A pram service is an informal Anglican Church religious service, such as

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, specifically tailored for babies and toddlers (up to five years of age), along with their parents, guardians, or

child minder A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

s, 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. The service may be led by the vicar, or, more often, by a layperson, or Mothers Union volunteer. The mothers may lead the service themselves. Women in the priesthood may have gotten their first experience leading religious services with such forms of worship.

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". It is sometimes referred to as a 'toddler service'.

Setting

A pram service is often held on a weekday morning, 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 A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

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 A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

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 In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are i ...

of younger people.

Notable churches with pram services

* Church of St Michael and All Angels, Beckwithshaw *

St Robert's Church, Pannal St Robert's Church, Pannal, North Yorkshire, England, also known as St Robert of Knaresborough Parish Church, is a Grade II* listed building. A 13th-century wooden church dedicated to St Michael was rebuilt in sandstone in the 14th centur ...

* Wymondham Abbey * St Oswald's Church, Sowerby

In popular culture

Pram services may be used as a plot device or

back story A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of p ...

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. 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. In the dramatic novel ''The Dark Mirror'', the church starts a successful pram service.

References

External links

How to use 'pram service' in a sentence
Anglican Churchmanship Christian terminology Christianity and children Christianity and women