As it stands, “Building a Worship Service” meets Jane Vella’s 12 principles of learning and teaching in that it appropriately assesses its intended audience’s need to learn about the elements of a worship service, provides a safe environment for learning, makes learning fun without trivializing the topic, reflects the worship service’s own sequence and reinforcement, provides action with reflection (praxis), provides learning with ideas and (limited) actions, has immediate applicability, describes clear roles within a worship service, demonstrates teamwork within a worshipping community, offers opportunities for learner engagement (by allowing them to take turns putting the blocks in place), and encourages accountability by providing handouts that invite continued application in future worship services. The curriculum could improve its orientation to learning with feelings and actions by asking questions that encourage learners to ponder their own engagement with the worship service and by providing opportunities for young learners to demonstrate particular elements of the service (such as folding their hands/bowing their heads for prayer, raising their hands in praise, jumping up and saying Alleluia, repeating “Hear our Prayer,” holding their hands out in offering and reception, and placing their hands on each others’ heads in blessing).

This piece is a good example of how the intersection of leiturgia, koinonia, kerygma, diaknoia and didache in the life of the church can be reflected in a curriculum. While the narrative language is clearly aimed at a very young audience, the content base contains concepts appropriate to all ages and contexts. This material could be easily adapted for use in a new member orientation, a milestones ministry program, or an introduction to Lutheranism for recent converts. If the children’s blocks feel problematic or patronizing in a particular context, the physical building up of the worship service could occur as part of a Powerpoint graphic or a video, or by having learners attach paper rectangles to a display board or by having them fill in a blank worksheet similar to the coloring sheet that is part of these materials. The latter would also provide a place for learners to reinforce the cognitive element by adding notes of their own. Parents who desire to take home and reinforce the ideas with their families might find this particularly helpful. To further support the affective element of this modified curriculum, learners could be invited to reflect on and share which of the parts of the worship service are most personally powerful or meaningful to them and why.

These materials could be further contextualized by drawing upon multiple intelligences models. More theologically sophisticated learners could reflect on and discuss how a worship service builds up a worship community, and why the service is built the way it is. Appropriate songs that reinforce the themes of Gathering, Word, Meal, and Sending could be added. A display of photos or drawings depicting each component could be created by participants.

Overall, this is an imaginative approach that brings to life the core elements of worship in a thoughtful way that is amenable to contextualization and expansion.