Pram service
{{short description|Informal Anglican Church religious service}}
{{for|the Air charter|Prams Air}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Anglicanism}}
A pram service is an informal Anglican Church religious service, such as eucharist or morning prayer, specifically tailored for babies and toddlers (up to five years of age), along with their parents, guardians, or child minders, and which is named for the British word for what Americans call a baby carriage. The short, informal service typically includes communion or prayer, singing, and age-appropriate Biblical stories, followed by a snack and hot beverages, play time, and informal conversation.{{cite web|url=http://www.wymondhamabbey.com/children/under5s|website=Wymondham Abbey website|title=Pram Service|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417074424/http://www.wymondhamabbey.com/children/under5s|archive-date=17 April 2014}}{{cite news|url=http://www.ripongazette.co.uk/news/local/pannal-area-news-1-2684724|work=Ripon Gazette|title=Pannal Area News|date=25 October 2005|access-date=16 April 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.welwyn.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=188|website=St Mary's Church, Welwyn|title=Pram Service|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://fid.leics.gov.uk/kb5/leics/fsd/event.page?id=yIRb7umWjqU|website=Leicestershire County Council|title=Holy Trinity Church Pram Service|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.vas-swindon.org.uk/directory/view/Purton-Pram-Service/18/|website=Voluntary Action Swindon|title=Purton Pram Service|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://stmichaelsbtree.co.uk/website/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=13|website=St Micahels Church, Braintree|title=Pram Service|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}}
The service may be led by the vicar, or, more often, by a layperson,{{cite web|url=http://beckwithshaw.2day.ws/beckwithshaw/section/WhosWhophotos/|website=Church of St Michael and All Angels, Beckwithshaw|title=Who's Who photos|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}} or Mothers Union volunteer.{{cite web|url=http://www.stpeterschurchredcar.co.uk/pramservicegroup.html|website=St. Peter's Church Redcar|title=Pram Service Group|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFSOAAAAMAAJ&q=%22pram+service%22|page=107|title=the family's sake: a history of the Mothers' Union, 1876-1976
|author=Olive Parker|publisher=Bailey and Swinfen|year=1975 |isbn=978-0-561-00292-7}} The mothers may lead the service themselves.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhwMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22pram+service%22|page=137|title=The last judgement: an autobiography|author=Werner Simonson |publisher=Smythe|year=1969 |isbn=978-0-900675-17-1}} Women in the priesthood may have gotten their first experience leading religious services with such forms of worship.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrhPAQAAIAAJ&q=%22pram+service%22|pages=249, 287|title=The calling: the story of a pioneering woman priest |first=Nancy |last=Charton|editor=Wilhelm Henry Meyer |publisher=Cluster Publications|year=2009 |isbn=978-1-875053-79-7|author-link=Nancy Charton}}
History
Pram services have been conducted in Anglican and Methodist churches for at least thirty years, since the 1980s. Today, non-denominational Christian churches may also hold pram services. In 2014, it was called a "Messy Church and Pram Service".{{cite news|url=http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/community/community-news/district-news-1-5958738 |work=Spaulding Guardian - Lincolnshire Free Press |title=District News|date=25 March 2014|access-date=16 April 2014}} It is sometimes referred to as a 'toddler service'.{{cite book|title=Not Just Sunday: Setting Up and Running Mid-week Clubs for Children|first=Margaret |last=Whithers |publisher=Church House Publishing|year=2002|pages=2, 3, 25 |isbn=978-0-7151-4982-9}}
Setting
Image:St Roberts 022.jpg, at which a pram service is conducted.]]
A pram service is often held on a weekday morning,{{cite web|url=http://fisd.oxfordshire.gov.uk/kb5/oxfordshire/fsd/service.page?id=QkAAHTHBdn4&familieschannel=100|website=Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Family Information Service|title='Little Tiddlers' (Pram Service)|date=n.d.|access-date=16 April 2014}} but may be held mid-afternoon (2:00 or 2:15 p.m.), with sufficient time for the children's guardians to pick up older children after the end of the school day. While it can be held in the church, the informal service can also be conducted in the chapter house the chancel, church house, or community center. A popular "how-to" guide to children's programming advises that when running a monthly pram service, make it as simple and in familiar circumstances as possible, to draw in parents who might "not feel at ease in a church."
The purposes of the service are to provide an opportunity for adults to meet others, as well as catechism and new friends for the children. Some parents just use the chance to get away from housekeeping for an hour. The cost is usually free; however, the church may ask for a small donation. The service can be used for evangelism of younger people.
Notable churches with pram services
In popular culture
Pram services may be used as a plot device or back story in British fiction. For example, in the novel Heaven Spent by Janice B. Scott, Polly uses the service to entice young parents with "an old-fashioned high tea" that church was worth attending on Sunday afternoons, but it involved hours of preparation.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIlAtggcs-cC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PA149|title=Heaven Spent |last=Scott|first=Janice B. |pages=112, 120, 124, 152, 155, 199, 276|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing|year=2010|isbn=978-1-60976-445-6}} The Harlequin novel, A Secret Infatuation, includes a scene in which a parishioner must see the priest about helping the Mothers Union form a pram service.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGxfmfv9YUAC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PT20|title=A Secret Infatuation|last=Neels|first=Betty |pages=112, 120, 124, 152, 155, 199, 276|publisher=Harlequin|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4592-3952-4}} In the dramatic novel The Dark Mirror, the church starts a successful pram service.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4BH5eYKhykC&q=%22pram+service%22&pg=PA42|title=The Dark Mirror|last=Hobson|first=G. B. |pages=40, 42|publisher=Dare Empire|year=2011|isbn=978-0-9808709-8-5}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|title=The Clever Clogs Children's Guide|first=Heather |last=Alabaster |publisher=Clever Clogs Publishing|year=2007|isbn= 978-0-9537385-1-9}}
- {{cite book|title=Baptism Matters|author=Nick Whitehead |author2=Hazel Whitehead |publisher=Church House Publishing|page=91 ff|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7151-4900-3}}
External links
- [http://sentence.yourdictionary.com/pram How to use 'pram service' in a sentence]
Category:Anglican Churchmanship
Category:Christian terminology