appreciating the art of toddling

Exploring the Mission Potential of Church Toddler Groups
(Sabbatical research by Colin Cartwright, October 2004).

Introduction

Church toddler groups have become an established part of the life of many Baptist churches over the last 30 years or so. Having had experience of them both as a parent and as a minister, I decided to do some further research, particularly focussing on the mission potential of toddler groups.
I was encouraged to discover that a significant proportion of these groups within the CBA are seeing people making the transition from toddler group to other church events and Sunday worship.  My research also explores the
effect of other activities (like toddler services, Alpha and parenting groups) on this crossover phenomenon.

Method &  Programme of Research

In March 2004 I was able to use the CBA mailing (thank you, Stephen Copson) to distribute a questionnaire to all the 160 churches of my association. As well as this survey, I visited a number of church toddler groups within
and beyond the CBA.  Reflection on these visits is reproduced within the larger version of this report.

Overview of Questionnaire Responses

There were a total of 62 responses from my mailing to all the churches in the CBA.  56 of the questionnaires were from churches who either ran or hosted toddler groups or playgroups on their premises.  Geographically,
from the total number of responses, 22 came from Hertfordshire, 20 from Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes), 12 came from Northamptonshire and 8 came from Bedfordshire.

From these results and some further research, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that: possibly more than half of churches in the CBA either run or host a toddler group or playgroup or something similar.  Only a small
proportion (around 10%), appear to host toddler groups.

Extrapolating statistics is a dangerous game, but if you were to estimate that  as many as 80 church toddler groups were seeing an average of 40 adults and children each week, you could conclude that the churches in
the CBA are currently in contact with over 3,000 adults and pre-school children through toddler groups alone.

Responses to question 1

Question 1 asked how long these toddler groups had been established.

Over 20 years        - 21
10-20 years           - 19
Less than 10 years - 13

These results raise some intriguing sociological questions.  What led churches to start toddler groups in the first place ?  Why do most church toddler groups seem to have been set up in the 1970s/80s ?  Was it a
(late!) response to the 50s and 60s baby boom ? How much is the growth of church
toddler groups a response to the increasing mobility and fragmentation of families ?  Will the need for toddler groups increase, decrease or remain the same in the future ?

Responses to question 2

Question 2 asked: Have you seen any of the children and parents come to regularly join in the wider life of the church in the last 5 years: or have any parents/carers professed faith or been baptised in the last 5 years,
partly as a result of coming to the church toddler group ?

Yes - 33 churches (this includes 3 responses which identified people attending Sunday morning worship or coming to faith before the last 5 years)
No - 23 churches

A breakdown of the OYes¹ responses, shows that nearly half (15) mention people coming to faith (as opposed to simply attending services) and of these nearly half again (7) specifically mention people professing
faith, being baptised, coming into membership.

I find it very encouraging to see that over half of these church toddler groups are currently seeing people also starting to attend other church events and worship services as a result of them being part of the church toddler group.  Churches should routinely ask themselves, How easy is it for people to make this transition ?.¹

Some people might argue that is it is unrealistic to expect people to make this transition; that this is not why people join church toddler groups. There are certainly questions here about hidden agendas¹ which would
resonate with the fears of non-church goers that Christians are only interested in converting people.  However, if each church toddler group would draw up its own mission statement to be included on any introductory
publicity, then this statement might make it explicit that churches are here both to help people practically and to invite people to make a spiritual journey towards God.

However, I still feel it is important to ask why it is, in comparison to others, that some church toddler groups (nearly 40%) have seen no-one making a transition from church toddler group to other church events ?.
Perhaps some churches, understandably see the toddler group itself as an expression of Ochurch¹ and that it is wrong to be too focussed on Sunday worship or other church events.  Certainly, our ecclesiology often runs the risk of
seeing the church primarily as a gathering of Christians at a particular time of the week, rather than placing an equal emphasis on the scattering of Christians during the week.  However, it seems to me that some churches
need to re-gain the confidence that a proportion of those who come to a church toddler group will be interested to find out more about what the church is really about.

Finally, it was interesting to cross-reference how established the groups were, with whether or not they had seen people making the transition from toddler group to attending worship or coming to faith.  It would appear
that a larger proportion of the longer-established groups have seen a deeper response from people.

Perhaps one reason for this is that older groups have gained a reputation in the community, which means that either they see more people coming to the group or that those who come have more trust in the church, or both.
Longer-established groups also have had more opportunity to start and develop other related activities, like toddler services and parenting groups.  The effect of other activities will be examined below.

Whatever else might be said, it must be stressed at this point that these results could be seen as an encouragement to less established toddler groups to persist.  Although being longer-established is not a guarantee of seeing
a deeper response, it would certainly appear to make this more likely.

