The kids were not coming back. As we entered the new year, we noticed that our third thru fifth graders were no longer returning to our Sunday faith formation. When we reached out to parents, we heard feedback like:
They were bored, and it was too much like school.
They were tired of basic arts and crafts.
When I sat down with my third grader, he provided a comment that brought some clarity. He said, “Dad, I feel like the stuff we’re doing is everything I was doing in kindergarten and first grade.” As the interim Director of Faith Formation, I had to decide, so heading into Lent, we decided to reimagine our programming for third thru fifth grade. We changed the program by:
We were hosting faith formation inside our school building. And no matter how hard we trained our catechists to create a small group feel, the kids were inside a school classroom. Kids spend five days a week in school, and when they hit a certain age, school is not as fun and as cool as it was in first grade. We found that placing them in a classroom created an atmosphere that was not conducive to the type of learning we were trying to implement. So we moved them into the gym and put them at large circular tables.
Environments matter so much, and it saddens me how we have not gotten this right as a Church. While the sacred space takes priority, the formation space is next in line. We stick kids (and teens) in stale spaces or rooms that remind them of their busy week. While it takes money to create irresistible environments, it is worth the investment.
Not everyone has the luxury of doing a space makeover; however, there are simple things you can do to make it better. If possible, avoid desks or anything that reminds the kids they are in school. If all you have is a school building, try meeting first in the library, gym, or even the teacher’s lounge. Recruit a crew of adults to come in and set up and break down. Whatever you do, make change the space, and you’ll change the feel of your ministry.
The Catholic Church has a curriculum problem regarding this age group. Most of the content available for elementary-age kids is geared towards the younger years, and that’s the problem. In particular, in fourth and fifth grade, kids are looking to be more like their older peers. While they still enjoy some of the activities from their childhood, they want something more mature.
The first thing we did was get rid of the textbooks. We then built a team of adults and teens to help us curate content, and the first place we looked was content geared towards middle school students. We incorporated more videos, small group sharing, and interactive activities (e.g., LEGO® building blocks).
I’m not an expert with elementary-age content; however, we’ve seen improvements in engagement and retention of what we teach. We are still honoring the same topics found in textbooks, but we’re sharing them differently.
Kids have a lot of energy, and sometimes they need to run around. We knew that games are a huge part of middle school ministry, but we did not realize how much of an impact they would have on elementary-age kids. Spending ten to fifteen minutes having the kids run around for a game or break up into teams for trivia lightens the burden of being at the program.
We also incorporated contemplative prayer activities like journaling and Lectio Divina. We would start our prayer time with breathing exercises. Our purpose was to show them that their prayer life could be more than memorization, which is all most of them knew up until this point.
We tend to lean too much on parents in children and youth ministry. I’m not saying parents should not be involved, but kids need multiple role models. We invited more middle and high school students to become leaders (not just co-leaders). We asked our older congregation to get more involved, and our teens were enthusiastic and rose to the occasion. We are still working on our more senior community.
Again, parents are still a great resource, but kids need to see that faith goes beyond their parents. Elementary-age kids need to know that you never graduate from your faith and that their relationship with Jesus matters to the entire Church body. Work with your pastor and youth minister to get different generations leading and feeding the kids.
The changes we made during Lent have been effective. Kids who left are coming back, and some of the strategies we’ve implemented will continue into the following year. While we’ve accomplished a lot, there is still much to learn. We know that children and youth ministry are only effective if parents are on board; therefore, we’re looking to invest in our domestic and adult faith formation. We look to do that primarily by building up faith-sharing groups (e.g., Bible studies and small groups).
Our program is not perfect, and some of these things are from other parishes and churches. We know that our third thru fifth-grade students need a little more attention, and we can no longer assume that they’ll hold on after their first communion until they can do more in middle and high school. They need to see that faith matters at every age.