Children in worship

We do not have a formal nursery here, as you may have noticed, because we believe it is best that all of our children worship the Lord with us. Parents can train children to listen carefully and sit quietly in worship. But we don’t expect 1 and 2 year olds to be as adept at this as 40 year olds, either. This results in a little extra background noise, and that is fine. We give to each other by not letting other children distract us, and by not letting our children distract others. The question, then, is what to do with the littlest ones when they fuss and distract from others around. We aren’t insisting everyone always be in this room, so please feel free to take your child to the lobby until they quiet down. But the goal is to get back to worship as soon as possible. Standing and rocking them in the back of the room is all right. Going in and out several times to train them is all right, and sometimes required.

I especially encourage you fathers to care for your children directly during the service. Give mom a break so she can worship and have a little more rest than usual. Raising children is a joy and a blessing, but even the most joyfully blest mom gets worn down after a while and needs a break. What better time to bless her with it than in worship? Little children are full of wonder and trust, and of such is the kingdom of God. But they also tend to fuss and whine at all the wrong times, and

This reminds us of our need to confess our sins….

9/5/10