Intergenerational Fellowships

One thing that we have been experimenting with in our Fellowship group is an intentional, intergenerational worship experience.  We invite our children to stay with us for our whole time together, often having them gather right in the middle of our group while we sing, pray, and study God's Word.   We do provide some simple tools to help them engage such as a themed colouring page or even a felt board that goes along with the passage from scripture we will be studying.  We also, however, encourage them to, as best they can, engage and be a part of what is going on.  Some of our youngest are some of the first to volunteer to read.  Our prayer time was started by a two year old a number of week's ago.  To be honest, it is not always perfect.  Sometimes it is a bit distracting and sometimes a young one is having an off day and we all know it.  What we do not have, however, is a sanitized expression of worship totally distinct and disjointed from real life experience.  We are trying to learn to bring the gospel to bear upon our lives within the messiness of life.
I am excited by the possibilities that exist when our children have been exposed to such a diverse environment in which they have been welcomed and invited to participate and contribute.  I am also excited by the possibilities that exist for the older and more mature members to learn from the children. 
With these thoughts in mind I was interested to come across the following article at The Gospel Coalition site about children in small groups.  There are some interesting thoughts and insights that I thought I would pass along.

Children and Small Groups