This is the second article on my reflections on children’s ministry and KidZania, a £20 million attraction at London’s Westfield Shopping Centre. (Part one is here.)
KidZania is aimed at children, giving them the ability to do jobs, earn credits and spend those credits on food or leisure activities. What I found interesting about the attraction is that they have mini versions of well-known shops and services, where the children can dress up and act out their favourite profession. This got me thinking about whether there would be a mini-church in KidZania.
Then I thought there could be a mini-vestry where the children could put on a mini-dog collar and mini-cassock. The children could conduct a mini-ceremony to other children. I know some children already do this, I remember a conversation I once had with the mum of one of my close friends, she told me her son used to preach to and baptise his teddies, he now leads a church in West Sussex.
So wouldn’t it be great if, in KidZania, children could be a firefighter, a postman, deliver packages for DHL and then conduct a baptism service? Then I thought would that be allowed – children in a pretend mini-city admitting rites and sacraments to their peers? So then should the mini-church in KidsZania need to be consecrated by a mini-bishop?
What KidZania offers is role play, pretend. The children can dress up as a firefighter and put out a mock fire, it is participation but it’ not real. If there was a London Diocese sponsored mini-church in KidZania I think it would be pointless, as I know that churches across London offer children the chance to participate in something that is real and means something. In our church, I looked at all the roles that are needed to put on a service and many of them could be done by children. Some roles need support, but children can be welcomers, read the Bible, pray, take up the offering, share their unique perspective on a biblical story, tidy up, get things out. All real and all the roles contributing to something bigger.
Every month we have an all-age service and I try my hardest to get children involved with as many aspects of the service as possible. In my head I call it a ‘FUBU’ service. Fubu is a youthful clothing brand, and its name is an acronym that stands for ‘For Us By Us’. It reminds me that there is a power that I cannot comprehend when a child sees another child leading the whole church in some aspect of collective worship. I believe there is something that is hugely inspiring about seeing your own kin in an unexpected leadership position. It’s not easy, mistakes might be made, but the long term rewards make it worthwhile.
Tim Broadbent is Children’s and Youth Minister at St Mary’s Islington.
Image: Kidzania Tokyo by J Lippold, used under Creative Commons licence.