HOW DO YOU PLAY CHURCH?

I was raised in a “Technology Deficient” era.  There were no computers, video games and “gasp” no internet.  Our mothers got their gossip the old fashioned way; they talked to neighbors over the back fence, on the front porch or used the black, “dial-up:” phone.  There was no “Children’s Programming” on television, cartoons were a Saturday morning treat and the NBC Peacock actually meant something; yep, the program would be in “Living Color.”  In addition to this pitiful lack in my childhood, my parents chose to NOT have a television at all.  That’s right, how did my mother raise 6 kids without Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse or Dora?  We played together!!!

PRETEND, was always a favorite.   We played “House,” of course I was the Mom and Mike was the Dad.  We played “Hospital,” “Library,” “Grocery Store” and “Church.”  Understand that anytime a child plays “Pretend,” they are simply emulating what they have seen or what they have experienced.  We were raised in a “boisterous” Pentecostal Church and that is exactly how we “played” church.  It was boisterous and happening; full of the Power of God.  Our congregation consisted of sisters, a brother, Catholic neighbors, Methodist “babysitting” kids, no-denomination cousins and whoever else happened to be visiting our home at the time.  I can just imagine the parents trying to figure out what these kids were doing when they tried to recreate all the fun they had with the Hawks kids.

How did we play church?  We “played” exactly what we experienced in “Real” church.  The chairs were set in congregation formation, there was a “pulpit” up front, and we had “hymn” books and Bibles, a song leader, prayer requests, testimonies and powerful sermons.  We clapped our hands during the singing, raised our hands during worship, anointed people and prayed for the sick.  There was no choreographed dancing, but we danced in the Spirit, we prayed for each other until we received the Holy Ghost and baptized one another in the swimming pool.  It may have been “pretend” to many but I am convinced it was precious to God and He was teaching us some valuable truths through it all.

Fast forwarding to 2013, I wonder how do our children and grandchildren play “Church.”  First we have to assume they are taken or at least sent to a church service.  The Barna Group reports that 1/3 of the adults polled had no attachment to church whatsoever so, how will their children “play church?”  Secondly, we must assume that the television and video games are quiet long enough to allow the minds of our children to work on their own.  Stats show that children are involved in some type of media for about 4 hours every day and 70% of children have a form of media in their bedrooms.  Our third assumption must be that the church service they attend has something to offer that captures the hearts and mind of our children.  Most of the time they are segregated into age-appropriate programs, so that parents don’t have to deal with them in the adult service.  How do you think we learned to “play church?”  We sang the hymns, worshipped with the adults, listened to the sermon and prayed at the altar.  Oh there were times when we and our frustrated parents paid a visit to the nursery for some necessary correction and I am sure other times Dad and Mom arrived home feeling they had been in a wrestling match instead of enjoying the presence of God.  It would have been easier to just stay home but they had some training to do and we needed to learn how to “play church.”

Back to my question, “How do our children play church?”  When you go back over your last church experience, “How do you play church?”  Are the songs just rhymes to a modern beat, a few announcements, offering (never forget the offering), a soothing sermon on how awesome your life should be, an altar invitation and hurry to the coffee shop in the lobby where you greet a few people and grab designer concoction for the ride home.  Where is the passion, the power, the life changing experience?  When was the last time you rejoiced with the old Brother as he gave his often repeated testimony of God’s saving grace?  When was the last time a need was brought before the entire congregation and together, you touched the Throne of God?  When was the last time you lingered with someone at an altar until they were done repenting and the power of the Holy Ghost consumed the group?  When was the last time our children came home so impacted by what they had witnessed that they felt compelled to reenact it over and over by “playing church?”  When is the last time you felt a desire to just stop your routine and “play church?”  How do you play church?