dance.'
7. Still trying to balance performance and worship.

On Thursday, we hope to do a year-end review and tweak some of our procedures for the coming year. In September we will be including the next generation of KWLS by adding the upcoming 4th graders.I am praying that the kids will be open to expressing their opinions and respectful of those who disagree. I am praying that the kids will be able to see how much they have grown over the last year. I am praying that we devise an effective mentoring system for the younger kids coming into the group. I am praying for those who desire to step down to feel accepted and respected for doing so. We will close out the year by having a KWLS & family picnic in August.

Caught not Taught

So I've been looking at the benefits and barriers to what I've been calling "family life groups." My regular group consists of 4 adults and three children. This week, however, the group extended to include 2 teenagers. So we ranged in age from 5 years old to 51. For the first time, the kids opted to stay with us instead of bolting outside to run around, and the discussion turned to 'hearing God speak.'

While several of the adults and teens discussed their experiences with hearing from God, the kids continued to play with lego on the other side of the room, interjecting at will. When the older children were prompted to give their input, they didn't really have anything to say.

At first glance, my reaction would be to say that the kids didn't really get anything out of group tonight. We didn't elicit deep responses or teach them anything specific. And therein lies the barrier to family life groups and the place where faith comes in to the picture. We can't see God working in the hearts of those in a group who choose not to talk, those who we deem are 'too young' to understand the discussion.

In our group the children are like flies on the wall, seeing, hearing, feeling and occasionally participating in our discussions. Had they been relegated to another room in the house or sent outside to play with a babysitter, they would not have heard the adults and teens talking about the different ways God had spoken to them. They would not have seen teenagers - role models - discussing the place of faith in their lives. We would have hindered them from seeing the ways in which Christ works in people's lives.