Where are the Church's children now?

“WE HAVE NO CHILDREN OR YOUNG FAMILIES.” Since taking on my current role as Children and Families Development Officer three years ago, this sentence has haunted me. It’s a sentence that ends in a full stop that carries such a sense of finality it almost bursts into the physical.

Too often, it feels like the slamming of a door in my face, as though I were a salesperson peddling craft activities, glitter, and action songs! Internally, my response is a heavy sigh and a slap to my forehead, which I try not to let my expression betray!

My reaction, I know, is shared by many Children and Families Practitioners throughout our denomination. Those who are building connections, investing in relationships and ministering in powerful ways with children and families as they pass around the glue sticks, chat over the orange squash and run around with the football. Every parish has children and young families, they just don’t necessarily sit in the pews on a Sunday morning.

For a long time, Sunday School has been the main focus of children’s ministry in the church and when no Sunday School or Sunday Club exists that is when that dreaded sentence is so often spoken.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Rachael Murphy

Is National Children and Families Development Officer for the Church of Ireland