Westminster Presbyterian: New 'prayground' offers family-friendly worship option
We've built a "prayground" at Westminster!
No, that's not a typo. We've added a new family-friendly space in our sanctuary where children and families can worship together comfortably. It has child-size seating and tables, with quiet activities that relate to the worship service.
The prayground is located near the front of the sanctuary on the side aisle. It's intentionally placed near the front so that children can see and hear what is happening on the chancel. There was a fair amount of discussion over where the prayground should be built. We decided against the traditional notion that kids should sit in back, where they're less of a distraction. We wanted the kids up front so that they'd be part of the congregation, able to see and hear what's going on.
Although we'd love to take credit for the idea, praygrounds have been popping up in churches for a few years now. They became especially popular post-COVID-19, when traditional Sunday school classes all but disappeared. Praygrounds recognize that children belong in worship and that they learn best by involving them in worship alongside their families and their church family.
Praygrounds also show that when we say, "We welcome everyone," we mean it! All churches say they are welcoming, but the worship hour (especially the sermon) can be a challenge for wiggly children and bored teens (and also for their parents). Rather than resort to bringing a book or tablet to distract children, praygrounds help engage children in worship. Parents (or grandparents or caregivers) sit with their children rather than send them to another room. By worshiping together, children learn to follow the bulletin, find hymns in the hymnal, say the responses and participate in the sacraments. The prayground provides some additional resources to help, such as age-appropriate Bibles and lectionary-related bulletins, which help children tune in and get more out of the service.
We built our prayground by taking out some of the pews along the north wall of our sanctuary. It was a joint project by members of the Christian education, worship and property committees. After installing new carpet, we brought in some adjustable-height tables that we already had from our former nursery school. One is low enough for very young children and the other can be raised for bigger kids. We included some pews and chairs for adults to sit in, so that families can be together in the prayground space.
The next step was the fun part — adding the resources! We already had a lot of the materials for children that we had kept on bookshelves in the back of sanctuary: Bible picture books for young children, Bibles for youth with larger print and study helps (there's even a graphic novel format Bible!), large print hymnals, activity books of Bible stories, coloring sheets, crayons, colored pencils, manipulatives (pipe cleaners, finger labyrinths, prayer beads) and some quiet games and puzzles to learn books of the Bible and the Lord's Prayer. We also subscribe to a series of children's bulletins that correlate to the lectionary readings. We're adding some new resources, like tangrams, water paint books and sermon notes worksheets.
We were able to create the prayground at minimal cost, using furniture and resources we had on hand. Most of the furnishings were from the former Westminster Nursery School, which closed in 2018. It is good to see these items back in use with a new generation of kids! We also received a generous $2,000 grant from the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse to help with the costs of new carpet and resources.
We opened the prayground on June 16, just in time for the summer months, when we put some of our other educational programs on hold. We blessed the new prayground on Baccalaureate and Christian Education Celebration Sunday, and it was well-received by kids, parents and congregation members alike!
We continue to offer other options for children too, including the nursery, the Children's Worship Center and intergenerational activities, like a recent Lego build where kids interpreted the Exodus story with Legos. The prayground is a new option for families who want to worship together with their children in the sanctuary, helping us answer Jesus' call to "Let the children come!"
Jill Fandrich is an elder at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 17 William St., Auburn, where she edits the newsletter, church website and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. For more information about Westminster, visit westminsterauburn.org or call (315) 252-3331.
