The debate has raged on for the better part of 2 decades now, should kids be in worship with adults or should they be in kid's church?? Before I try to give any part of my opinion on this, I want to cover some of the arguments that I have heard for and against. There are basically three ways that churches handle this dilemma if that's what you want to call it.
First there is the argument that we are all one body so we should all be in worship as one body. Those churches do not have any kid's programming outside of maybe Sunday School classes for there children. Then there is the church who believes that most of what happens on Sunday mornings is probably over the head of their children, but it is important that the kids be in adult worship. After all how will they ever learn to sit still in church if they don't learn that when they are kids. So this church usually tries some sort of compromise. All of their children sit in worship during the singing portion of worship and then they are dismissed to Jr. Church as it's typically called.
The last approach is the one that I find myself currently involved with and I think it's the best. This is the church who believes that kids should be active in worship and not just sitting with the adults distracting (entertaining would be the more politically correct word) everyone around them. This group believes that kids are absolutely capable of worship but that also means that their corporate worship may look different than the traditional adult Sunday morning worship. Their remedy is to have Kid's church for the entire time that the adults are in worship. I believe that this is the best scenario but before I explain why, the reason why so many SR. Ministers or other church leadership people have balked at this is because for too long Youth Ministers have been a group of people that I would call all fun and games, and all they do during that time is play games and eat snacks. If that's the case then the kids would be well enough in adult worship with everyone else. But to those groups who prepare and every week create an environment for kids where they can come in and worship with other kids and have adults who have PREPARED actual lessons for them then this is the best route. In this situation kids can learn Biblical truths that will help them in their lives right now!! They are in an environment where they can learn and apply what they are taught and it's done on their level. I say that with this in mind we shouldn't dumb down are kids, but what is pertinent to a middle aged adult is not the same as what a 8 year old boy or girl should be learning. One of our elders here at Glenview said it this way, "you wouldn't take your child to a college class and expect them to learn anything in that class right? So why do we take our kids to adult worship and expect them to learn anything in there?" Fair question, so each week our great team of adult leaders create an environment for our kids to learn and apply and worship. One of the other neat things that we do with our curriculum is that it's a comprehensive curriculum, so our Sunday School class begins the lesson, our Kid's Worship time builds on that and then our kid's programming on Wednesday night closes out that lesson. If you are reading this and you attend Glenview then I would strongly urge if you don't already have your kids plugged into Kid's Worship that you get them plugged in, I don't think you will regret it.
Thanks so much for bringing a topic to the forefront that is not always talked about and when it is, opinions can vary so much. I must say that my own thoughts on this subject have changed so much over the years.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I am an elementary educator. I have taught for 19 years in the public school setting. I see firsthand the expectations that are set for our kids academically and socially in the school setting from Preschool level up. I also see that our kids are able to meet those expectations when provided with the appropriate learning environment and experiences.
I can honestly say that I myself didn't really get the importance of children's church until I really became involved with it. Even in my early involvement, I was so disatisfied with the type of lesson that I was trying to put together with little to no real instruction, after all I saw everyday how kids could sit, learn, interact and make progress. After searching through materials, I quickly discovered that there are definately age appropriate instructional curriculum out there targeting biblical knowledge. What better way to lay a strong foundation for our kids then providing them with direct instruction during worship time. A time when they can connect with God's word at an instructional level/pace that is appropriate for them. Fortunately for me, our church was ready to grow kids in a way that was geared specifically to the child, to seeing them learn and make connections to God's word.
Now I cannot make the decision for others as to what level of involvement that you would like to see your child in when they come to church, but I would encourage you to think about a few things. Just like stated earlier, we do not take our kids with us to a college class or any other class where we are the student, we typically do not take our kids with us to our job for them to learn, we don't take our kids with us to play adult sports games (where they are actively playing along as well), we don't take our kids with us to watch adult movies. Is our typical adult service the best place where our children will learn? Is that the place where they will learn the books of the bible, about creation, why God selected Noah, who Abraham was and what God promised him, why we speak different languages, what was special about Jesus' birth, why did John the Baptist baptize Jesus, who Jesus' disciples were and what they did, how Jesus demonstrated his authority while on earth, the miracles performed by Jesus, how to connect all of this information into their world today and see how it can still apply to them. The possibilities to the level of knowledge and thinking that we can give them is endless! Now that should be something that excites us all as believers! Our children learning, connecting it to their lives/world, and fellowshipping with their peers!