Does Your Church Have Children's Church?

[JonathanHunt]

I answered 'other' because 'childrens church' these days usually involves a total seperation of parents from children from the moment they walk in the church building door.

On the Sunday mornings that we do have children present (usually every other week) then they will go out for a lesson just before the sermon. Some do not think this is right, I am undecided. What I cannot justify is adults and children being seperated every moment in corporate worship.

If the lady that teaches the children is away, and I am preaching, I have them stay in and follow the sermon via pre-prepared worksheets that I create to run in harmony with what I am saying.

In the evening service my son is the only child who attends, and he sits all the way through - but he is getting to the age where that is a lot easier now (11)

JH

 

[KMK]

I answered "other." The church I am currently attending does not have "children's church" but it's not an applicable question to us because we are a small church plant that has no children presently! I haven't discussed the issue with the leadership so don't know whether they would have it if we had children or not. But we would have to grow considerably larger than we are now for it to become a issue one way or another.

I guess, to be honest, I am in a similar situation. Our church meets in a small community building and has no room for a 'children's church'. (Unless they were to meet in the kitchen or the bathroom) The fact that we do not have a 'children's church' is a matter of practicality rather than propriety.

Ken, I pray it becomes a matter of conviction. When you expand to a larger facility you will not have to give in to the separation of families.

It is a matter of conviction in my own heart. I just wanted to be honest that it is a conviction that as of yet has not been put to the test.

I think the fact that we do not have a children's church has turned many visitors away. They have expressed doubt about their children's ability to sit quietly through a rather long service. Those who do try us out, however, are often surprised at how well their children do. In fact, by and large, it is the children in our church who look forward most to coming! The way they fellowship together is a model for the adults.

We do make available a coloring page and word search that goes along with the sermon. This seems to help the confidence of those visitors who have small children.

 

[raekwon]

We have Children's Church (kids are dismissed after the singing/before the sermon), and our church is strongly covenantal. "How can those things go together," you might ask. Well . . .

First, a practical rationale. Our church meets at 6 PM out of necessity (the building that we rent belongs to another church, and it's in use in the mornings and afternoons). By the time the sermon comes along, it's about 6:45-7, and the younger kids simply do not have the physical or mental resources to stay attentive and/or awake during a substantial (both in content and time) sermon. So, we send them to Children's Church. How does our covenantalism play into this? By heavily involving the kids' parents in the ministry. The curriculum we use (Children Desiring God from John Piper's church) is engaging, theologically rich, grace-filled, and is structured in such a way that kids can understand and parents are encouraged to talk about the things the kids learn throughout the week. This is vastly preferable, we believe, to keeping the kids in there and just having them fall asleep during the sermon. These kids are getting the Gospel week after week from this curriculum, and their parents are reinforcing what they learn at church through the week.

I agree with most of you folks here in that I think that most churches that do some form of Children's Church have no covenantal framework and simply send the kids off because "that's how it's always been done" with no intentionality. The way our church applies our belief that God works in covenant families in a different way than most of yours do, but it's certainly there.

 

[JBaldwin]

Children's Church? We don't even have Sunday School, though we may have both down the road. I like having the children in worship, even though they are sometimes a distraction.

 

[Sonoftheday]

I chose other because mine has a preschool Children's church. Children 5 and under have classrooms they are in during church. This could be considered nursery so I chose other.

(I hope my info is accurate, I do not personally have children over 15months so I am unsure, but this is how I think it is.)

 

[staythecourse]

I guess, to be honest, I am in a similar situation. Our church meets in a small community building and has no room for a 'children's church'. (Unless they were to meet in the kitchen or the bathroom) The fact that we do not have a 'children's church' is a matter of practicality rather than propriety.

Ken, I pray it becomes a matter of conviction. When you expand to a larger facility you will not have to give in to the separation of families.

It is a matter of conviction in my own heart. I just wanted to be honest that it is a conviction that as of yet has not been put to the test.

I think the fact that we do not have a children's church has turned many visitors away. They have expressed doubt about their children's ability to sit quietly through a rather long service. Those who do try us out, however, are often surprised at how well their children do. In fact, by and large, it is the children in our church who look forward most to coming! The way they fellowship together is a model for the adults.

We do make available a coloring page and word search that goes along with the sermon. This seems to help the confidence of those visitors who have small children.

Hey Ken. Our pastor said the same thing: that we lose some young families because they are are afraid their kids will act up. We have back seats with a sign that says "for families with young children" and two mom's rooms which are rooms just behind the congregation with glass partitions and piped in sound.

