A Change in Perspective for Family Ministry: Part 2
Last week, I wrote about how I’ve started to look at family ministry from a different perspective: one where we create more opportunities for parents and children to stay together while participating in our various ministries (you can read it again here). This is an important part of creating a welcoming environment for families with children. But simply creating opportunities is not enough for families to feel included in the life of our congregation. The physical spaces in which we invite families to participate also has to communicate that children belong. So, if we seriously look around our space, does it look like a space where children are encouraged to participate?
To communicate how easily we can overlook this idea, I recently asked our deacons to tell me where a family with children could find a changing table in our building. Most said, “In the women’s bathroom,” but unfortunately, this was incorrect.
Previously, the only changing tables in the building were located in the preschool area, but those areas are not easily visible to visitors unfamiliar with our building. Now, we have a changing table in the women’s AND men’s main bathrooms in Welcome Center. But, as a parent with a child, sometimes going in a large bathroom can be a daunting task, even if it has a changing table.
A single use, family bathroom is a much more inviting space, especially if you have a child alone. So, we’ve also remodeled the two small bathrooms next to the sanctuary. Both are now single use bathrooms with a changing table, shelves for changing supplies, and door locks for better privacy.
In addition to our bathrooms, we are making our gathering spaces brighter and more welcoming. Over the past few weeks, Central member, Sheila Wilkinson has been painting a mural at the entryway to the children’s building. The mural is finally finished and the light fixtures nearby have been replaced, so stop by to see this new welcoming space and see if you can find all of the animals hiding in the mural. Thanks, Sheila, for your beautiful artwork and for making this space welcoming to our children!
But what about our other spaces. When you look around our sanctuary, does it feel inviting to families? If we want families to be a part of our community, and families want more time together, how do we create spaces within the sanctuary that are more inclusive of children? You don’t have to search for an answer for long, as this question has been asked by many churches over the years. One answer that many have found is the PrayGround.
No, I didn’t spell that wrong. A PrayGround is an area specifically for children within a church’s existing worship space. As you can see from the pictures below (from various churches that already have PrayGrounds), it can take on many shapes and forms, but it’s ultimately about creating spaces for children to participate in worship while having opportunities to engage at their own level of understanding.
I recently spoke with a church that installed a PrayGround a few years back. The leaders said that they installed their PlayGround as a six-month-long experiment to see how it may help their church minister to families. This gave them time to evaluate and allowed them to make adjustments to the PrayGround to fit their specific needs and environment. Although many were unsure of its success at the beginning, after seeing how many children now use the PrayGround on any given Sunday, even the most hesitant and reserved church members are now appreciative of their PrayGround and brag about it to their friends in the community.
While our PrayGround is still in the initial planning stage, the Family Ministry Planning Team hopes to create a space, like our new bathrooms and welcoming entryway, that communicates to families that we want to serve them and have them as a part of our community. We are excited to see what becomes of this initiative, so we invite you to join the process. What other spaces in our building could be made more welcoming for families in our congregation?