The other night I pulled out the kids’ whiteboard at dinner and told them I wanted to ask them some questions. They gave me puzzled looks, then said, “Oh no, this is about church!” Yep. I told them I really wanted to know what they thought, specifically:
- what have you liked (past)
- what have you disliked (past)
- what would you wish for (future)
So here are my kids’ thoughts on their church experience so far. (I will add my comments in italics.)
What have you liked:
- Mikey (close adult friends)
- puppet shows (different media)
- controlling the multimedia worship slides (contributing in a real way)
- games
- good crafts (different media)
- art wall, but wanted more (different media)
- skits (different media)
What have you disliked:
- lack of kids (and anyone)
- boring Sunday school
- the curriculum (which was changed without consulting the kids)
- talk talk talk
- boring crackers; ran out of donuts
- worship boring (remember, I am the worship leader!)
- worship setting boring
- no one jumping up and down in worship (“except for dad”)
- sermon
What would you wish for:
- more friends
- someone to play with
- parties
- video games
- videos/movies
Kay’s summary: too much serious “grown-up” stuff, not enough fun
Jon’s summary: The main two things we have are worship (music) and the sermon, and both are boring
Trevor’s killer opinion of church: “God hires weird people to say boring stuff”
Keep in mind that these are “the good, committed kids”!
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Whoa!!! That was courageous to post.
It about says it all, eh?
Great that your kids are so honest…uh…yeah.
Let us know where this line of questioning takes you…will be fascinating to hear.
Kids are honest. And they usually don’t have secret agendas or a lifetime of brainwashing to condition them.
Sweet answers. I agree with some of it and don’t disagree with much of it (I do like the worship but not the setting of it)
Honestly, if you think about it, if you were given fun things to do all the time, you’d look forward to going just about anywhere. Why is work boring sometimes andmakes us not want to go? Same reasons they listed.
You could motivate the kids *and* the adults with the same things:
- give them someone to play with
- have friends around
- make it a party
- give them games
As an adult, if you provided me with these things, I’d follow you just about anywhere and talk to you about pretty much anything that you wanted.
I think their answers are relevant for all ages.
LOL we were asking caitlin the other night what she likes or doesn’t like about church, maybe we will post her comments. I second all the things the kids said
Haha! This is by far the best post about this whole blog thing so far!!!!
Way to go Trevor!
I meant “church” thing, not blog thing. Sheez, floating mind.
I am with the kids on this one. Why do we sit around and do such boring stuff all the time if no one likes it?
Well, Mikey would be the a good part of church for anyone, wouldn’t he?
Love Trevor’s quote…