Support for Youth in Your Meeting

Children and youth are full spiritual beings who contribute to the life of our meeting communities in countless ways.  Our meetings can be like an extended family for a child, making space for their whole self to show up.

Whether your meeting offers First Day School once a week during worship or gathers in other ways, we hope you’ll find the resources below on how to nurture the spiritual growth of our youngest Friends useful.

Welcoming Children into Worship

The following queries may help your meeting more fully include children in Meeting for Worship:

• How can we non-verbally communicate to youth and families that they are welcome in worship? (Through creating a kid-friendly space to be, things to help kids have a meaningful time in worship like books or coloring stuff, having kid-friendly art or signs outside the meeting room that communicate welcome, having info for parents clearly posted so they know what their options are.)
• How can we explicitly tell youth, families, and the meeting as a whole that kids of all ages are always welcome in worship (even when they don't stay the whole time)? What messages can meeting leadership give at the beginning, during, and after worship that say this clearly, especially in the next few weeks as we make a shift to welcoming youth in person?
• What messages or invitations can we give to Friends as they settle into worship that will help Friends of all ages know what to do in worship, especially in the coming weeks as kids return to worship after a long absence? What can we learn from programmed intergenerational worship about how to do this to care for unprogrammed worship?
• How can we lovingly nudge ourselves as a meeting towards a relationship with worship that is about communion with Spirit, and not about the outward trappings of worship that kids tend to challenge (like perfect silence and stillness)?

See the downloads section below for more detailed resources on intergenerational worship.