Response to Question 3

Question 3 was in three parts and asked whether the respondents church had, in the last five years, run:
a) a toddler/pram service
b) Alpha/Christian Basics or equivalent
c) a parenting course or similar

The following results are based solely on the 56 responses which identified that their church ran or hosted an toddler group or playgroup.

a) 28 (exactly 50%) said Oyes¹ they held some form of toddler service, either separately or as a regular or occasional part of their existing toddler group.
b) 40 (nearly 70% ?) said their church had run an introduction to the Christian faith course in the last five years.
c) 21 (over 30%) said their church had run or hosted a parenting course or something similar in the last five years.

It was interesting to cross-reference the 33 toddler groups that have seen a deeper response with these extra activities:
- 15 of the 28 churches who run toddler services¹ belong to the 33.
- 27 of the 40 churches who run Alpha or an equivalent introduction to the Christian faith belong to the 33.
- 19 of the 21 churches who run parenting courses belong to the 33.

Some significant observations might be made from these results. Firstly, it does not appear that holding toddler services¹ as such has much of an impact in provoking a deeper response from parents and carers.  This does not, of course, mean that they are not worthwhile in themselves.

Secondly, it is possible to argue that when a church runs an Alpha course or equivalent introduction to the Christian faith, this increases the potential for seeing a deeper response.  Over two-thirds of churches which run these kind of courses have seen some form of a cross-over from toddlers to the wider life of the church.

Thirdly, parenting courses would appear to be the most effective means for churches who want to increase the evangelistic potential of their toddler group.  Over 90% of the churches who hold parenting courses have seen
people attending worship and coming to faith, through this combination of toddler groups which offering help with parenting.

Caution must be employed before claiming too much here and seeing parenting courses as a universal Opanacea¹.  It is likely that there are other factors at also work here.  For example, larger churches which are more likely
to be able to run parenting courses will also be more likely to have Christian parents attending church toddler groups (see Question 5 below).  Indeed, 30 of the 33 churches which saw a deeper response said they had Christian
parents attending toddlers, which is a higher number than is represented by any of the extra activities.

However, even this cannot be said to guarantee a deeper response.  11 churches have not seen anyone make a deeper response, despite the fact that their are Christian parents at the toddler group.  This may be indicative of
the general need for Christians to develop greater confidence in making friends, inviting people to events and sharing their faith.

I have two further observations to conclude this section, firstly related to the effect of a combination of extra activities.  The results show that out of the 33 churches who have seen a deeper response:
- 6 were running one extra activity
- 14 were running two extra activities
- 9 were running three extra activities

It could be argued from these results that it is not good for churches to seek to do too much !  Perhaps in this case, as in others, less is more¹;  ie. it is better to seek to do one or two things well, rather than a number
of things not so well.

Even more encouraging for smaller churches particularly is the finding that, in addition to the 29 churches above, 4 churches had seen a deeper response from toddler parents and carers, despite the fact that so far they have
not run any extra activities.  Add this to the figure for those churches who have seen a response with only one extra activity and you arrive at a figure just higher than the number of churches running three extra activities!

Response to Question 4

Question 4 asked about the perceived effect of the extra activities (mentioned in question 3) on the outreach potential of the church toddler group or playgroup.  I will reproduce these results in full:

Toddler/pram service -   

                 no effect -  3
                a little     - 15
                a lot        -  6

Alpha or equivalent -      

                no effect - 12
                a little     - 21
                a lot        -  2

Parenting course -          

                no effect -  4
                a little     - 11
                a lot        -  6

These results are quite intriguing.  One observation is that it could be argued that Alpha or equivalents are quite heavily front-loaded (ie. showing a high proportion of respondents feel it has either no effect or only little effect, compared to the numbers who feel it has a big effect: 33 to 2).
The same cannot be said for both toddler services¹ and parenting courses. Here the difference is much less marked between the total of the first two figures compared to the last figure.  The numbers who indicate they feel that the effect of these extra activities is significant, is proportionately much higher (6 out of 24 for those holding toddler services¹ and 6 out of 21 for those holding parenting courses).

What seems to being suggested here about Alpha or equivalent courses bears out something that I have found during my research and also gleaned from my own experience.  There are a number of issues to consider here, in relation
to how a church runs an Alpha course or equivalent, and also in relation to how to go about advertising it and inviting people along.

Having said that, I am in complete agreement with the mission strategy of the CBA, which includes the aim that by 2010 each church should regularly hold a small group of some sort which introduces people to the Christian faith.  There are many churches where Alpha, or something like it, is having a significant impact in seeing people come to faith, where the first experience of church for these people may well have been through attending a toddler group with their child, or even through dropping their child at a respected Christian playgroup.

