By Ben Fisher ’27 from an Interview with Sarah Krolak ’14

I recently talked with Pastor Sarah Krolak ‘14, who leads congregations at North Waseca and Faith Lutheran churches in Waseca and Janesville, Minnesota. During our discussion, Pastor Sarah told me about her congregation’s Young at Heart initiative and its emphasis on including children in worship as well as promoting intergenerational worship. This worship experience takes place once a month and includes various activities such as origami and art projects to help kids engage with the scripture. For example, for one project, participants made origami boats with scripture written inside them to help the children memorize the messages of stories as well as engage with their creativity and playfulness. Another activity she mentioned occurred during the first Young at Heart service where kids wrote ways to grow in faith and life on sticky notes which were then attached to a “tree of faith.” For the story of the five loaves and two fish, Pastor Sarah told how “everybody got a fish and we wrote our gifts that we share with others that have an impact on others lives and created a collage of all of the fish.” Each of these initiatives helped the kids engage with the text in unique and creative ways, achieving Pastor Sarah’s goal of “keying into all of those different ways that we experience and live out faith.”

[The children are] learning to expect to not just act or passively participate in worship when they show up on Young at Heart Sundays. They know that there’s a high likelihood they’re going to be invited to to participate in something in a more hands-on way. It’s not required. But there’s a lot more invitation to be involved in things, and in our Young at Heart worship

Pastor Sarah Krolak ’14

The Young at Heart program has also promoted intergenerational worship, encouraging kids to be leaders in teaching adults about the Bible and sparking conversations between different age groups. This fits with Pastor Sarah’s goal “for everyone to be able to participate fully, no matter how old they are.” For the origami activity, Pastor Sarah shared how “there was this one kid that had it down. He figured out how to fold everything, and there were a bunch of adults that were really confused. So he was hopping around from person to person, helping everyone fold their paper boats.” This example shows that by having hands-on activities with children and adults, kids are emboldened to take the lead in the projects, with Pastor Sarah saying how they’re “learning to expect to not just act or passively participate in worship when they show up on Young at Heart Sundays. They know that there’s a high likelihood they’re going to be invited to to participate in something in a more hands-on way. It’s not required. But there’s a lot more invitation to be involved in things, and in our Young at Heart worship.” 

By having intergenerational worship services, new conversations between kids and adults are able to be planted and grow into new communities. Pastor Sarah shared this experience when she said, “One of the things that I wasn’t expecting was overhearing conversations after worship between different families and the kids and the adults and like, they’re actually talking to each other about what they just experienced, and talking about the story and talking about the activity.” Another example of this occurring was when one of her congregations began having breakfast together during the Young at Heart worship days, further fostering community and connection with each other and the Holy Spirit. Through these conversations, kids were able to nurture their mustard seed-sized faith into something beautiful and rooted in God’s word. 

For me personally, it’s been really fun to have my awareness continue to expand as I think about all of the different people who are in the room, and what needs are and experiences are they bringing with them?

Pastor Sarah Krolak ’14

The intergenerational worship experience also works to include as many people as possible by implementing “repeat after me” songs and allowing families to determine when their kids can receive Communion. By doing this, the congregation becomes a more flexible and accepting community. Pastor Sarah feels immense fulfillment in this, saying “For me personally, it’s been really fun to have my awareness continue to expand as I think about all of the different people who are in the room, and what needs are and experiences are they bringing with them? And how can I meet them where they are in this moment with the worship that we are gathered together to participate in.”

In the future, Pastor Sarah said that she hopes to “find more ways that kids and adults can lead and not just follow.” She expands on this by saying “right now, it feels like I’m sort of a ringleader in a lot of the things that we’re doing, and so I’m thinking about ways that it can be a little less reliant on my direction and leadership in the service.” She also hopes to implement more physical movements when reciting verses to encourage a more creative and fun atmosphere. 

I look forward to seeing how Pastor Sarah will continue leading these congregations towards a stronger community with each other and an enriched relationship with God.