All-Age Worship

Lucy Moore Noooooo!

The prospect of all-age worship can easily produce a cry of anguish from... well, from so many people. It's time to be real. It's time to admit that worship with all ages present is easy to do appallingly and difficult to do well. It's time to acknowledge that it takes a huge amount of grace from every participant. But it's also time to admit that a church that unthinkingly packs off any subgroup, old or young, to worship and learn in another space every week could well be completely daft...

This book is for those who sense that worshipping God together is probably a good thing, but are nervous of trying to lead their church towards that vision. It doesn't zoom off into glorious impracticalities involving rotating stages, 90 hours of preparation and all-singing, all-dancing, glow-in-the-dark visual aids made from recycled egg boxes. It acknowledges that we don't live in a perfect world - or church - and that no one has all the answers. It also argues that you are the expert for the ways in which your church can best worship God, and helps you start to find those ways and adapt them for your local setting.

Lucy Moore is part of BRF's Barnabas children's ministry team and the Messy Church leadership team, developing Messy Church across the UK and abroad. She is an Associate Missioner for Fresh Expressions, has been part of the churches' Intergenerational Forum and has also written for BRF The Gospels Unplugged (2002), Topsy Turvy Christmas (2003), The Lord's Prayer Unplugged (2004), Messy Church (2006), Messy Church 2 2008, Colourful Creation 2009 and (as co-author) Bethlehem Carols Unpacked (2008).

From Christian Marketplace - Feburary 2010

Another new book which deserves a wide readership is All-Age Worship by Lucy Moore. If the title alone puts you off then that's more than enough reason for you to read it. This isn't just about that often dreaded time of the month 'when the children stay in', although there are plenty of ideas and suggestions for improving your 'intergenerational worship' efforts.

Lucy Moore explores worship as a whole and gets the reader to think about why we do what we do in the way we do. As she says 'Our God is a God of exciting differences. Our worship can reflect his amazing multifaceted nature or it can be monochrome' (p57). She writes with humour and clarity and a good deal of common-sense.

Reviewed by Clem Jackson

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