This is a question many parents ask these days. While we do have a variety of activities for children, such as weekly Bible study, Family Bible Week, and other seasonal events, our focus is on multi-generational ministry in which all ages study, worship, fellowship and enjoy life together.
One of our core convictions is that the family is the primary place the Lord has established for discipleship. Though we do have Lord’s Day Bible Study classes for younger children, we believe that children learn to follow Christ in their families “when they sit at home, when they walk along the way, when they lie down and when they rise up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7) Likewise, we do not segregate our children in worship because we are convinced that our children will learn to worship the Lord by participating in the worship of the whole church. The prayer, praise, and preaching of the Word is no less for them because they are small.
We are a family of families worshipping together. We are teaching our children to worship as they worship with us. If they cry or squirm, it’s OK; God has ordained “praise” from our children and infants. At the same time, however, we encourage parents to respect the preciousness of others by teaching children how to behave during worship at home during the week in family worship. We ask our parents to discretely take “exhuberant” children out of the service in order to address any behavior issues.
We realize what a challenge this can be, especially for parents with several young children or children that are not used to being in worship. We want to help you help your children learn to worship. We have worship guides for our younger children to help them think about the Scripture as it is read and preached. We also have activity bags for those who are “new to the pew.” For parents with infants and very young children, we have a cry room in the back of the sanctuary so that parents can listen while attending to the particular needs of our youngest worshippers.
We also ask that our familes with older children and those families without children exercise patience and grace, learning to hear the word preached, even in if there is a little distraction. Scripture tells us that “one generation will commend [the Lord's] works to another.” This happens when everyone from “the least to the greatest” are gathered together to hear God’s Word.
