Welcome

Thank nursery workers, check-in team, teachers, tech team, and teen helpers by name as a group. Invite one willing adult to remain standing at the front while everyone else sits or crouches where they are. Do not ask anyone to crouch if it is uncomfortable.

Before we open the doors, thank you. Nursery, check-in, teachers, tech, and teen helpers—you are making room for children and families to meet Jesus today.

Quick experiment. If you can comfortably crouch down or sit, do that. [Volunteer’s name], stay standing and tell us you’re glad we came—but do it from up there.

Let the volunteer speak for about ten seconds. Then invite everyone to stand or sit normally again.

What changed when the person talking was above everybody else?

Take two or three answers. If nobody answers, offer: “It can feel distant. Like you’re being talked down to.”

That angle is funny for ten seconds. It is not how we want a child to feel all morning.

Training Tip: Down Before You Talk

Here’s one small practice for today: before you speak to a child under about eight, get your eyes level with theirs. Kneel, crouch, or sit on the floor. Then talk.

At check-in, instead of asking a question from above their head, crouch down and say, “I’m glad you’re here. What would you like me to call you?”

In the nursery, hallway, or middle of a lesson, the same move says, “I see you. You are worth stopping for.”

Scripture

□ A Bible

Mark 10:13-16 (WEB): “They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them. But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, ‘Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these. Most certainly I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.’ He took them up in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”

The passage says the disciples rebuked the people bringing children. Jesus was indignant, and the correction in this moment is aimed at the grown-ups, not the kids.

Our job is not to block the way. Jesus said, “Allow the little children to come to me.”

This Sunday’s Focus

Today’s focus is simple: knees before words.

Knees before words.

Pray the prayer above, then look up and send the team.

Let’s open the doors and make room for the children Jesus welcomes.