I think one of the things that might be harder for my church to take on is the fully integrated service, where children are part of the service for the entire time. We are in the process of introducing a creche/nursery set up where babies can go play safely with volunteers while parents worship and serve. I think that it will be hugely beneficial, especially for the mothers who end up missing most of a service due to a fussy baby. I'm curious about how fully intergenerational churches handle children's needs. If a baby begins to cry, would they have a separate space for the parent to take them or encourage the parent to comfort the baby in the service room?

This reminds me of a church service that I went to once when traveling which was very different from the church setting I was used to. The difference I remember most is that young children were free to wander around the meeting space. They weren't taken to a separate space to play or forced to sit still, just allowed to explore. I found it both distracting and delightful and it made me question a lot of my expectations about behavior in "big church." If the expected behavior in a church service (sit still, be quiet, don't be distracting) is difficult for children, do we remove the children or adjust the expectations?

On drama, just one caution from experience. It is very difficult to do drama well and takes a lot of time and commitment from those involved. We often have little skits in all age services and they can fall a bit flat if nobody knows what they're doing or haven't rehearsed! That is probably more of a problem with adults than kids, because the kids can come across well even if they are just reading off a sheet and behaving nicely!

I was inspired by some of the examples and found a new way to welcome people at the entrance to the building. As we are so bad at welcoming people, the idea would be to ask the children during the children's ministry to make a little welcome card with verses, pictures or whatever makes the congregation feel welcome (something like 'Don't hesitate to raise your hand to worship today').

Just thinking about the children sharing those cards at the front door gives me goosebumps, as it will introduce something new for both the children and the congregation.

I am going to make some changes to the list of songs, the reading of the scriptures and the prayer this coming Sunday.

I can't wait for Sunday!

To give you an idea of how we can involve the kids, here is a picture of our host holding his baby from last Sunday.

Since I was a kid I remember that at the beginning of the service, all-aged people and families worshipped and sang together, and only for the preaching the kids/teens went to the sunday school. Wonderful memories.

Very gladly I'll try to talk to my elders and incorporate using kids/teens to welcome, and also to read verses or do prayers aloud!

On the other note, I still do not think that the data supports the conclusion that intergenerational ministry, used for every single aspect of the church, is a better alternative than family based ministry or age-grouped activities

A couple of caveats: having children on the welcoming rota might put an extra strain on families getting to church on Sunday mornings - this has been a pressure for some families in my church. Secondly, I would not want to adopt a style of worship implied by Tabitha's revealing comment about her mother. If the children get the impression that corporate adult worship is somehow about 'me and God' irrespective of the other worshippers around us, something is not right. Perhaps this is because I'm not a charismatic... Of course, the eye-shutting may be a spontaneous and temporary reaction to singing (which I have no problem with), but if everyone is doing this at once, it could lead to a rather individualistic experience of worship in church.