Why Children In Worship?

At my church, we choose to encourage parents to keep their children in the worship service with them. Our rationale for this speaks to a more general principle at work in churches today -- that is, a church's programming reveals what it believes about discipleship and the family. Specifically, my church believes that the most basic building block of Christ’s church is the family and that family worship is the key to discipling families. At the core of this belief is Deuteronomy 6.

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:7-9 ESV)

We believe that the instructions given in Deuteronomy 6 describe the manner in which spiritual training in the life of the family is to take place. It should occur "when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise". This is describing what families ought to do every day of the week. It describes a discipleship model that is life-based, not Sunday-based.; family-integrated, not age-segregated. It describes a family that learns about God and worships Him on a daily basis. Ultimately, it describes God's plan for extending His kingdom throughout the earth. Christ's church lives on through the generations as God's people who faithfully prepare their children to know and love the Lord. Based on Deuteronomy 6, the day-to-day family worship is key for this to happen.

By encouraging the parents to keep their children with them during the whole worship service, our church is structuring the Sunday morning experience to reflect and complement a family-integrated worship experience during the week. It reinforces and strengthens in the minds of the families the concepts in Deuteronomy 6 which describe family worship as the normative way for spiritual growth and discipleship. It is especially impacting for the children as they see their parents worship in song, prayer, and teaching from an elder. Also, in my church, the children hear the fathers read Scripture each week, reinforcing a father's duty as prophet to his family, proclaiming God's word to those in his care. Children further experience the covering of their father's prayers as he demonstrates the role of priest for his family bringing them to the altar of God to experience His presence through prayer and supplication. And not only with their own parents, but the children also witness their friends' families doing the same thing. What if a family doesn't know where to begin with family worship? No problem. The elders of the chruch can help as well as other families who have been doing it for a while. After all, it is the job of the Sunday meetings to equip the saints or the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.

Is it difficult to worship with young children? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes -- for both the parents AND the children. Some people say that their children don't really get anything out of adult worship. However, children get something out of everything. In addition to the benefits listed previously, Scott Brown, one of the leaders of the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, writes:

There is great value for a very young child experiencing the deep and authentic worship of the church. Something is being transferred as they watch their fathers give of the family resources during the offering. As they grow up, their understanding will increase. Something is being transferred as they watch the adults “worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). They don’t get everything, but they can get something from observing the fervency and genuineness of the church’s expression of love for God, dependence upon Him, and joy in Him. This is the value of having children in church. Children progressively understand what a parent and the wider church members love and appreciate. Year after year, their understanding builds. Year after year, the well is filling up. The cumulative effect of deep and significant thinking and activities is what we are looking for.

I couldn't say it any better. In conclusion, keeping children together with their parents in worship is beneficial for families by emphasizing and reinforcing the instructions of Scripture that they worship at home in their day-to-day lives. It is beneficial for the children by growing them and stretching their minds and hearts. And by extension, it is beneficial for the church. If the families in a church are healthy, then the church itself is healthy.