Families Worshiping Together

“What do you mean you don’t have Sunday school?  Where do the kids go?  They stay with you?  That’s crazy!”  This is a conversation I’ve had with several people upon telling them about PRC’s approach to shepherding children during corporate worship.  Do they have a point?   I mean, let’s face it, with our rows chock full of kids,we don’t look like most churches.

So why do we do this?  I mean think about it, how much easier would it be to drop the kids off at Sunday school and have a nice uninterrupted time of worship?  Surely Jesus, Paul, or even Moses never had someone interrupt them during a sermon to take a toddler to the bathroom, or did they?  You see, a segregated Sunday school as we know it today, where kids are taken to “kids church” while adults go to “big church” has really only been around for the past couple hundred years.  Before this, almost all churches were integrated with families worshiping together. Family-integrated worship also seems to be the biblical pattern.  Deuteronomy 31:9-13 speaks of reading the law before the children who have not known it so that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God.  Joel 2:12-17 says to consecrate the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children- even nursing infants.   Finally, Mathew 14:13-17 speaks of Jesus feeding 5000 men, besides women and children.   This is just a small sampling of the verses that show the unity of families in corporate worship times.

With this, we also need to remember passages of Scripture like Deuteronomy 6, which command us to diligently instruct our children.  In Psalm 78, the psalmist speaks of remembering God’s deeds and telling them to the next generation so that they might set their hope in God.  There, then, is the answer as to why we do this. We do this so that our children will learn to set their hope in God.

Now I know that it’s not easy.  My wife and I have our tenth child on the way and we have 5 who are 5 years old and under.   We know that some weeks it seems like we spend more time in the hallway or telling our kids to sit still than we do in listening to the sermon.  However, we don’t underestimate what they are learning.   My wife and I have seen great fruit from keeping our children in worship with us.  We have a 3 year old who constantly prays and shows concern for “Jesus’ broken body.”   Okay, so admittedly he may have no idea what that really means but he knows that Communion is a special time all about Jesus.  We have seen children lifting hands to praise and worship music at home, imitating what they see at church, and we have had countless conversations about sermons with our older kids.  Our younger ones have also learned that they need to be still, and they are learning to pay attention during the sermon.  Maybe this will help.  Look at it like this…Albert Pujols didn’t pick up a bat and ball, throw on a Cards jersey and start playing in the Majors on his first day.  He started young, kept at it, worked his way up from little league to high school to college ball, became a student of the game and is now one of the greatest baseball players alive.   He also didn’t figure it out himself.  He had to have a coach.   He had to have someone show him the ins and outs of the game.  In the same way we should teach and train our children at a young age in the things of God.

So the next time your little ones aren’t on the same page as Mom and Dad on Sunday morning, just remember that during Jesus’ sermon on the mount, there was probably a mom that had to leave at “Blessed are the meek” and didn’t get back until “love your enemies” 40 verses later.

Below are a list of things we hope will help you in training your children to worship corporately at PRC:

- Remember the goal is not just quiet kids, but engaged kids.  This is best taught by setting a daily example through well-ordered family worship.  For example we require that during family worship our kids model the same behavior expected during church.  This means paying attention during the lesson, singing, being quiet when the Word is read, and participating when we are praying together.   While we want it to be fun, we also want an atmosphere of reverence for God’s Word.

- Be clear in your expectations, set a standard and if needed follow through with discipline.

- Prepare before church.  Pray with them and talk about the expected behavior, reminding them why it is important.

- Take care of all bathroom needs before the service begins.  Unless it’s an emergency, don’t let them up.

- If you have to take them out, don’t let it become play time.  Make them sit still and quiet even in the hall, reminding them why we are here.

- Teach them to listen and write things down.  Younger children, even those who can’t read, can learn to listen well by marking on there paper when they hear certain words.  We have had our children mark every time they hear Jesus’ name or the word “sin” for example.  (Dad and Mom, make sure you are taking notes too.)

- Be conscious of others around you.  If a child won’t stop crying or talking (we go no longer than 5-8 seconds) then calmly take them out and deal with the issue.

- Buy them their own Bible to carry to the corporate worship gatherings.  This makes them understand that it’s a special day and teaches them to reverence God’s Word (even if they can’t read yet).

-Make it your pattern to discuss the sermon every week.  This is great to do during lunch after church has met for worship. Make sure you ask all of your kids a question.  They may surprise you with how much they have learned.

- Above all, pray for them daily, asking God to reveal Himself to them in times of worship.  And never forget to encourage them when they have done well.

By Lance McCormick