Children in church: where they're meant to be.
Photo from our 2019 church weekend away.
At the beginning of September there was a big push to get children back into school, and rightly so: education is important. It was also the time we began to gather as a church again. It has been limited of course: restricted numbers, lack of singing, some unable to return for health or practical reasons – but we have gathered. We have gathered from some of our oldest to some of our youngest, and it is our youngest I wanted to mention briefly. While we might instinctively feel ‘children should get back to school, it’s important for them’, we should have the same instinct and hope for their presence with us as we gather for worship.
Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus said,
“Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
The command is obviously important, but it is also worth considering to whom it is spoken. Children are addressed directly, as disciples responding to a gracious Saviour and to whom God makes promises. As we gather for worship and to hear God’s Word, children are not ‘just along with us’, they are part of the people of God sharing in this duty and joy – it is where they are called to be.
I know it has been practically impossible for some to make it in person yet, and we long for the day when we can all be reunited but, in the meantime, we thought it would be good to have a few blog posts thinking about our children in church. These posts are not just for those with children, they are for all of us to think through meeting as all-ages together.
Watch out for the next one coming soon and while you do, why not think of these wonderful words from the Psalms:
“We will not hide from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders he has done.
He has established a testimony in Jacob
And appointed law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
That the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments”