I often struggled with the impact of our Sunday church routine when our children were young. Their regular routines—food, naps, playtime, etc.—were disrupted, often resulting in tired crabby children and parents…and we only had two children. My daughter and her husband have four little ones. Multiply the potential struggles!
Parents, here is some encouragement provided by Megan Hill this week in her article, “Sundays Are for Babies.” I highly recommend that you read the entire, short article. Here is an excerpt:
Sundays are given to us as a day of rest—a reminder of God’s rest at creation and a foretaste of the saints’ everlasting rest in heaven. But the Lord’s Day rest is not simply an extended afternoon nap. True rest is found in pausing from our ordinary work and, as the Westminster Confession explains it, engaging in “the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.” In those activities, we recharge our souls. On Sundays, God gives us a rest even better than sleep.
Sundays are also a day of feasting. The Puritans used to call the Lord’s Day “the market day of the soul.” Just as a market boasts tables overflowing with nutritious meat and bread and produce, the Lord’s Day offers sweet and nourishing supplies for our soul. When we gather to worship the Lord in the assembly of the saints, we learn from his Word and grow in our love for him.
All of this is good news for little children. Sundays may mean disrupted naps and delayed meals, but our children are trading earthly provision for something far better for their undying souls. On Sundays, everything is rearranged so that they might hear the Word proclaimed in the power of the Spirit. On Sundays, every ordinary thing takes a lesser place in favor of “the one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42).
…Every Sunday, Christian parents have an opportunity to bring their little ones to Jesus. It might be disruptive. But that’s a good thing.
(www.christwardcollective.org)
Are you looking for a practical resource to help make the Sunday morning routine less stressful and more beneficial for your children? Consider our booklet:Children and the Worship Service Jesus is opening His arms and inviting children to come to Him. One of the ways we reflect this truth to our children is by welcoming them into the most central, most regular, most valuable, and most corporate activity of the church. When we encourage families to worship together, we communicate to the children that they are a part of the congregation and, as such, should be included when the church gathers to worship. The presence of children also serves as a reminder to the church of its responsibility to nurture the faith of the next generation.
Yet there are challenges that parents, other worshippers, and church leaders face when they include children in the church service. In this booklet, David and Sally Michael address some of these challenges and provide practical suggestions for parents and churches, in the context of a biblical vision for the active participation of children in the worship services of the church.
