2007
The Rev. J. Paul Board, III
The Missional Role of Children and Youth as Liturgical Leaders in Sunday Morning Worship: A Case Study of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Maumee, Ohio
This paper proposes that the new missional paradigm is a balance of mission thinking in conjunction with the maintenance model, which I call the chapel paradigm. Mission thinking refers to the attitude of a congregation that sees itself as sent by God to participate in God’s work of reconciliation in the world. The chapel paradigm refers to the attitude of being drawn by God into routine and disciplined worship. This balance does not allow for the rejection of maintenance as a negative and old church model. Nor does it include the elevation of maintenance into marketing strategies to grow the church. Missional and chapel paradigms are needed in balance for a congregation to manifest relevance within its walls and in the surrounding community. Children and youth have a critical role in the new missional paradigm because they represent an essential element of the mission field in America. This mission field includes the populations of children and youth already in the congregation and the children and youth in the surrounding neighborhood. Their participation in Sunday morning worship is an expression of God’s mission for the church and the community. Energy and vitality in a congregation may depend upon the participation of children and youth in worship. More importantly, a congregation’s energy and vitality may be contingent upon the missional attitude of the congregation that invites, welcomes, and affirms the participation of children and youth as liturgical leaders. The congregation that neglects to invite and welcome children and youth from the surrounding community may be missing the missional attitude necessary to foster relevance. The description of an Episcopal church in Maumee, Ohio, provides an example of a congregation that balances the missional and chapel paradigms by actively inviting, welcoming, and affirming children and youth to participate as liturgical leaders.