Finally, it is interesting to correlate previous findings about extra activities with the perception of the effect of these extra activities in the minds of the respondents. These results give us a slightly more nuanced picture of what is going on.  Our initial reflections about the relative ineffectiveness of toddler services¹, for example, have to be slightly revised in the light of the results of question 4.  Perhaps these short services help to make the transition to Sunday worship easier for some
parents and carers.

However, this also raises other questions about how children-friendly is the experience of Sunday morning worship and Sunday school¹.  There is also a deeper theological question here as well: one of asking how our churches
generally might themselves learn from these children on the church premises. This might involve becoming a more child-like church: playing more, taking ourselves less seriously and not being afraid to ask questions and experiment.

Response to Question 5

Question 5 asked whether these groups included Christian parents (I meant as well as the leaders of the groups, but this may not have been clear enough). 44 out of 54 responses to this question identified that there were Christian parents who formed part of the church¹s toddler group or playgroup.

As I have already commented, this is arguably one of the most significant of all the factors relating to whether a church sees a deeper response from toddler parents and carers.  What could be a better way of encouraging a transition from toddler group to other church events, than having one or two Christians, who are parents and carers themselves, giving personal invitations to others in toddlers ?  Having said that, this research also bears out the truth that many church toddler groups provide an important opportunity for cross-generational friendship and learning.  Many church
members, of more mature years, clearly value using their gifts to help out with these groups, for the benefit of the wider community.

However, this issue of parents reaching other parents, naturally raises a problem for some, if not all, churches.  Many churches have few members in the 18-35 age bracket.  And what if your church no longer has, or never did
have Christians parents with pre-school age children ?

This does seem to confront the churches with a longer-term challenge of developing a well-worn Opathway¹ for parents and carers come to faith, in order that future Ogenerations¹ of toddler group parents and carers might come to faith.  There is a potential for a snowball effect, along the lines envisaged by the Apostle Paul (2 Timothy 2:2).

Conclusion

On the whole the findings of this research present an encouraging picture. It is no surprise, however, that church toddler groups everywhere are confronted by a whole range of difficulties and challenges.  Not only that, there are many, for various reasons, which are hardly seeing any signs of a living link between toddler group and the wider life of the church.

At the same time, it is self-evident that, right across the country, all kinds of families are in desperate need of the kind of support and informal peer counsel¹ that toddler groups can help to provide.  Not only is this so, but it is also clear that the church needs to see people in their 20s and 30s and 40s responding to the gospel.  What better place for a
church to plant its first  mission footprint into a local community, than through outreach to children in their earliest years and to parents in their earliest years of parenthood ?

On the basis of this research, I believe it is not claiming too much to say that church toddler groups could  play a vital role in the growth of the church in the 21st Century.  There is, of course, the danger, as expressed by a number of the toddler leaders, that the unchurched might feel targeted if our witnessing becomes insensitive and aggressive.  But I cannot help wondering: Are some churches missing a golden opportunity, essentially out of timidity or lack of strategic thinking ?  Will there be much of a future for church toddler groups if parents do not come to faith through them ?

Recommendations

1) The establishment, on an Association, Forum or cluster basis, of informal networks for toddler group leaders to get together, share stories and ideas and to pray for each other.

2) For the Mission Department of the Baptist Union to consider appointing a new Mission Specialist to do research and help toddler groups to network.

3) Associations, Forums or church clusters to ascertain whether providing further training for toddler group leaders and helpers would be appreciated. If offered, training might include help with sharing faith and home visiting.

4) Individual churches to explore ways of building more of a link between toddler groups and church services.

5) Each toddler group to develop its own attractive publicity, which makes explicit the links with church and the opportunities for finding out more about the Christian faith.

6) For each church to explore how to learn from and to value more the contribution of children of all ages.

Jesus said, ³Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these².¹ (Matthew 19 : 14).

Epilogue

Recent news (November 2004) concerning research into pre-school education adds an extra urgency to the importance of further developing church toddler groups.  Not only is it possible that there will be greater demand for
structured church toddler groups and church playgroups with trained staff, but it seems likely there will be more competition from new secular¹ playgroups being established.  This may in turn result in either, on one hand, a more rapid turn-over¹ or even closure for some church toddler groups, or on the other hand, a growth in the number of these groups and playgroups or a growth in waiting lists for the groups.  The development of more competition could present both a threat and an opportunity for church toddler groups.

Colin Cartwright - November 2004
The Forelands, Red Lion Street, Chesham HP5 1EZ   Tel: 01494 775651 Email:


(Contact me if you would like a full version of this report).