THE PRAYGROUND IS OPEN!!
Sometimes referred to as Grace Space, a Pray Ground is a place in the front of the sanctuary where worshipers (most often children) can experience worship through age-appropriate worship materials and tools that will help keep them engaged in worship.
Who may use the Pray Ground?
Young children who are not comfortable sitting in a pew or leaving the worship service. Parents, other adults, and older students may choose to sit in a nearby pew, or on the floor with the children.
What about Sunday School?
Trinity offers Sunday school for children every week. Families worship together the first Sunday of each month.
Why offer a Pray Ground to families?
We can apply the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to help us understand why Pray Grounds are valuable for both worship and faith formation:
- Scripture: Matthew 10:13-15. Unlike his disciples, who considered children a distraction, Jesus welcomed & blessed the children.
- Tradition: The tradition of sending children out of worship prevents them from participating in essential components of Christian faith formation, i.e., community prayer, music, scripture reading, pastor’s message and Holy Communion.
- Reason: In order to be fully formed and developed, worship skills, behaviors, knowledge and beliefs require exposure, practice and experience. Without these, children cannot learn what to do in worship or what worship can do for them.
- Experience – According to the 2017 Trinity UMC Worship Survey, 96% of respondents agree that “families worshiping together” and “all generations worshiping together” are essential for Christian faith formation. Other churches with Pray Grounds also agree.
What do people in other churches with Pray Grounds say?
Other churches around the world have discovered that:
- Children are more attentive and active in the service when they are in the front of the church.
- When children who are separated out of the worshiping community get to an age to decide for themselves if they want to be a part of worship, they often decide not to be part of worship because it hasn’t been part of their life.
- Offering a Pray Ground is a statement to the entire congregation that we are making physical and spiritual space for families.
- Pray Grounds offer an opportunity for spiritual formation to begin at an early age.
Read below a testimony about Pray Ground from one of our members.
Good morning! For those that may not know me, my name is Nancy Reed and my husband, Scott, and I have three children – twin boys who are 14 years old and our daughter who is 10. We have been here at Trinity for a long time (about 17 years) and so many of you supported us on our journey to have a family, even praying for our children before you knew them as Caleb, Andrew and Abby.
Those relationships that we formed over several years are one of the reasons, to be very honest, that we’ve stayed at Trinity throughout the years. Trinity is like an extended family to me and to Scott, and we value the relationships that we have made with so many of you as you have supported us and our children as they have grown over the years. And that’s why I am here this morning to talk about another way that our congregation can help families with young children grow in their faith formation thru the concept of a Pray Ground.
A Pray Ground is a designated space in the sanctuary for young children to experience worship. As an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, I know that young children aren’t meant to sit still for a long period of time. They need to be able to move and have hands-on experiences – it’s how they learn best. The Pray Ground would provide this opportunity, through the use of age-appropriate materials, purposefully chosen to help keep young children engaged in the worship service. This space would provide an opportunity for young children to remain in service with their family close by, to help familiarize them with all aspects of a worship service. They would have an opportunity to experience what happens when scripture is read, hymns are sung, and prayers are spoken, all while being in a space designed just for them.
I had the opportunity to see a Pray Ground in action when a few of us visited Community Church in Naperville over the summer. After their Children’s Message, the children were given the choice to go to Sunday School or stay in service, and several chose to stay. I watched them engage with the materials at the Pray Ground, which included play doh, coloring pages to support the day’s scripture, and books, all while still being exposed to elements of the worship service that were happening around them. One little boy was dancing at the table while the congregation sang along with the Praise Band, still coloring & engaging with the Pray Ground materials.
Personally, a Pray Ground is something I wish was available when my own children were younger. We have a wonderful nursery and toddler playroom here at Trinity, but I remember feeling separated from the service and disconnected to worship when I felt I needed to leave the sanctuary. By having a Pray Ground available for families and their young children, they would not only be able to remain in worship together, but feel connected to and welcomed by our congregation. When we baptize a child, we, as a congregation, make a statement that we will support that child, surround them with love and help them grow in their faith. What better way to do this than by creating a designated and welcoming space that says, “We’ve been waiting for you!” to a young child and their family.
There is more information about a Pray Ground inside today’s bulletin, and I would be happy to talk with anyone who has questions about this concept.
I know that change is not always easy, and it’s sometimes hard to adjust our mindset. But I am excited to see how the Pray Ground at Trinity will help young children grow in faith and be blessed by worshiping together with their family and the congregation.
Thank you.
