This thesis project focused on the worship of young children and their parents through a take-home educational program (in a purple backpack) designed to increase worship understanding. The overarching purpose of the project was to provide children age four to age nine at First Presbyterian Church near Ely, Iowa with an opportunity to broaden and deepen their worship of God and their home devotional practices of prayer and Bible reading. The theoretical basis was grounded in the psychological theory of Multiple Intelligences and its implications for religious education (Howard Gardner,) the spiritual development theory of the Stages of Faith (James W. Fowler,) and the educational pedagogy of Audio Visual Theory with emphasis on the Cone of Experience (Edgar Dale). A biblical study of the Gospel of John assessed that Jesus calls all children and John highly values Jesus’ experiences with children in comparison with the synoptic gospels. The project was evaluated through pre-project surveys and post-project interviews of child and parent participants. The evaluation drew conclusions concerning the importance of building the family of God through the participation of children in congregational worship; the role of the parent as the spiritual leader in the home; and, the value of multi-intelligence and multi-sensory worship utilizing children’s play for education and spiritual growth.