 

[jwithnell]

I might add something from my own experience -- my family attended a mainline Presbyterian church as I was growing up, so I never really heard the gospel until much later. However, I don't remember a time when I didn't know the Lord's prayer, the Apostles' Creed, the doxology, and a big pile of hymns tunes and many of their words. I think this is because children in that church almost couldn't be too little to be in church for all but the sermon when they were dismissed to go to the nursery. I am grateful for that background, although I understand the point of view that the sermon shouldn't be missed either.

Another thought, I've wondered if the pew boxes from the colonial era aided families in keeping their children in church. They might be a little noisy, but their ability to move would have been greatly limited.

Yet another thought -- the whole church would certainly have to support having the kids there through the sermon. I think that leads me to pull my kids out as they start making any noise at all, although I've visited churches where a certain level of noise (not bad) was tolerated.

 

[Blessed5x]

Here is a link from Vision Forum for National Center for Family-Integrated Churches:

National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - Vision Forum Ministries

I do not know anything about the other congregations or families listed, except for the church we are attending (Covenant Family Fellowship, Birmingham, AL)

 

[fredtgreco]

Here is a link from Vision Forum for National Center for Family-Integrated Churches:

National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - Vision Forum Ministries

I do not know anything about the other congregations or families listed, except for the church we are attending (Covenant Family Fellowship, Birmingham, AL)

I have to admit - this list is hillarious. Not your church, but the mere existence of such a list. Yes, of course I need to find a "family integrated church" (whatever that means). Is it charismatic? pentecostal? dispensational? paedobaptist? credobaptist? anabaptist?!? Who knows? Who cares? So long as it is "family integrated!"

 

[calgal]

Here is a link from Vision Forum for National Center for Family-Integrated Churches:

National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - Vision Forum Ministries

I do not know anything about the other congregations or families listed, except for the church we are attending (Covenant Family Fellowship, Birmingham, AL)

I have to admit - this list is hillarious. Not your church, but the mere existence of such a list. Yes, of course I need to find a "family integrated church" (whatever that means). Is it charismatic? pentecostal? dispensational? paedobaptist? credobaptist? anabaptist?!? Who knows? Who cares? So long as it is "family integrated!"

And how nice to make the distinction between "families" with mommy daddy and kids and "others." This "other" (married but our kids have 4 legs and drink from the toilet) is relieved to find our church is NOT on the list.

 

[Blessed5x]

Here is a link from Vision Forum for National Center for Family-Integrated Churches:

National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - Vision Forum Ministries

I do not know anything about the other congregations or families listed, except for the church we are attending (Covenant Family Fellowship, Birmingham, AL)

I have to admit - this list is hillarious. Not your church, but the mere existence of such a list. Yes, of course I need to find a "family integrated church" (whatever that means). Is it charismatic? pentecostal? dispensational? paedobaptist? credobaptist? anabaptist?!? Who knows? Who cares? So long as it is "family integrated!"

I should probably qualify my link by saying I am not a Vision Forum advocate. I think this list came about as there were many homeschooling families who were trying to be consistent in their concern that the church was not copying the age-segregation mindset of the world (i.e. public school). Many churches are not pro-family in that as soon as they see a family with many children they are quick to usher them off to the nursery, children's church, etc. These churches were basically telling many families, that having their children in the worship service would be an "interuption" to the worship and they weren't welcome. I believe there were many homeschoolers (from various doctrinal backgrounds) looking to attend a church where their whole family was welcome in the worship service so that was the reason for the development of the list. I have seen similar types of lists listing churches (again coming from various doctrinal backgrounds) that sing the Psalms. I totally agree that whether a church is considered "family-integrated" in their corporate worship should not be the only qualification for selecting a church to join.

 

[jawyman]

Pastor has a children's moment or illustration that ties into the text and the sermon, but when the children's moment is over the kids are dismissed back to us parents.

 

[KMK]

Pastor has a children's moment or illustration that ties into the text and the sermon, but when the children's moment is over the kids are dismissed back to us parents.

That's interesting. At my church, I often have a 'senior moment'.

 

[ahavah7]

Here is a link from Vision Forum for National Center for Family-Integrated Churches:

National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - Vision Forum Ministries

I do not know anything about the other congregations or families listed, except for the church we are attending (Covenant Family Fellowship, Birmingham, AL)

I have to admit - this list is hillarious. Not your church, but the mere existence of such a list. Yes, of course I need to find a "family integrated church" (whatever that means). Is it charismatic? pentecostal? dispensational? paedobaptist? credobaptist? anabaptist?!? Who knows? Who cares? So long as it is "family integrated!"

And how nice to make the distinction between "families" with mommy daddy and kids and "others." This "other" (married but our kids have 4 legs and drink from the toilet) is relieved to find our church is NOT on the list.

Woohoo, my church is on the list!