Worship Bags or "Busy Bags": Practical Tips for Impactful Use in Church Ministries

Some people call them Worship Bags. Others call them Busy Bags. What are they, what is their purpose, and how can I use them impactfully?

Worship Bags, also known as Busy Bags, are simply small bags filled with items that you can give out to kids when they attend the adult service at your church. Churches use Worship Bags for a variety of reasons:

• to help young children sit through the service

• to give kids an age-appropriate way to follow along with the sermon

• to give kids an opportunity to participate in some children's ministry activities even if they can't be in the children's service

  
  

Some churches might even give kids bags to take home with them after the service as a gift or supplemental activity, regardless of whether the child attended the adult service or children's ministry service.

So what goes into a Worship Bag?

As a children's ministry leader, you can put whatever you want into your bags! Some common items include:

• Activity pages, typically based on Bible stories or passages, or related to the pastor's sermon (Need activity pages? Click here to browse pages on a variety of Bible topics)

• Crayons or pencils

• Fidget toys (quiet ones work best)

• A small snack like fruit snacks or a packet of Goldfish crackers (use caution with potential allergies/sensitivities/choking hazards)

• Other small items like stickers, Wikki Stix or pipe cleaners, etc.

Keep in mind that your Worship Bags don't need to include all these items! Your bags can be as simple as a follow-along page for the message and a pencil, or a coloring page and a few crayons.

How can I use Worship Bags impactfully?

While Worship Bags can have a variety of items and activities in them, to best give them purpose, each bag should have some kind of Bible-related item that helps kids get to know God and His Word. This might be a coloring page about a Bible story, or activity pages related to Bible-topics such as crossword puzzles, word searches based on scripture, or other similar puzzles. If your pastor plans his messages ahead of time, maybe you can include a handout with related activities on it.

Another way to make these bags more impactful is to verbally give them purpose. There's nothing technically wrong with calling them "Busy Bags", but that name implies their purpose is to keep the kids quiet and keep distractions to a minimum. "Worship Bags" implies the items serve a purpose: to help kids in the worship service. As our items should be chosen with intent, our words can also be chosen for that same purpose.